Why belief on God is not the root of fundamentalism

By Dr. Martin Olando

There are many global trends emerging among major world religions. One of the trends is been the perception that Fundamentalism is because of belief in God.

In Christianity, the term fundamentalism is normally used to refer to the conservative part of evangelical Christianity, which is itself the most conservative wing of Protestant Christianity. Fundamentalist Christians typically believe that the Bible is inspired by God and is inerrant. 

Fundamentalist Islam is simply the conservative wing of Islam, just as fundamentalist Christianity is the conservative wing of Christianity. The vast majority of Muslim fundamentalists are pious individuals who strictly follow the teachings of Mohammed, promote regular attendance at mosques, and promote the reading of the Qur'an . Therefore God’s word supersedes in their life.

 The term Fundamentalist has been extensively misused by the media to refer to terrorists, Suicidal bombers who happen to be Muslim and vocal   Christians on contemporary issues such as abortion, who take a radical stand to protect life. This is not accurate. Fundamentalism is to obey God’s commandment of love which is predominant   in most religions. God has given man intelligence and religion does not turn one into a robot to do things without as second thought. The view that the Islamic bombers and the Jews attacking the Arabs because of religion is far from the truth. A suicide bomber is a personal choice   born out of man but not religion

Saviors of society

 Members of fundamentalist movements see themselves as saviors of society. For this reason they are able to justify almost any action, however extreme, and any personal sacrifice, however great, for their cause. There is a tendency to see the world in black and white terms. The unrelenting commitment and conviction of the members of the movement is eventually the element that often leads the larger society to see them a social threat, even when their methods and strategies are peaceful.

Fundamentalist movements generally are spearheaded by one or more charismatic leaders who take the lead in gathering believers and delivering the central message of their thoughts instead of belief in God. Moreover, the fundamentalist movement attempts to evangelize a broader population and convince them of the truth of the group's orthodoxy.

For proper understanding of belief in God, a definition of religion would be of great help. Religion is a belief in the sacred, ritual acts focused on sacred objects, a moral code believed to have a sacred or supernatural basis or prayer and other forms of communication with the supernatural. Religion a belief in God draws followers   to reasoning   basing on other methodologies such as sociology, Philosophy and Psychology. This in itself rules out fundamentalism since   all the mention disciples are about people life which is sacred. When studying religion you need   to look at that religion   from its perspective. That’s to say if you look at Islam, look at it from an Islam worldview   not from a Christian worldview, vice versa. Never of any of the religion has said that “it’s god is better than the other”.

Belief in God had brought with it many good things. Religion is a powerful force in society since it brings social homogeneity.  All the Religions   have established ethic and moral standards to governing behavior which is very prominent in the monotheistic religions. Religious Scholar, Mircea Eliade, noted that religion is concerned   with both the   sacred and human contact.  This is evident   when religion fulfils man’s psychological needs such as helping in times of distress during personal life crises such as death and serious illness. 

The sacred texts   of   Religion usually set precedents for proper behavior in common situations. The Judeo- Christian  Bible  stories  of Adam and Eve, Abel,  Noah ,Moses  and even Jesus provide  examples of how  virtues  people  should  lead their lives.  Their stories don’t contain an iota of fundamentalism. This had made religions survive many thousand years. According  to Professor  David  Chidester of University of Cape town, “ A religion  that does  not  heal cannot  survive and I paraphrase   “ a Religion  which   has fundamentalist cannot survive” Indeed  if the said religions had fundamentalist they could not have survived.

Every religion has a unique outline structure. It would be wrong to make comparison   on various religions to assess fundamentalism. The Islamic   Sharia and the Judaist “eye for an eye” have different meanings in their religious settings. For example ‘ Does the  Torah  has the same  Inspiration as the Bible” How does  each  follower of the said religious  view  their  holy texts?

When we compare   religious   texts and put them in one context you need to understand the conceptual aspect i.e. what the people think or have in mind, the way people are grouped and what people feel. To compare Monotheistic religions, is not right since each of the religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity has its ethos.  Although they trace the origin   from Abraham, 2000 BC, the founders had different goals and visions. The Islamic Sharia cannot be equated   with the Deuteromistic ideology of “an eye for an “eye”. Since each of the ethos in the religions have a goal to achieve.

Fundamentalism can be an individual misinterpretation of God and the texts  and not belief  in God.In his book “ The Varieties  of Religious Experience” ,William Jones   reminds us that  people’s feelings  about God can be quite varied depending  on  their personality. Some have complicated attitude to God to whom they think takes pride in fundamentalism. Fundamentalism to them is to please the society which   they live in and use the belief in God as a scapegoat.  Individuals can use religion   to sort-out their own problem and ideological vendetta. The suicidal bomber, the American Televangelist, the Jewish invasion of Arab land can misuse religion to achieve their hedonistic goals. Wrong superstitions about God can turn a person into a fundamentalist losing the ideal meaning in belief in GOD.

God in Judaism, Islam and Christianity is a relational God who is the creator from which   lifer flows and sustained. It follows t that belief in him cannot lead to fundamentalism. Fundamentalism   is a global trend that is precipitated by Individuals who don’t belief in God. Fundamentalism is an individual’s   choice born out of selfishness.

Dr. Martin Olando is Lecturer in Religion and Theology. He works at Bishop Hannington and Kenya Methodist University, Mombasa.