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17 Apr 2008 02:54 pm

Fundamentalism and Culture, Ctd.

A reader writes:

As I've been spending a lot of time studying the Middle East (part of a Master's programme), I've noticed something about fundamentalism.

People embrace fundamentalism at two points. The most common worldwide is when everything is falling apart. It's the whole "the world is full of evil, God is punishing us" stuff. When you ain't got nothing, well, clinging to dogma that makes you part of the right group makes you feel like your at least not alone.

But, the flipside that you noted is the people who want to stay where they are in life. I really like my lifestyle and the system that has put me in my position. And you non-believers want to introduce new ideas, raise my taxes, and so on. Ouch! They perceive a threat, and again, it's that joining together because logic doesn't have an answer for it, but claiming divine purpose will justify anything. It's like the whole divine right of kings.

Living in the South, surrounded by Baptists, my girlfriend often reminds me that for most people in the dogmatic kind of setup it's "I hate sin, but I hate yours the most."

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