Fundamentalism: History
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Fundamentalism usually has a religious connotation that indicates unwavering attachment to a set of irreducible beliefs. However, fundamentalism has come to be applied to a tendency among certain groups – mainly, although not exclusively, in religion – that is characterized by a markedly strict literalism as it is applied to certain specific scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, and a strong sense of the importance of maintaining ingroup and outgroup distinctions, leading to an emphasis on purity and the desire to return to a previous ideal from which advocates believe members have strayed. Rejection of diversity of opinion as applied to these established "fundamentals" and their accepted interpretation within the group often results from this tendency. Depending upon the context, the label "fundamentalism" can be a pejorative rather than a neutral characterization, similar to the ways that calling political perspectives "right-wing" or "left-wing" can have negative connotations.

  • fundamentalism
  • religion
  • literalism

1. Buddhism

Buddhist fundamentalism has targeted other religious and ethnic groups, as in Myanmar. A Buddhist-dominated country, Myanmar has seen tensions between Muslim minorities and the Buddhist majority, especially during the 2013 Burma anti-Muslim riots (possibly instigated by hardline groups such as the 969 Movement).[1] and in actions associated with the Rohingya genocide (2016 onwards).

Buddhist fundamentalism also features in Sri Lanka. Buddhist-dominated Sri Lanka has seen recent tensions between Muslim minorities and the Buddhist majority, especially during the 2014 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka[2] and in the course of the 2018 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka,[3] allegedly instigated by hardline groups such as the Bodu Bala Sena.

Historic and contemporary examples of Buddhist fundamentalism occur in each of the three main branches of Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. In Japan, a prominent example has been the practice among some members of the Mahayana Nichiren sect of shakubuku — a method of proselytizing involving strident condemnation of other sects as deficient or evil.

2. Christianity

Christian fundamentalism has been defined by George Marsden as the demand for a strict adherence to certain theological doctrines, in reaction against Modernist theology.[4] The term was originally coined by its supporters to describe what they claimed were five specific classic theological beliefs of Christianity, and that developed into a Christian fundamentalist movement within the Protestant community of the United States in the early part of the 20th century.[5] Fundamentalism as a movement arose in the United States, starting among conservative Presbyterian theologians at Princeton Theological Seminary in the late 19th century. It soon spread to conservatives among the Baptists and other denominations around 1910 to 1920. The movement's purpose was to reaffirm key theological tenets and defend them against the challenges of liberal theology and higher criticism.[6]

The concept of "fundamentalism" has roots in the Niagara Bible Conferences that were held annually between 1878 and 1897. During those conferences, the tenets considered fundamental to Christian belief were identified.

"Fundamentalism" was prefigured by The Fundamentals: A Testimony To The Truth, a collection of twelve pamphlets published between 1910 and 1915, by brothers Milton and Lyman Stewart. It is widely considered to be the foundation of modern Christian fundamentalism.

In 1910, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church identified what became known as the five fundamentals:[7]

  • Biblical inspiration and the infallibility of scripture as a result of this
  • Virgin birth of Jesus
  • Belief that Christ's death was the atonement for sin
  • Bodily resurrection of Jesus
  • Historical reality of the miracles of Jesus

In 1920, the word "fundamentalist" was first used in print by Curtis Lee Laws, editor of "The Watchman Examiner," a Baptist newspaper.[8] Laws proposed that those Christians who were fighting for the fundamentals of the faith should be called "fundamentalists."[9]

Theological conservatives who rallied around the five fundamentals came to be known as "fundamentalists". They rejected the existence of commonalities with theologically related religious traditions, such as the grouping of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism into one Abrahamic family of religions.[10] By contrast, while Evangelical groups (such as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) typically agree with the "fundamentals" as they are expressed in The Fundamentals, they are often willing to participate in events with religious groups which do not hold to the essential doctrines.[11]

