Fundamentalist World: The New Dark Age of Dogma
by Stuart Sim
Icon Books Ltd., £12.99 (hb), ISBN 1 84046 532 8
This fascinating book discusses many fundamentalist groups which it had not occurred to me to consider as such. The author analyses not just Islamic and Jewish fundamentalism but also the Hindu and various Christian forms, post-Marxism, anti-globalisation, the British National Party, eco-terrorism, “gundamentalism” (the American militia movement), and imperialist fundamentalism with special reference to the US. The concepts of agonism and apostasy were new to me, as was market fundamentalism and the thought that the World Bank is a fundamentalist organisation.
The fundamentalist creed, whatever the variety, is (my words) that “The truth has been revealed to us and those who do not believe it are to be vilified, converted or, if necessary, killed.” “Liberal” is a dirty word and so is “sceptic”.
“What fundamentalism involves above all else is a desire for certainty and for the power to enforce that certainty over others”, says the author, and he proceeds to show at length how important the power aspect is. He brings forth arguments from other sources to show that an Enlightenment such as Christian civilisation experienced during the 18th century is what is now needed in the Islamic world. My response to that is “Lots of luck!” For the record, I see the third world war currently shaping up rapidly to be a conflict between “Islamic” and “Christian” forces and reaching full potential in the next few years. “Tens of thousands of children born to Muslim parents world-wide have been named Osama” is quoted from Rohan Gunaratna. I wonder how many have been named “Dubya”?
Fundamentalism and sexuality, male supremacy and the “compulsory heterosexuality” demanded by the Christian Right in the US are discussed. I can’t agree that “When you have to resort to terrorism to make your points, the political battle is half lost already”, but I firmly support “… we find it hard to regard religion as anything other than an excuse to exercise control over others; a method of trading on human vulnerability in order to gain power.”
No doubt other readers will find different things to agree and disagree on, but that’s what makes us sceptics, not fundamentalists, I hope. 225 pages of text, 9 of bibliography, 13 of notes, and a five-page index make this a useful working reference for further study. Highly recommended.
