Why Do Right-Wing Christians Think "Religious Freedom" Means Forcing Their Faith on You?

[The Traveler]

6. It's the same for any "fundamentalist"

Buddhist fundamentalists have operated pogroms against Muslim minorities, and very recently. (How ironic is that?)

We all know about Muslim fundamentalists ... our press insures we hear about that every day.

It should come as no surprise that Christian fundamentalists are similarly inclined.

When examined in detail, there really is little room in the teachings of Jesus or of Buddha for such behaviors. I note that Christian fundamentalists are much more prone to quote Saint Paul than the Nazarene himself ... I therefore sometimes am tempted to label them "Paulists". There is probably someone in Buddhist tradition that played a similar bastardizing and organizing role, but I can't identify that person. Even early Islamic teaching held that Islam was just the "best approach" to relationship with the Divinity, and not the only one.

So I am not sure we can blame these religions specifically for the problem. There are some people who are attracted to <insert relgion here> fundamentalism. Their psyches need that ramp up for some reason. Perhaps it is as simple as that fundamentalism gives them license to focus on the behaviors and beliefs of others, thereby allowing them to escape responsibility for their own spiritual and/or emotional growth and intellectual development.

The Islamic world was the center of intellectual development for a long time. Centuries ago, they gave us algebra and astronomy, for example. They were artisans and artists of the highest order. They could have done much more, but fundamentalists shut that down.

Now, we in America face our own fundamentalists who want to shut down science education and the arts because they perceive it as a threat to their authority. I guess we could acquiesce ... I would prefer not.

Trav