3. Islam

Fundamentalism within Islam goes back to the early history of Islam in the 7th century, to the time of the Kharijites.[12] From their essentially political position, they developed extreme doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream Shia and Sunni Muslims. The Kharijites were particularly noted for adopting a radical approach to takfir, whereby they declared other Muslims to be unbelievers and therefore deemed them worthy of death.[12][13][14][15]

The Shia and Sunni religious conflicts since the 7th century created an opening for radical ideologues, such as Ali Shariati (1933–77), to merge social revolution with Islamic fundamentalism, as exemplified by the Iranian Revolution in 1979.[16] Islamic fundamentalism has appeared in many countries;[17] the Salafi-Wahhabi version is promoted worldwide and financed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Pakistan .[18][19][20][21][22][23]

The Iran hostage crisis of 1979–80 marked a major turning point in the use of the term "fundamentalism". The media, in an attempt to explain the ideology of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranian Revolution to a Western audience described it as a "fundamentalist version of Islam" by way of analogy to the Christian fundamentalist movement in the U.S. Thus was born the term Islamic fundamentalist, which became a common use of the term in following years.[24]

4. Judaism

Jewish fundamentalism has been used to characterize militant religious Zionism, and both Ashkenazi and Sephardic versions of Haredi Judaism.[25] Ian S Lustik has characterized Jewish fundamentalism as "an ultranationalist, eschatologically based, irredentist ideology."[26]

5. Politics

Political usage of the term "fundamentalism" has been criticized. It has been used by political groups to berate opponents, using the term flexibly depending on their political interests. According to Judith Nagata, a professor of Asia Research Institute in the National University of Singapore, "The Afghan mujahiddin, locked in combat with the Soviet enemy in the 1980s, could be praised as 'freedom fighters' by their American backers at the time, while the present Taliban, viewed, among other things, as protectors of American enemy Osama bin Laden, are unequivocally 'fundamentalist'."[27]

"Fundamentalist" has been used pejoratively to refer to philosophies perceived as literal-minded or carrying a pretense of being the sole source of objective truth, regardless of whether it is usually called a religion. For instance, the Archbishop of Wales has criticized "atheistic fundamentalism" broadly[28][29][30] and said "Any kind of fundamentalism, be it Biblical, atheistic or Islamic, is dangerous".[31] He also said, "the new fundamentalism of our age ... leads to the language of expulsion and exclusivity, of extremism and polarisation, and the claim that, because God is on our side, he is not on yours."[32] He claimed it led to situations such as councils calling Christmas "Winterval", schools refusing to put on nativity plays and crosses being removed from chapels. Others have countered that some of these attacks on Christmas are urban legends, not all schools do nativity plays because they choose to perform other traditional plays like A Christmas Carol or The Snow Queen and, because of rising tensions between various religions, opening up public spaces to alternate displays rather than the Nativity scene is an attempt to keep government religion-neutral.[33]

In The New Inquisition, Robert Anton Wilson lampoons the members of skeptical organizations such as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal as fundamentalist materialists, alleging that they dogmatically dismiss any evidence that conflicts with materialism as hallucination or fraud.[34]

In France, during a protestation march against the imposition of restrictions on the wearing of headscarves in state-run schools, a banner labeled the ban as "secular fundamentalism".[35][36] In the United States, private or cultural intolerance of women wearing the hijab (Islamic headcovering) and political activism by Muslims also has been labeled "secular fundamentalism".[37]

The term "fundamentalism" is sometimes applied to signify a counter-cultural fidelity to a principle or set of principles, as in the pejorative term "market fundamentalism", used to imply exaggerated religious-like faith in the ability of unfettered laissez-faire or free-market capitalist economic views or policies to solve economic and social problems. According to economist John Quiggin, the standard features of "economic fundamentalist rhetoric" are "dogmatic" assertions and the claim that anyone who holds contrary views is not a real economist. Retired professor in religious studies Roderick Hindery lists positive qualities attributed to political, economic, or other forms of cultural fundamentalism, including "vitality, enthusiasm, willingness to back up words with actions, and the avoidance of facile compromise" as well as negative aspects such as psychological attitudes, occasionally elitist and pessimistic perspectives, and in some cases literalism.[38]

