[Buddha-l] fundamentalism

[StormyTet at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/1/2005 11:37:50 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
rhayes at unm.edu writes:

To my  way of thinking, the best thing that has ever happened in the
United States  has been the steady and inevitable drift toward secularism
(a movement in  which I include Buddhism). The country is still far
behind most of Europe  and Canada in this respect, but it is at least
heading in the right  direction. There have been, to be sure, setbacks
along the way. We are  experiencing one now. If, however, I may borrow a
piece of reasoning from  the Bush administration, which sees every
devastating attack on the US  military occupation as proof that the enemy
is on the run, I think we can  see the desperate bid of the religious
right to control the course of  American politics as a sign that they
know they have all but lost the  battle against secularism. 


Hi Richard Hayes,
 
I wish that I had the same optimism you do in re. to the religious right  
giving up in re. to political control. Having spent my life studying religions  
from the inside, there is nothing more powerful or insidious than a  fu
ndamentalist belief system. These people will die, cheat, steal, rape, pillage  and 
murder in the name of god. They won't give up. They are motivated by an  
existential fear and a desire to pacify and please a god in the sky that will  
someday lift them up into the heavens. Life for these people is supposed to be a  
battle with the forces that oppose them. They will always think in us/them  
terms.Rove understands their mindset quite well. The republicans know how to get  
them motivated. 
 
Culturally speaking, many african americans in the inner city are turning  
toward a conservative politics in the name of their faith. I wish I felt  you 
were right, but these people are mindful of hell fires licking at their feet  
and their conscience is always trying to absolve itself of guilt. They will sign 
 petitions, go vote and do any other ritual act half blindly in order to 
pacify  their god.   
 
I also think that more rationally minded people sometimes do not see how  
fanatical these people are, underestimate them and have failed to learn how to  
strategically work with these folks in a manner that will lead them beyond 
their  infantile clinging to a mythological deity.  I think that it is  
strategically necessary for the Democratic party, for example, to develop a  moral 
platform that will challenge the republican platform. Christianity as a  tool for 
hegemonic control is being used quite well by the right. Dems are so  far 
behind in re. to hegemonic strategy regarding religious belief.
 
Manuel Castells book "The Power of Identity" has a brief but powerful  
section on muslim and christian fundamentalism that I think can help the more  
rationally minded understand how deeply, deeply powerful the force of these  belief 
systems are. They have to be addressed wisely and I am not sure that most  
rational, humanitarian people have enough tolerance to really see the ways to  
shift these sheep into a more thoughtful modality of being.
 
Stormy
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