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originally posted by: vexati0n
We hear a lot of negativity about ISIS and Westborough Baptist Church and all the other "crazy" religious extremists out there. We are told they represent a minority of the faithful, that all religions at their core are about peace and love and acceptance. We are told we should condemn the violent and intolerant while applauding the reasonable and moderate among the religious.
This is, of course, all wrong. If we'd just pay attention to the language we use to describe these people, we'd see how wrong this happy hippie horsesh!t is. They are "Funadmentalists." We call them that, because they have an unwavering support for the fundamental tenets of their faith. That faith -- all faiths -- are centered around a central proposition: There is one truth, and many deceptions. There is one good, and many evils. There are many roads, but only one that goes the right way. To stray from the one true path is a sin.
Whether you are a fundamentalist Muslim, or a fundamentalist Christian, or Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist or Jew, this is what you believe. That you are right, and others are wrong. If you believe anything else, you are not a fundamentalist; and if you are not a fundamentalist, then you are denying the central foundation of your religion; denying your god for the comfort and convenience of a modern, pluralistic society.
With religion, there are two possibilities: either your religion is true; or your religion is meaningless. If your religion is true, then all others are false -- and by extension the adherents of those other religions, along with anyone who fails to recognize any religion at all, must be disposed of, because to allow them to live is to deny your own righteousness. They understood that in the Bronze Age, when all these religions came about -- but we ignore it now, because it is no longer fashionable. But if history and tolerance can override the commandments of god, then what good is that god?
If you do not believe so strongly in the righteousness of your religion that you will kill and die for it, then why bother at all?
Actually, you're mistaken on several points. First, fundamentalist refers to those who take the Bible, Koran, etc. to be the literal word of God. That is the fundamental tenet of their beliefs. Everything else that they believe stems from that fundamental belief. Second, not all religions teach that there is only one way, that their religion is "true" and all others "false. That is a belief of the Abrahamic religions, to be sure, but not of many others.
originally posted by: arrakis624
The real problem we have these days is that everyone thinks their imaginary friend is more relevant than everyone else's. Religion is a guideline not a rule. If you treat it as a rule you basically negate the lesson and become the the thing you were thought not to become.
For the Lord seeks the pious and calls the righteous by name. Over the humble His spirit hovers, and He renews the faithful in His strength. For He will honor the pious upon the Throne of His eternal kingdom, setting prisoners free, opening the eyes of the blind, raising up those who are bowed down.
Dead Sea Scroll 4q521
originally posted by: vexati0n
If you do not believe so strongly in the righteousness of your religion that you will kill and die for it, then why bother at all?