Have you ever thought about the similarities between political and religious fundamentalism?
Think about it. Political fundamentalism has a “take no prisoners” attitude when it comes to government. Whether at the federal or state level, political fundamentalists believe their way is the only way. They see compromise as a sellout. They believe government is the enemy because it functions by compromise, and promotes tolerance and diversity.
Religious fundamentalism has a similar attitude. Religious fundamentalists (I am speaking of Christians, but the same is true for members of other faiths) believe their way is the only way, whether it’s reading the Bible, views of morality, or understandings of God and Jesus. They dislike liberals as much as political fundamentalists do because they believe liberals are anti-God.
It is easy to see why these two groups got together in the late 70’s when the Moral Majority was founded, and why religious fundamentalists have become a rock solid base for political fundamentalists. They see the world through the same lens. They think in black and white terms. Reality is what they say it is, regardless of facts to the contrary.
It is also easy to see why political and religious fundamentalism appeals to a minority of people. Most people are not fundamentalists. They are not extremists. Most people understand that life is ambiguous and that issues are often not simple. They know reality is not black and white, and that no one way is ever the only way.
Sometimes it seems like political and religious fundamentalists are running the world. What we need to remember is that they aren’t. They make a lot of noise and cause a lot of headaches, but they don’t run the world because they are always represent a small group with a point of view that offends most people.
Fundamentalism has a place in the modern world, but it is never going to rule the world. It can and does make mischief, but over the long haul it gets exposed for what it is and then rejected.
So politicians and religious leaders who jump on one or both of these bandwagons will one day end up in the ditch because the wheels have come off, just they have every time in the past. It’s an sort of unofficial axiom of life that people who hate and promote hate, divide and promote division, one day undo themselves and end up on the dung heap of history. It’s only a matter of when.
