RE: [Futurework] The rise (and fall?) of fundamentalism

[Karen Watters Cole]

I’d like to add a few comments on fundamentalism, the USA version 2003.   Cheney and Rumsfeld et al are fundamentalists in regard to an absolutist worldview.  They may not share the same spiritual values and social commonalities with the religious fundamentalists but they are symbiotic to each other.  They are powerbrokers and rely on an alliance of true believers, not unlike Hitler and the Brownshirts, because many in this alliance believe that America should be supreme, and this is very important, is being preempted by other entities from its rightful place of glory.    There is a deeply imbedded mythology about America as a unique achievement in modern history which co-exists here with deeply imbedded Christian beliefs that the religion of the ancient Hebrews modified by a crucifixion and resurrection make it the superior religion for the universe and the only one that will save the planet from ultimate destruction, as predicted and believed by many literalists.   Of course, there are orthodox Jews and Muslims who transfer religious beliefs to nationalism, but I’m focused on my own ‘shaping’ myth, my own religious background from which I can speak most comfortably and criticize, too. But this is why I’ve begun to use the phrase orthodox communities rather than just fundamentalists or Christian Zionists, because they have similar goals and are allies, as we see in the Middle East and elsewhere.   America is indeed a unique and wonderful concept, blessed by imminent timing, the legacy of Europe’s creative genius and her aristocratic failures at our inception, bold visionary authors, preferential geography and natural resources, fueled by immigrants in love with the idea that here was a place to start over, a place where all were given the opportunity to succeed and thrive.  That is the prevailing myth and dream, still largely relevant to many born here and those who want to immigrate here, even temporarily. An ideal can be difficult to achieve and maintain.   America is coming of age, maturing, a process altered or accelerated by 9/11 but within the positive experience of the past half-century of success, enough success that our crimes and sins of omission are largely overlooked if deeper reflection is avoided. We are at a point in our history where we can reimagine what it means to be Americans and reinvent the idea of America.   The dynamic tensions of fundamentalism on the political and social horizons will affect this process but not be the only determining factors in what we rebirth. But they could determine our fate for the next generation and create a lot of havoc for everyone given the global dynamics of resource wars and religious crusades, spawned by fears of extinction.    -KWC