6. Criticism

A criticism by Elliot N. Dorff:

In order to carry out the fundamentalist program in practice, one would need a perfect understanding of the ancient language of the original text, if indeed the true text can be discerned from among variants. Furthermore, human beings are the ones who transmit this understanding between generations. Even if one wanted to follow the literal word of God, the need for people first to understand that word necessitates human interpretation. Through that process human fallibility is inextricably mixed into the very meaning of the divine word. As a result, it is impossible to follow the indisputable word of God; one can only achieve a human understanding of God's will.[39]

Howard Thurman was interviewed in the late 1970s for a BBC feature on religion. He told the interviewer:

I say that creeds, dogmas, and theologies are inventions of the mind. It is the nature of the mind to make sense out of experience, to reduce the conglomerates of experience to units of comprehension which we call principles, or ideologies, or concepts. Religious experience is dynamic, fluid, effervescent, yeasty. But the mind can't handle these so it has to imprison religious experience in some way, get it bottled up. Then, when the experience quiets down, the mind draws a bead on it and extracts concepts, notions, dogmas, so that religious experience can make sense to the mind. Meanwhile, religious experience goes on experiencing, so that by the time I get my dogma stated so that I can think about it, the religious experience becomes an object of thought.[40]

Influential criticisms of fundamentalism include James Barr's books on Christian fundamentalism and Bassam Tibi's analysis of Islamic fundamentalism.[41]

A study at the University of Edinburgh found that of its six measured dimensions of religiosity, "lower intelligence is most associated with higher levels of fundamentalism."[42]

7. Controversy

The Associated Press' AP Stylebook recommends that the term fundamentalist not be used for any group that does not apply the term to itself. Many scholars have adopted a similar position.[43] Other scholars, however, use the term in the broader descriptive sense to refer to various groups in various religious traditions including those groups that would object to being classified as fundamentalists, such as in the Fundamentalism Project.[44]

Tex Sample asserts that it is a mistake to refer to a Muslim, Jewish, or Christian fundamentalist. Rather, a fundamentalist's fundamentalism is their primary concern, over and above other denominational or faith considerations.[45]

The content is sourced from: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Religion:Fundamentalism

