Fundamentalism can be widely defined as the utmost strict obedience towards distinct religious policies and guidelines which is usually understood as a reaction against Modernist Theology. It is also known to be associated with a forceful attack on outside threats to their own religious culture and beliefs. (George M. Marsden. 1980.) Fundamentalism first began as a movement in the United States in the late 19th century, early 20th century. It originally started within American Protestantism as a reaction to theological liberalism and cultural modernism. Soon after it spread to other religions generating quite a large following, including some fallen away Catholics. The term fundamentalism derives a religious affiliation in coherence to a set of very complex beliefs. Fundamentalists argued that many modern theologians had misinterpreted certain doctrines and stressed the infallibility of the bible. They selectively choose what they are against and what they accept in modern culture. What started out as a refined organisation quickly grew and spread throughout the use of media, press and academia. Nowadays there not only exists Protestant Fundamentalists but Islamic Fundamentalists, Buddhist Fundamentalists, Hindu Fundamentalists and many more from various religions and creeds.
To say Religious fundamentalism is always totalitarian may give some false pretenses. The term totalitarianism can be described as a political term in which the state holds complete authority and dictates all aspects of public and private life. Totalitarianism is regulated through the use of forceful political action and propaganda method in organised media. Totalitarianism was first developed in the early 1920s with Italian Fascists. The concept soon spread...
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...ndamentalist but yet not all participate in such aggressive manor.
Since the beginning of Christian Fundamentalism there has been many interactions between religion and militancy. A well known activist group was established in America after the civil war called the Ku Klux Klan. They were a protestant led organization who engaged in violent acts such as lynching, murder, arson, cross burning, rape, arson, demolition of property and other horrendous crimes. This was all carried out against African Americans, Muslims, Jews and other ethnic minorities. They were openly Christian terrorist in their philosophy, basing their beliefs on a “religious foundation” in Christianity. (Al Khattar, Aref. M. 2003.) Their burnings and physical abuse that they caused were not only to frighten and warn their enemies but to also show their devotion and overall worship to Jesus Christ.
1. In her book “Total Domination”, Hannah Arendt strongly believed that Totalitarianism is trying to achieve the idea of Total domination. She studied and analyzed how totalitarianism had always falls into the idea of total domination in which she explained how total domination works in her point of view and her own description of Totalitarian. Her purpose is to show how the leaders treated humans lesser than animals in a way of how they torture people with their cruelty. She seems to have a great ideas of her comparison that gives justice to really make me believe that totalitarian has the same idea of total dominion.
The secularization paradigm Bruce argues ‘is a set of associated explanations rather than a single theory’ (Pg.43). To build on this argument Bruce provides us with a diagram of the secularization paradigm with 22 key contributing factors; some showing the religiosity of societies i.e. the protestant reformation and monotheism, some exploring other factors which have contributed towards secularization such as Industrial Capitalism, Technological Consciousness and Social Differentiation and he provides an explanation of these concepts in order to provide the reader with an analysis of these themes. This can however be problematic in the sense that the terminology of the paradigm may well be understood by individuals studying or in the field of sociology but for individuals who are looking to develop their knowledge on the debate of secularization and religion can make this difficult. Bruce argues that modernization is one of the main causes of secularization. ‘‘Modernization brought with it increased cultural diversity in three different ways. First populations moved and brought their language, religion and social mores with them in a new setting. Secondly, the expansion of the increasingly expansive nation state meant that new groups were brought into the state. But thirdly…modernization created cultural pluralism through the proliferation of classes and class fragmentation with increasingly diverse
...rvative and fundamentalist Christian perspective. They are content with their elected officials and church leaders as their day-to-day environment never presents them with any new or contrary ideas. This presents a problem to anyone attempting to try something new.
...their actions include killing others in a similar fashion to what happened in the Crusades. Another thing is that, those who recruit these radicals often use religion to foreplay and get their followers to literally do their bidding. Osama Bin Laden never blew himself up in the name of God yet he tells others to do it. From that, there is a similar relationship between some of the Pope’s motives and terrorists today. There is also a use of the word Crusade for many invasions of countries. Vladmir Putin even stated that Operation Odyssey Dawn was similar to "reminiscent of a medieval call for a crusade.” (Russia’s Medev). This signifies that the Crusades and Overall, it’s important to understand that history will repeat itself in the same way but in a different form. **work on)
The March 11, 2003 edition of USA Today reports on a new approach to religious faith in certain churches: worship based in the values and mores of the American West. “Straight-shooting emphasis on Christianity spurs a growing trend,” reads the headline (Grossman D1). A church named, with no needed irony, “Cross Trails” is reported to baptize new believers “in an 8-foot circular, blue plastic horse trough” (Grossman D1). This is a trail to belief that is stripped-down, back-to-basics, a religious attitude that reflects the lives of the ranchers and farmers it appeals to. Cathy Lynn Grossman writes:
Maier, Hans. Totalitarianism and Political Religions, Volume III: Concepts for the comparison of dictatorships: theory and history of interpretation. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2007. Print.
