Seemingly surrounded by a surge of fundamentalist ideology in government and religious institutions in general, I wanted to start documenting quotes from historians, sociologists, anthropologists, and any other writers I come across that have sought to define the characteristics of the movement as well as the people who follow them.
In my first post, July 13, I quoted Karen Armstrong. I’m quoting her again. In the Introduction to her book, The Battle for God, she documents the findings of the Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby analysis on fundamentalism called, simply, the Fundamentalist Project. She summarizes thus:
[Marty and Appleby] argue that the "fundamentalisms" all follow a certain pattern. They are embattled forms of spirituality, which have emerged as a response to a perceived crisis. They are engaged in a conflict with enemies whose secularist policies and beliefs seem inimical to religion itself. Fundamentalists do not regard this battle as a conventional political struggle, but experience it as a cosmic war between the forces of good and evil. They fear annihilation, and try to fortify their beleaguered identity by means of a selective retrieval of certain doctrines and practices of the past. To avoid contamination, they often withdraw from mainstream society to create a counterculture; yet fundamentalists are not impractical dreamers. They have absorbed the pragmatic rationalism of modernity, and, under the guidance of their charismatic leaders, they refine these "fundamentals" so as to create an ideology that provides the faithful with a plan of action. Eventually they fight back and attempt to resacralize an increasingly skeptical world (page xiii).
The Christian Coalition and the other ne-conservative movements that have molded the GOP party for decades are the ones fighting a mythical war of good versus evil. A Christian friend of mine commented to me one evening that the GOP party was the righteous party and the Democrats were evil. I replied, "Well don’t you see it as a theological platform versus a secular one?"
"No," he replied. The GOP is God’s party because they are against abortion and homosexuality; the Dems are Satanists because they are against God’s teachings. It was as simple as that to him.
How do you attempt to reason with a mind whose reasoning ability is stuck in a mythical/cosmic tunnel–they see what they want to see; what they’ve been programmed to see? Even though my friend is educated, somehow he has sold his common sense and general attitude of decency and respect toward basic human rights for a pottage of misguided hope and false security--acceptance in a religious establishment.
Is fundamentalism the social plague of the simpleton and welfare classes?
What is so frightening about fundamentalism is the fact that because they feel threatened, grand notions of annihilation, the more apt they are to strike out against their foe.
Karen Armstrong writes along these lines, stating:
One of the most startling developments of the late twentieth century has been the emergence within every major religious tradition of a militant piety....Its manifestations are sometimes shocking. Fundamentalists have gunned down worshipers in a mosque, have killed doctors and nurses who work in abortion clinics, have shot their presidents, and have even toppled a powerful government. It is only a small minority of fundamentalists who commit such acts of terror, but even the most peaceful and law-abiding are perplexing, because they seem so adamantly opposed to many of the most positive values of modern society. Fundamentalists have no time for democracy, pluralism, religious tolerance, peacekeeping, free speech, or the separation of church and state (page xi).
Rep. Ron Paul, MD, of the US House of Representatives, wrote an article about the neo-conservatives behind Bush and their attempt at a conservative revolution. In this article, in which I obtained from the web blog filchyboy, Paul lists the belief of this neo-conservative group, which includes names such as Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Eliot Abrams, Robert Kagan and William Kristol, Michael Ledeen, James Woolsy, Bill Bennett, Frank Gaffney, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld, just to mention a few.
Their beliefs are as follows:
1. They agree with Trotsky on permanent revolution, violent as well as intellectual.
2. They are for redrawing the map of the Middle East and are willing to use force to do so.
3. They believe in preemptive war to achieve desired ends.
4. They accept the notion that the ends justify the means _ that hard_ball politics is a moral necessity.
5. They express no opposition to the welfare state.
6. They are not bashful about an American empire; instead they strongly endorse it.
7. They believe lying is necessary for the state to survive.
8. They believe a powerful federal government is a benefit.
9. They believe pertinent facts about how a society should be run should be held by the elite and withheld from those who do not have the courage to deal with it.
10. They believe neutrality in foreign affairs is ill_advised.
11. They hold Leo Strauss in high esteem.
12. They believe imperialism, if progressive in nature, is appropriate.
13. Using American might to force American ideals on others is acceptable. Force should not be limited to the defense of our country.
14. 9_11 resulted from the lack of foreign entanglements, not from too many.
15. They dislike and despise libertarians (therefore, the same applies to all strict constitutionalists.)
16. They endorse attacks on civil liberties, such as those found in the Patriot Act, as being necessary.
17. They unconditionally support Israel and have a close alliance with the Likud Party.
We have seen how this ideology has influenced the president and his administration in regards to economics, ecology, religion, civil liberties, and human rights. We have witnessed one bizarre event after another since Bush took office, including Sept. 11.
My fear, as we learn of the deceit and lies of this administration, is that the fundamentalists at its very foundation, in an attempt to create an event that would rally the public around the president and more easily allow them to change government to suit their ideology, were involved in the horrific events of September 11th.
I hope to God that this fear is unfounded.