References

  1. KYAW ZWA MOE (March 30, 2013). "Root Out the Source of Meikhtila Unrest". http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/30965. 
  2. Athas, Iqbal; Hume, Tim (June 24, 2014). "Fear, shock among Sri Lankan Muslims in aftermath of Buddhist mob violence". CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/19/world/asia/sri-lanka-muslim-aluthgama. 
  3. "Sri Lanka struggles to halt days of Buddhist riots". BBC News. March 7, 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43305453. 
  4. George M. Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture, (1980) pp 4-5 Over 1400 scholarly books have cited Marsden's work, according to Google Scholar. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=marsden+fundamentalism&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C27&as_sdtp=
  5. Buescher, John. "A History of Fundamentalism", Teachinghistory.org. Retrieved August 15, 2011. http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24092
  6. Mark A. Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada (1992) pp 376-86
  7. George M. Marsden, "Fundamentalism and American Culture", (1980) p. 117
  8. "fundamentalist (adj.)". Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/fundamentalist. 
  9. Curtis Lee Laws, "Convention Side Lights," The Watchman-Examiner, 8, no. 27 (1 July 1920), p 834.
  10. Kunst, J., Thomsen, L., Sam, D. (2014). Late Abrahamic reunion? Religious fundamentalism negatively predicts dual Abrahamic group categorization among Muslims and Christians. European Journal of Social Psychology https://www.academia.edu/6436421/Late_Abrahamic_reunion_Religious_fundamentalism_negatively_predicts_dual_Abrahamic_group_categorization_among_Muslims_and_Christians
  11. Carpenter, Revive us Again (1997) p 200
  12. Cusack, Carole M.; Upal, Muhammad Afzal, eds (2021). "Theology of Violence-oriented Takfirism as a Political Theory: The Case of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)". Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements. Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion. 21. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 485–512. doi:10.1163/9789004435544_026. ISBN 978-90-04-43554-4.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1163%2F9789004435544_026
  13. "Another battle with Islam's 'true believers'". The Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/another-battle-with-islams-true-believers/article20802390/. 
  14. Mohamad Jebara More Mohamad Jebara (February 6, 2015). "Imam Mohamad Jebara: Fruits of the tree of extremism". Ottawa Citizen. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/fruits-of-the-tree-of-extremism. 
  15. "Archived copy". http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/publications/free/the-balance-of-islam-in-challenging-extremism.pdf. 
  16. William E. Griffith, "The Revival of Islamic Fundamentalism: The Case of Iran", International Security, June 1979, Vol. 4 Issue 1, pp 132-138 in JSTOR https://www.jstor.org/pss/2626789
  17. Lawrence Davidson, Islamic Fundamentalism (Greenwood, 2003)
  18. "Terrorism: Growing Wahhabi Influence in the United States". Washington, D.C.: United States Government Publishing Office. 26 June 2003. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-108shrg91326/html/CHRG-108shrg91326.htm. "Nearly 22 months have passed since the atrocity of September 11th. Since then, many questions have been asked about the role in that day's terrible events and in other challenges we face in the war against terror of Saudi Arabia and its official sect, a separatist, exclusionary and violent form of Islam known as Wahhabism. It is widely recognized that all of the 19 suicide pilots were Wahhabi followers. In addition, 15 of the 19 were Saudi subjects. Journalists and experts, as well as spokespeople of the world, have said that Wahhabism is the source of the overwhelming majority of terrorist atrocities in today's world, from Morocco to Indonesia, via Israel, Saudi Arabia, Chechnya. In addition, Saudi media sources have identified Wahhabi agents from Saudi Arabia as being responsible for terrorist attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq. The Washington Post has confirmed Wahhabi involvement in attacks against U.S. forces in Fallujah. To examine the role of Wahhabism and terrorism is not to label all Muslims as extremists. Indeed, I want to make this point very, very clear. It is the exact opposite. Analyzing Wahhabism means identifying the extreme element that, although enjoying immense political and financial resources, thanks to support by a sector of the Saudi state, seeks to globally hijack Islam [...] The problem we are looking at today is the State-sponsored doctrine and funding of an extremist ideology that provides the recruiting grounds, support infrastructure and monetary life blood of today's international terrorists. The extremist ideology is Wahhabism, a major force behind terrorist groups, like al Qaeda, a group that, according to the FBI, and I am quoting, is the "number one terrorist threat to the U.S. today"." 
  19. DeLong-Bas, Natana J. (2004). Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad. New York City: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195169913. https://books.google.com/books?id=797QCwAAQBAJ. 
