Religious Fundamentalism and Social Order A Philosophical Perspective Domenic Marbaniang Paper presented at the National Seminar on Religious Fundamentalism and Social Order Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, February 26-27, 2010.
Forty four years after the publication of Harvey Cox‟s The Secular City that celebrated “the progressive secularization of the world as the logical outcome of Biblical religion” (Newsweek)1, we almost feel the bones of religious fundamentalism cracking under the pressure of secularization. At the same time, however, the Hegelian dialectic holds ground as both refuse to be crushed by either; and any compromising stance only begets another rival; to the effect, that it can be said that fundamentalism is never a phenomenon that may be extinguished. The term “fundamentalist” was first used by a Baptist journalist in 1920 as a badge of honor for those Christians who championed the cause of the Fundamentals, or set of beliefs such as the inerrancy of Scriptures, original sin, the Virgin birth, atonement, resurrection, and Second Coming of Christ that were considered to be basic to Protestant faith. However, soon the liberals began using the word as a term of abuse, associating it with blind ignorance and obscurantism.2 In modern times, the term has been extended and generically used to identify a form of religiosity that is prevalent among different religions.3 Thus, we now also talk about Hindu fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalism, and Sikh fundamentalism. There are many rivals to fundamentalism today – scientism, skepticism, existentialism, post-modernism, pluralism, liberalism, and secularism to name a few. Fundamentalism is not without its synonyms either: orthodoxy, conservativism, rightwing,4 extremism, and fanaticism, to name a few. Each of the terms does not entirely mean the same though each carries the common meaning of adherence to some original or fundamental beliefs and an attitude that rejects any openness to change regarding the fundamentals or traditionally approved elements. Fundamentalists Harvey Cox, The Secular City (New York: Macmillan Pub. Co. Inc., 1975), Cover Page Lloyd Geering, Fundamentalism: the Challenge to the Secular World, 2003. www.religion-online.org. January 7, 2010. Peter A. Huff, “The Challenge of Fundamentalism for Inter-religious Dialogue”, www.crosscurrents.org/Huff.htm, accessed on January 9, 2010. In “Fundamentalism around the World”, Max L. Stackhouse, Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, pointed out that “It is impossible to predict whether fundamentalism will be left-wing or right-wing” and that “fundamentalism tends to oppose pluralism, preferring authoritarian social structures, whether of the right or the left.” The Christian Century, August 28-September 4, 1985, pp. 769-771, as e-published on http://www. religion-online.org, January 7, 2010. 1 2 3
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