Fundamentalism

"Let's hear it for the vague blur!"
-A Scanner Darkly

One of the accusations often leveled at outspoken non-believers is that we're no different than the fundamentalists of other religions who sow seeds of hatred for homosexuals, who justify flying planes into buildings and who otherwise make life unpleasant down here on the pale blue dot.

Why do we have to be so strident? Can't we just content ourselves to not believe?

For some such questioners, religion basically breaks down to hymns, bingo and tea with the vicar. What they hear us saying is that they are idiots for participating in these simple pleasures

Why do we want to spoil everyone's fun by taking away gentle Jesus, meek and mild? Without religion, what would we talk to the vicar about?

Other questioners come at it from a more philosophical point of view. They point out, with tireless patience, that real theologians don't take religious myths seriously and that genuine theology is the study of people's relationship to the mysterious.

People need a source of ultimate answers, even if it is a myth-shrouded vague blur of generalized otherworldliness.

And while you can be a good person and do good things without pondering the vague blur, you can't ultimately know why you're not an unhinged serial murderer without acknowledging the vague blur.

So, let me just say out the outset, that I don't have any sort of real problem with these variants of religion. If it's all to be vague blurs and tea with the vicar, by all means, carry on.

But it's not all vague blurs and tea with the vicar, is it? Sometimes it's planes into buildings and superstitious gobbledygook in science class, isn't it?

Unfortunately, religious fundamentalists can not be reasoned with, because they reject reason in favor of faith in their whacked out world view. And, unfortunately, they're using your holy books and your religious stories to justify their anti-human lunacy.

Since religious fundamentalism cannot be argued with using reason or appeal to basic human decency there's simply no recourse but to attack it at the very core. Unfortunately, there's no way to do this without also attacking moderate religiosity.

For this reason, religious fundamentalism is a greater threat to religion than atheism could ever be on its own.