Fundamentalism Is Not About Faith
If you are a fundamentalist, you are, by definition, a zealot and a fanatic. They may not self-identify with those descriptors, but they are reactionary and extremist. Being ultra- conservative, fundamentalists of all stripes need to try and force the rest of us back to an unspecified time in the past, when inside their very confused fundamentalist brain things were ‘simpler’ and ‘purer’ than they are today in this sin ridden world of ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’.
If we were to go back to the halcyon days of wonder and unadulterated glory one thing we would not find is many fundamentalists. They seek to take us back to a time where fundamentalism was virtually non-existent. In reality, fundamentalism is a very modern phenomenon. It is a marketing tool for religious control freaks. A simple message, simply translated. We are right. They are wrong. Our path is the only path. If you do not follow our path then you are damned. If you do follow our path immortality awaits you.
In point of fact there are not that many fundamentalists out there.
Be they Christian, Muslim or Jew, they are few in number. But they are loud. Very, very loud and they drown out the voices of the moderate and the reasoned. They infiltrate rational debate with their easy to digest factualism. Their belief in the literal, inherent and historical absolutism of religious text cannot allow for dissent, discussion, debate. It does not allow layers of understanding, it does not allow for symbolism, allegories, myths and interpretation. It lacks nuance. Fundamentalists stifle debate about the symbolism at the heart of the major faith – they have to, for us to truly understand the symbolic nature of religious texts would lead to a lessening of control over the faithful by faith leaders.
The patriarchal structures of all major faiths, where women are treated as different and unequal, as chattel and brood mares and where the LGBT community is at risk of alienation (at best) and being murdered / jailed (at worse) , by these fanatical control freaks, clearly demonstrates that this modern phenomenon of fundamentalism is not about faith but control. Control of the community, control of action and control of thought. This is the key driver in all fundamentalist communities irrespective of the core faith construct from which the 'belief' structure has grown.
Fundamentalists are control freaks – try and take away a controls freak control and things have the potential to get very nasty indeed. Yikes.
Of course, fundamentalism is not just limited to religion. Zealots of any hue are control freaks.
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