Why fundamentalism will fail A seemingly unstoppable force is being
undone from the inside By
Harvey Cox
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The very nature of human religiousness is changing
in a way inimical to fundamentalist thought.
The most rapidly growing spiritual groups today focus
not on someone else's authority, but on a direct
encounter with the divine. Whatever else it may mean
that so many people call themselves "spiritual but not
religious," it suggests they still yearn for contact
with the sacred, but are suspicious of the scaffolding,
the doctrines, and hierarchies through which it has
often been conveyed.
Excerpts:
IN 1910, A COHORT of ultra-conservative American Protestants drew up a
list of non-negotiable beliefs they insisted any genuine Christian must
subscribe to. They published these "fundamentals" in a series of
widely distributed pamphlets over the next five years.
Their catalog featured doctrines such as the virgin birth, the physical
resurrection of Christ, and his imminent second coming.
The cornerstone, though, was a belief in the literal inerrancy of every
syllable of the Bible, including in matters of geology, paleontology,
and secular history. They called these beliefs fundamentals, and proudly
styled themselves "fundamentalists" - true believers who feared
that liberal movements like the social gospel and openness to other
faiths were eroding the foundation of their religion...
As the 20th century ended and a new one began, fundamentalism has taken
on more formidable shapes, both politically and religiously. Though most
of its adherents work through spiritual and educational channels, the
small minority that turn to violence have caught the media's
attention. If some seem ready to die for faith, others are ready to
kill for it, gunning down abortion doctors in church, hijacking planes,
and exploding bombs at weddings.
For plenty of thoughtful people, fundamentalism has come to represent
the most dangerous threat to open societies since the fall of communism.
However, the truth is that for all its apparent strength, the
fundamentalist sun is setting on all horizons. Throughout the Muslim
world growing numbers of people are becoming impatient with violent
groups that, in the name of Allah, seem capable of killing but incapable
of producing jobs, food, or health care.
Observers on the ground report that popular support for the jihadist
wing of the Taliban is falling off as it fails to address the real life
problems that afflict people in Afghanistan. (The other parts of the
Taliban are inspired less by fundamentalism than by tribal loyalties and
a traditional aversion to foreigners.)
Al Qaeda faces a similar dismal prospect. Dr. Audrey Kurth Cronin, a
professor at the National War College in Washington and author of a new
book, "How Terrorism Ends," says, "I think Al Qaeda is in
the process of imploding. That is not necessarily the end. But the
trends are in a good direction."
In Iran, the fact that the clerics have resorted to beating and
imprisoning their critics reveals the shakiness of their hold.
IN AMERICA, the religious right, which started as a crusade, is becoming
a niche. Randall Terry's Operation Rescue, which stages
demonstrations at abortion clinics, has just announced that it is
nearly bankrupt.
The shrillest TV evangelists are losing audiences to more moderate
"evangelical-lite" preachers. Fundamentalist congregations are
ceding ground to Pentecostals and mega-churches, which embrace a wider
social agenda and teach the spiritual authority - not the literal
inerrancy - of the Bible.
Surveys have shown that the rapid growth of evangelical Protestantism in
Latin America has not produced a replication of the American religious
right, but rather a moderate leftward tilt. A majority of Brazilian
evangelicals, for example, voted for President Lula, who ran as a
Workers Party candidate.
In South Korea, Christianity has grown faster than anywhere in the world
and now accounts for over a third of the population. But its theology
tends toward moderate evangelicalism with an ecumenical bent.
The fading of fundamentalism marks a decisive change in global society.
It has already freed Christians, Muslims, and Jews to explore what all
three have in common as they now begin to cooperate in confronting
nuclear weapons, poverty, and climate change...
But fundamentalist movements share another quality. They are inherently
fractious, and this is one reason for their broad decline.
When your view of reality is the only acceptable one, you cannot
compromise. Almost from its inception, American Protestant
fundamentalism split into warring factions. Its bellicosity toward
"liberals and modernists" was quickly turned on fellow
fundamentalists who were seen as not tough enough on the enemy. Since
the Bible told them not to be "unequally yoked together with
unbelievers," the question of with whom one could properly
associate became deeply vexed.
The most ardent partisans seceded from their denominations, and soon
began to quarrel about whether they should even fraternize with their
fellow fundamentalists who wanted to remain in their previous churches
to fight the "liberals."...
Similarly, the modern religious right, the political arm of
fundamentalism, foundered on its inability to compromise or build
coalitions. Local branches of the Christian Coalition became furious
with national office staffers for cooperating with others in order to
pass legislation.
The same fragmenting logic eats away at Jewish "land
fundamentalists," who base their claims to the West Bank on a
literal reading of the biblical book of Joshua ("conquer and
settle").
They despise the Jews who disagree with them even more than the
Palestinians whose terrain they claim. Some ultra-orthodox Jews still
refuse to accept the legitimacy of the state of Israel, since only the
Messiah is supposed to reclaim the Promised Land...
ANOTHER REASON WHY fundamentalists are faltering today has to do with
the world outside. The fundamentalist world view is unbending and
monochrome, but today's world is variable and multi-hued, and the
plurality is more and more visible.
Thanks to the increase of immigrants from Asia and the Middle East,
mosques and pagodas now share streets with churches and synagogues in
Europe and America. People of the previous generation could retreat into
a culturally isolated community and pull down the shades, but their
children live every day with a heightened, web-enhanced awareness of a
diverse world...
Fundamentalism is defined by its one-way-only exclusivism. But today
spiritually inclined people view the once-high walls between religious
traditions as porous. They borrow freely.
Synagogues and churches incorporate Asian meditation practices into
their services. Instead of a single churchly allegiance, people now
assemble "repertories" of elements from a number of sources.
They may attend Mass, take a yoga class, and keep a Buddhist devotional
book on their bedside table. Clerics often denounce this as
"cafeteria style" religion, but the current of religious
history is flowing against them...
The very nature of human religiousness is changing in a way inimical to
fundamentalist thought. The most rapidly growing spiritual groups today
focus not on someone else's authority, but on a direct encounter
with the divine. Whatever else it may mean that so many people call
themselves "spiritual but not religious," it suggests they still
yearn for contact with the sacred, but are suspicious of the
scaffolding, the doctrines, and hierarchies through which it has often
been conveyed...
A new and promising chapter in the long story of human faith is
beginning. Its untidiness often reminds me of the exuberant earliest
years of Christianity. Maturity comes with time. Future historians may
look back on the 20th century as a time when something called
"fundamentalism" interrupted, but only briefly, the age-old
human search for a way to live in the face of mystery, and to envision
what Martin Luther King called a "beloved community."
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