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Religious fanatics

M. L. Tan

We tend to associate religious fanaticism with cults like the Catholic Spirit of God or the Abu Sayyaf rebels but there are many other religious zealots amidst us who can be more dangeorus because they are so integrated into the mainstream of society, asserting their influence in schools, the media and government agencies.

There’s a difference between conservatism and fanaticism. Many religious conservatives lead quiet exemplary lives that speak nobly of their convictions. Religious fanatics, on the other hand, are aggressive, seeking to impose their views on others and preaching intolerance against all who disagree with their dogmatic views.

There’s also a difference between fanaticism and fundamentalism. Many fundamentalists seek the the roots of their faith without turning fanatical. Unfortunately, fundamentalist leaders can turn dogmatic and lead their flock into fanaticism. It all goes back to an arrogant, holier-than-thou insistence that a few people have the monopoly on truth.

Religious fanatics view human beings – and women especially – as being "sinful" by nature. Many of the fanatics aim for political power, warning against "secularism" and challenging the separation of religion and the State. Muslim and Jewish fundamentalists tend to be more direct, establishing religious parties and running for government posts. Christian zealots are often more covert, running for government positions through mainstream political parties or establishing key institutions – schools, research organizations, mass media outlets -- – to advance their agenda.

Extreme as their views may be, fanatics are often able to wrangle their way into positions of power and to use that power with ruthless ferocity. Two weeks ago in Turkey, the semi-governmental Pious Foundation published a book by a fundamentalist Islamic cleric who said it was all right for a man to beat up his wife as long as he did not hit her face, or strike her too strongly. Fortunately, Turkey is quite secular and strong women’s organizations have been able to protest against the book.

Women in Afghanistan are not as lucky, with the fundamentalist Taleban running the country. Girls have been pulled out of school and the Ministry of Public Virtue deploys religious police that go around the country harassing women who are not "properly" covered and beardless men, the latter seen as "effeminate" and therefore unnatural.

Quite often, religious fanatics appeal to nationalism, warning about how global conspiracies and "imperialists" threatening to ruin the country. Things "western", from television to contraceptives and the Internet, are condemned, although many of these groups’ leaders also conveniently use these "imperialist" imports to further their cause.

For all their anti-imperialist rhetoric, many of these groups actually draw most of their support from the United States. It’s easy to forget that the United States is the heartland for many of these Christian fanatics, and that the United States government has supported many of these groups, including, at one time, Afghanistan’s Taleban, because the fanatics are also rabidly anti-communist. Similarly, our government supported fanatical cults in Mindanao, arming them and turning them into paramilitary groups to fight insurgency and now finding they’ve created monsters that they can’t control.

Religious fanaticism thrives on ignorance. First, fanatics know very little of other people’s religions, which is why they can be terribly callous and insensitive when dealing with people of a different faith. An example was televangelist Wilde Almeda and his gang barging into the Abu Sayyaf lair to "pray over" the Muslims. It was the worst possible combustible mixture: fanatical Christians meeting fanatical Muslims.

The other side of the fanatics’ ignorance is that they understand so very little of their own religion. The misogynist (anti-women) position of Christian and Muslim fundamentalists is only one example of this ignorance of their own religion. Early Christianity challenged older Judaic traditions that required women to marry, offering new options for women to create their own identities, separate from men. Islam, on the other hand, established guidelines for marriage and for divorce, based on equity and responsibility for both men and women and was in many ways even more progressive than Christianity.

Unfortunately, Muslim and Christian leaders have veered away from the spirit of their original teachings. Over time, fanaticism reduces religions into ideological justifications for sectarianism, oppression and war. One example is the use of jihad, which actually means struggle. Defending Islam through "holy war" – and this is not supposed to include offensive action -- is the lesser jihad, while the greater jihad is that of leading virtuous lives.

The distortion of jihad is only one of the many destructive consequences of religious fantacism. Throughout history, more people have been killed in the name of God and religion than from epidemics and natural disasters.

What can people do to counter religious fanaticism? The Koran offers this very simple advice about life in general: Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave. That means learning more about our own religions, as well as those of others. Confident about our own faith, we will see other creeds not as threats but as sources, too, of illuminating wisdom and knowledge.