Religious Fundamentalism - Essay Example

s School Religious Fundamentalism Religious Fundamentalism is the term which was first used for the Protestant Community dominant in the United State in the 20th century. As the name suggests, the values and belief system of the people belonging to this community are fundamental and resistant to the modern idea as far as religion is concerned. Religious Fundamentalism studied today by social scientist is more of a contextual worldview which reflects modernity and change, thus studying religious beliefs being stagnant and adamant to the globalization and changing values (Marchovitz 2010).

Though social scientists tend to study this worldview without any bias i.e. by ignoring the violence involved, however the modern day Islamic Modernism involves such aspects owing much to the global terrorism. This paper aims at discussing the worldview in detail by identifying the pre-suppositions behind the worldview, also discussing few of the causes and consequences of the religious fundamentalism. Religious Fundamentalism is used for almost all major world religions alike, for instance, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism etc though the values and tenets of all these religions is different, however, since fundamentalists resist change the term is applied to them by modernists.

There are various pre-suppositions which can be helpful in identifying the worldview, rather in understanding the concepts attached. Firstly, the identity of fundamentalist community lies in their resistance to change and their will to retain the past values which were rather owned by their descendants over the centuries. These people rather aim at restoring the golden age which had defined their religious values. Secondly, according to a few of the researchers, fundamentalists are rather assertive and violent though this statement can`t be generalized.

For instance, the Hindu Fundamentalists` destruction of the Babri Mosque in 1992 was considered a classic case of Religious Fundamentalism. Thirdly, this group of fundamentalists won`t just be applying the religious values upon themselves, rather they feel that they have been prescribed the duty of enlightening others with their worldview and spreading knowledge about their religion even by force, as was the case with Ulster Sinhalese and Buddhist Sinhalese. Also, being unique is also a part of Fundamentalism in various religions.

This implies that these groups seek unique identities for instance Hijab, skin marks, crosses and other rituals and distinctive practices to distinguish themselves from the group (Fridel 2009). Moreover, for these groups, there is only one truth which is the fundamentals of their religion and everything else according to them is false, including all other religions. Also, a religious book i.e. a Holy book containing the contextual details of their religions is considered as an important source of inspiration which is very rigidly followed by the Fundamentalists.

Also, these people deny the civic even international laws as they solely believe in God`s laws and will. Moreover, sexual behaviors are also of central concern for these fundamentalists as these are highly phobic to homosexuality or other controversial concepts. Thus, the long-term goal of this fundamentalist community is to replace the state apparatus with morality and laws which are governed by the will of the God and religious sentiments (Weinberg and Pedahzur 2004). Modernity can be deemed as the most credible root cause behind Fundamentalism as the new and the changing principles challenge the core values of family life and traditions.

For instance, homosexuality and open relationships are perilous for family life and the chain of marriage and birth, thus those who fear change will seek escape in religion, thus they will be more prone to the fall prey to the fundamentalist movements. The free elections in Tunisia and Egypt reflect the fear of the people as they are still in the transition phase and fear the fusion of western values with their cultures, thus they chose the fundamentalist parties over modern ones to support the mandate that they want to retain their religious values and traditions.

Thus, fundamentalism is a reaction to globalization and changing trends which inflict fear in the hearts of the people regarding the break-up of families or bonds for that matter (Hood and Williamson 2005). However, these fundamentalist movements can also be regarded as a power struggle for minorities of rather those who can exploit religion for power. As a consequence of Fundamentalism, there is a great divide between religion and religion has now become home for violence and narcissism. Those with certain religious values feel threatened also as mentioned above, they feel the need to enlighten other people with their beliefs, for which they undertake violent behavior, terrorism being one of the product for such movements.

Also, they affect the state apparatus which in turn disturbs stability in a nation and makes it weaker, which is a threat for democracy. Thus, these movements need to be analyzed in detail to get rid of the negative sentiments being associated with religion owing much to Religious Fundamentalist Movements. References: Marcovitz, H. (2010). Religious fundamentalism. San Diego, CA: ReferencePoint Press, Inc. Fridell, R. (2009). Religious fundamentalism. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark.

Weinberg, L., & Pedahzur, A. (2004). Religious fundamentalism and political extremism. London: Frank Cass. Hood, R. W., Hill, P. C., & Williamson, W. P. (2005). The psychology of religious fundamentalism. New York: Guilford Press.