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Petal Alderin Profile
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The Fundamentalist Approach to Religion - and why it must be wrong


I found this article on the net, too long to post here. Any comments?

The Fundamentalist Approach


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9/3/2008, 9:34 am Link to this post Send e-mail to   Send PM to Blog
 
Morwen Oronor Profile
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Re: The Fundamentalist Approach to Religion - and why it must be wrong


That article makes some very valid points and here is another one that it doesn't make. Invariably, the kind of fundamentalist thinking when shown in the behaviour of ordinary people, usually hides some deep-rooted psychological problem, for instance, a confusion over sexual identity (and this is a biggie), or to cover up extreme violent tendencies, or a tendency to substance abuse. You find fundamentalism in a lot of 'recovered' alcoholics, they turn to fundamentalism for the 'high' they would otherwise get from a substance, and I'm sure we've all come across anti-smoking nazis who used to be smokers themselves who wave their anti-smoking belief like other fundamentalists wave their Bibles or their Koran. Anti-abortionists are another group of fundamentalists, the type of people who burn down abortion clinics, anti-fur activists, another example.
All this kins of behaviour hides some other deep psychological problem. Where the rest of humanity says, "whatever" these people blow up train stations. abortion clinics, hang around gay bars to beat up patrons, it's all the same kind of mentality.
Fundamentalism doesn't have to apply to religion only but unfortunately most of these 'nazis' have affiliations to deeply religious groups, so the religion gets the blame rather than the individual.
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Re: The Fundamentalist Approach to Religion - and why it must be wrong


quote:

Fundamentalism Defined
Fundamentalism is variously described by various authors, but to me it really boils down to a rather simple test: In my view, a fundamentalist religion is a religion, any religion, that when confronted with a conflict between love, compassion and caring, and conformity to doctrine, will almost invariably choose the latter regardless of the effect it has on its followers or on the society of which it is a part.



I like Princeton's definition:

quote:

the interpretation of every word in the sacred texts as literal truth



This is the root cause. The effect of that cause is to disregard all logic, all compassion, or all of anything that doesn't agree with that "truth." Of course, this can be troublesome if someone reads and understands the whole Bible, considering its many contradictions, but if any fundamentalists do read the whole Bible, you can be sure that they "forget" the parts they don't like, and when a contradiction comes along, they "translate" it to mean something different than what it says.

Anyone who is not a fundamentalist, by definition, recognizes that there can be copyist, translation, and other errors in the literature, and try to determine the original intent behind the writings. Some non-fundamentalists determine that there's "some" truth or even a lot of truth, while others may see the entire thing as a collection of fictitious works.

Last edited by Lesigner Girl, 9/3/2008, 7:48 pm


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9/3/2008, 7:47 pm Link to this post Send e-mail to   Send PM to Blog
 
Pastor Rick Profile
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Re: The Fundamentalist Approach to Religion - and why it must be wrong


I don't want to do this right now for several reasons but at some point I would like to know some of these "contradictions" you keep talking about Lesa. In the 37+years I have spent studying the Bible I have yet to find one that could not be resolved so I am curious... but not right now and I think you know why...

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9/4/2008, 1:45 am Link to this post Send e-mail to   Send PM to Blog
 
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Re: The Fundamentalist Approach to Religion - and why it must be wrong


Rick a friend of mine was brought up as a fundamentalist Christian. He left school early and abandoned any thought of education to do what our verbose friend has been doing on this board. All he knew anything about was the Bible. Then something happened, he doesn't say what but I suspect it had something to do with falling in love with a Jewish girl.
He went on a search to find the truth. In this quest he did was Lesa is suggesting, he looked at the Bible critically from a 'scientific' point of view, without any knowledge of the scientific method, he searched for secular opinion about this book that was the center of his existence.
He has written a book reporting his findings. It is not the most scholarly work ever written but it is written from the heart.
Strange for someone not really interested in making a study of the Bible, he asked me to read it and to help edit it (it seems I didn't do such a good job of that either) but in doing this, I read all his research a few times and what he says makes complete sense.
I can find the examples he gives of contradictions if you like, or I can give you the link to the book itself, if you'd like to read it.
Lesa has already said that she is going to read it so maybe she can give an opinion of what he says for us.
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Re: The Fundamentalist Approach to Religion - and why it must be wrong


I would like the link please emoticon

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9/4/2008, 10:48 am Link to this post Send e-mail to   Send PM to Blog
 
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Re: The Fundamentalist Approach to Religion - and why it must be wrong


I'm sending it in a pm.

He's given me permission to promote the book and to discuss it. So there's no copyright problem if you want to talk to be about it. I'd be interested to see what you and Lesa think about the book, from two opposing points of view.

Last edited by Morwen Oronor, 9/4/2008, 10:54 am
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Re: The Fundamentalist Approach to Religion - and why it must be wrong


I bookmarked the link so I can get back to it emoticon

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9/4/2008, 10:57 pm Link to this post Send e-mail to   Send PM to Blog
 
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Re: The Fundamentalist Approach to Religion - and why it must be wrong


Great and thank you.
9/4/2008, 11:56 pm Link to this post Send PM to Blog
 
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Re: The Fundamentalist Approach to Religion - and why it must be wrong


I'm about halfway done with the book. I disagree with some of what he says, but agree with most of it. Even in parts where I disagree, he still comes up with things I have never thought of before. I'm taking notes as I go along, and will be happy to post a review from those notes, after I'm finished reading the book.

Overall, it's worth reading. Rick, although I'm sure you will disagree with more parts than I do, hopefully it will help you look at things from a different perspective.

Edit: As for contradictions, rather than list a bunch of them off the top of my head, I'm sure you will find this link to be more extensive. I have seen such lists before and actually disagreed with some of the 'contradictions' myself, but most of what I've seen in those lists, I agree with from my own reading of the book.

Another edit: I'll be happy to list some specific contradictions this weekend, so we can discuss them.

Last edited by Lesigner Girl, 9/5/2008, 7:12 pm


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