Karen Armstrong's introduction to her history of fundamentalism:
Excerpt:
One of the most startling developments of the late twentieth century has been the emergence within every major religious tradition of a militant piety popularly known as "fundamentalism." Its manifestations are sometimes shocking. Fundamentalists have gunned down worshippers in a mosque, have killed doctors and nurses who work in abortion clinics, have shot their presidents, and have even toppled a powerful government. It is only a small minority of fundamentalists who commit such acts of terror, but even the most peaceful and law-abiding are perplexing, because they seem so adamantly opposed to many of the most positive values of modern society. Fundamentalists have no time for democracy, pluralism, religious toleration, peacekeeping, free speech, or the separation of church and state. Christian fundamentalists reject the discoveries of biology and physics about the origins of life and insist that the Book of Genesis is scientifically sound.
Rest of the introduction:
The Battle For God
2 comments:
Armstrong's book was the best I've read on fundamentalism.
Karlo,
Check this out if you haven't listened to it yet--Armstrong is a very unique person and thinker:
The Spiral Staircase
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