  20. Armstrong, Karen (27 November 2014). "Wahhabism to ISIS: how Saudi Arabia exported the main source of global terrorism". New Statesman (London). http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2014/11/wahhabism-isis-how-saudi-arabia-exported-main-source-global-terrorism. Retrieved 28 June 2021. 
  21. Crooke, Alastair (30 March 2017). "You Can't Understand ISIS If You Don't Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia". The Huffington Post (New York City). https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/isis-wahhabism-saudi-arabia_b_5717157.html. 
  22. "Wahhabist Ideology: What It Is And Why It's A Problem". The Huffington Post (New York City). 22 December 2016. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wahhabist-ideology-what-it-is-and-why-its-a-problem_b_585991fce4b014e7c72ed86e?guccounter=1. 
  23. Lindijer, Koert (24 August 2013). "How Islam from the north spreads once more into the Sahel". http://theafricanists.info/how-islam-from-the-north-spreads-once-more-into-the-sahel/. "Hundreds of years later, Islam again comes to the Sahel, this time with an unstoppable mission mentality and the way paved by money from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Pakistan. Foreigners, and also Malians who received scholarships to study in Saudi Arabia, introduce this strict form of Islam, and condemn the sufi's [sic]." 
  24. "Google News Search: Chart shows spikes in '79 (Iran hostage crisis), after 9/11 and in '92 and '93 (Algerian elections, PLO).". https://news.google.com/archivesearch?ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&tab=wn&q=Islamic+fundamentalist&scoring=n&sa=N&sugg=d&as_ldate=1990&as_hdate=1991&lnav=d4&hdrange=1992,2005. 
  25. "fundamentalism - religious movement". http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1191955/fundamentalism/252664/Jewish-fundamentalism-in-Israel#ref883280. 
  26. Ian S. Lustik (Fall 1987). "Israel's Dangerous Fundamentalists". Fp : The Magazine of Global Politics, Economics and Ideas (68): 118–139. ISSN 0015-7228. http://www.geocities.com/alabasters_archive/dangerous_fundamentalists.html. Retrieved November 4, 2013. 
  27. Nagata, Judith. 2001. Toward an Anthropology of "Fundamentalism." Toronto: Blackwell Publishing, p.9.
  28. Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath, The Dawkins Delusion? Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), February 15, 2007, ISBN:978-0-281-05927-0
  29. Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru | The Church in Wales http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/press/display_press_release.php?prid=4542
  30. "'Atheistic fundamentalism' fears". BBC News. December 22, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7156783.stm. 
  31. "Archbishop of Wales fears the rise of "Atheistic Fundamentalism"". http://www.atheistnation.net/news/?atheist/article,00139. 
  32. "Atheistic fundamentalism" fears". BBC News. 22 December 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7156783.stm. 
  33. Toynbee, Polly (December 21, 2007). "Sorry to disappoint, but it's nonsense to suggest we want to ban Christmas". The Guardian (London). https://www.theguardian.com/christmas2007/story/0,,2230951,00.html. 
  34. Pope Robert Anton Wilson, The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science. 1986. 240 pages. ISBN:1-56184-002-5
  35. "Secular fundamentalism", International Herald Tribune, December 19, 2003 http://www.iht.com/articles/2003/12/19/edscarf_ed3_.php
  36. "Headscarf ban sparks new protests," BBC News, January 17, 2004 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3405453.stm
  37. Ayesha Ahmad, "Muslim Activists Reject Secular Fundamentalism", originally published at IslamOnline, April 22, 1999. See also Minaret of Freedom 5th Annual Dinner, Edited Transcript, Minaret of Freedom Institute website. http://www.islamawareness.net/Secularism/activists.html
  38. Hindery, Roderick (2008). "Comparative Ethics, Ideologies, and Critical Thought" http://propagandaandcriticalthought.com/RHComparativeEthicsArticle2008.htm
  39. Dorff, Elliot N. and Rosett, Arthur, A Living Tree; The Roots and Growth of Jewish Law, SUNY Press, 1988.
  40. "An Interview With Howard Thurman and Ronald Eyre", Theology Today, Volume 38, Issue 2 (July 1981). http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jul1981/v38-2-criticscorner1.htm
  41. Tibi, Bassam (2002). The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520236905. 
  42. Gary J. Lewis, Stuart J. Ritchie, Timothy C. Bates (2011-09-03). "The relationship between intelligence and multiple domains of religious belief: Evidence from a large adult US sample". http://www.midus.wisc.edu/findings/pdfs/1197.pdf. 
  43. "Can anyone define 'fundamentalist'?", Terry Mattingly, Ventura County Star, May 12, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2011. http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/may/12/can-anyone-define-fundamentalist/
  44. See, for example, Marty, M. and Appleby, R.S. eds. (1993). Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies, and Militance. John H. Garvey, Timur Kuran, and David C. Rapoport, associate editors, Vol 3, The Fundamentalism Project. University of Chicago Press.
  45. Tex Sample. Public Lecture, Faith and Reason Conference, San Antonio, TX. 2006.
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