Fundamentalism is one of those things that is often associated with religion. There are Christian fundamentalists, Islamic fundamentalists, Mormon fundamentalists and so on. But what has it ever occurred to you that all of these movements have something in common? Once you see that they do, you also see that fundamentalism is present in many other aspects of life as well.
Religious fundamentalism is a reaction to any part of the religion that is complex. It is often law centered and always centers itself around and issue about what you personally should think or do. For instance, the religious text says that it is a bad idea to (whatever) or a good idea to (whatever) then that is how it is. There are no exceptions. Do this believe that. Circumstances, events, and all of the things which make life complex are completely ignored.
But if fundamentalism is a reaction to complexity, then it can be found in so many other aspects of life that it begins to amaze. An example that comes to mind is the attacks of September 11, 2001. For various reasons, Islamic fundamentalists hijacked several planes and flew them into the World Trade Center (a target that had been attacked for years) the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
Th reason for these hijackings is both simple and complex. They hate us. Why is where it becomes complex. But there are those in our society that cannot bear the thought that this is true. They simply cannot believe in a world complicated enough to bring about such action, so instead they invent an alternative story.
The alternative goes something like this. The world trade center was rigged with controlled demolition by President Bush in order to bring them down and declare war on the middle east in order to get more oil. The pentagon was hit by a missile. The planes were actually empty and were flown into the buildings remotely.
Fundamentalism is present in environmental thought as well. There are no doubt problems with the environment, but the answer is complicated and involves making better technology. However the fundamentalist view is that we must move backwards with our technology. No heat, no AC, no plumbing so poop in a bucket and dump in in your yard.
I realize that I have just scratched the surface of many topics here, but I am pointing out that they all have the same reaction to complex problems and that reaction is fundamentalist thought.
Just a few thoughts on fundamentalism. I would love to hear yours.
