Freethought & Rationalism Archive

xxthe_leewitxx · 02-08-2004, 12:04 PM

From an article from UU (Unitarian Universalist) World magazine entitled The Fundamentalist Agenda:

Quote:

The most famous definition of fundamentalism is H. L. Mencken's: a terrible, pervasive fear that someone, somewhere, is having fun. There's something to this. Fundamentalism is too fearful, too restrictive, too lacking in faith to provide a home for the human spirit to soar or for human societies to blossom.

But there are far more fundamental things to understand about fundamentalism, especially in this age of terrorism. An adequate understanding also includes some inescapable and uncomfortable critiques of America's cultural liberalism of the last four decades.

The article goes on to say that conservative or fundamentalist thought is not a result of religion, but rather predates religion entirely. More liberal thought is necessary to counter these somewhat primitive instincts, the author says, but we must work at couching these interventions in a way that is less reactionary. The analogy of a dance between conservativism and liberalism is used, and the result when the dance is poorly done is what we see today in the United States: the fundamentalist backlash.

It was enlightening to look at fundamentalism as being in some ways necessary to bring structure to society. However, I wholly agree that we succeed best in our humanity through that "liberal impulse".

A very thought-provoking article, at least in my opinion. What are your thoughts?

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