When asked about what kind of state he wanted Italy to be he described his ideal state as a place where subordinates are “All within the state, none outside the state, none against the state.” ("Totalitarianism.") This kind of governmental structure and goals of this new state, were to provide the “total representation of the nation and total guidance of national goals.” (Stanley) While dictatorships and tyranny are often associated in the same realm of totalitarianism, the totalitarian system separates itself by its replacement of all other political institutions with new ones. Not to mention that totalitarianism does away with all legal, social, and political traditions and replaces that with whatever the state finds amicable and that which falls in line with what the government wants its people to think, speak, and believe. The one basic feature of a totalitarian state is that the state seeks to control how the population think. (Staudenmaier,) Totalitarianism is characterized by a strong, centralized, all powerful, oppressive government body. It attempts to “control to control and direct all aspects of individual life through coercion and repression.” ("Totalitarianism.") Totalitarianism is closely associated with other political doctrines that advocate the principle of absolute rule, such as absolutism, authoritarianism, autocracy, despotism,
The Society Religion as a Social Glue The view in the title is a functionalist’s view. Durkheim claims that religion is to do with the sacred and certain things, people and places are perceived to be sacred for example Jesus Christ, totem and the Tajmahal. He claims that what people perceive to be sacred are actually symbols of a collective consciousness. By worshipping these sacred things etc. they are actually reinforcing the beliefs, values, norms and tradition which make social life possible.
In modern history, there have been some governments, which have successfully, and others unsuccessfully carried out a totalitarian state. A totalitarian state is one in which a single ideology is existent and addresses all aspects of life and outlines means to attain the final goal, government is ran by a single mass party through which the people are mobilized to muster energy and support. In a totalitarian state, the party leadership maintains monopoly control over the governmental system, which includes the police, military,
According to Merriam-Webster, religion is based on “an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods” (“Religion”). In every part of the world there is a struggle between individual religions that are trying to institutionalize their “system of beliefs” on each other, and within those individual religions there is also a struggle of sects that claims that their teaching should be the basis for that religion, not the teachings that is presented by other believers of the same religion. These religious sect later go on to create religious organizations. The first thing these religious organizations try to propagate to their followers is that anyone that are not a follower of their doctrines is corrupt and needs a divine deliverance from themselves. This deliverance cannot be given to the individual in another religious organization, it has to come from them. One of the biggest organization that has openly declared themselves as the divine judgers of men from God is th...
Lord, that I was not born a woman.' With this at the very core of
“The trauma of the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., which were quickly interpreted as religious as well as political phenomena, provoked yet another body of studies. On the other hand, general studies of the relationship between religion and violence are rare, and they often appear to be somewhat one-sided...
In the academic article No Compulsion in Religion’Q2.256 in medieval and modern interpretation by Dr. Patricia Crone explains about the different interpretation of the famous verse in Surah 2:256 “There is no compulsion in religion.” This article goes on to explain an incredible quantity of research in primary sources written in Arabic and other languages from the early Middle Ages to the current century. These interpretations had great impact in the history of Islam, which helped it changed into what it is today, even though some of the Muslims are still uninformed of the different past clarification this verse went through.
The Oxford Dictionary defines totalitarianism as ‘a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state’ . A totalitarian regime possesses power over affairs of the state and its inhabitants under one party and bears no opposition. A key attribute of a totalitarian government is that is looks to shape the mind and actions of society through determination, philosophy, and in general, force.
Religious Fundamentalism is not a modern phenomenon, although, there has received a rise in the late twentieth century. It occurs differently in different parts of the world but arises in societies that are deeply troubled or going through a crisis (Heywood, 2012, p. 282). The rise in Religious Fundamentalism can be linked to the secularization thesis which implies that victory of reason over religion follows modernization. Also, the moral protest of faiths such as Islam and Christianity can be linked to the rise of Religious Fundamentalism, as they protest the influence of corruption and pretence that infiltrate their beliefs from the spread of secularization (Heywood, 2012, p. 283). Religious Fundamentalists have followed a traditional political thought process yet, have embraced a militant style of activity which often can turn violent (Heywood, 2012, p. 291). To be a fundamentalist is to wholly believe in the doctrine they are preaching or professing and will go to any lengths possible to have these beliefs implemented by their government , even using force or violence ( Garner, Ferdinand and Lawson, 2007, p. 149). All religions have a fundamentalist element, however, there is more of a significant conflict with Islamic fundamentalists and Christian fundamentalists. It is wrongly thought fundamentalism is exclusively linked to Islamic fundamentalist such as the jihadi group al-Qaeda nonetheless Christianity is the world's largest religion and is bond to have some fundamentalist component such as the Christian New Right in the Unites States of America (Garner, Ferdinand and Lawson, 2007, p. 150).