Fundamentalism Is Religion with Hemorrhoids

While saying some nightly prayers and contemplating my recent decision to take back the words "Witch" and "Pagan" and leave the labels of "Asatru" and "Heathen" far behind, the following sentence popped into my head: Fundamentalism is religion with hemorrhoids.  What does that mean, exactly?

When we think of fundamentalism, we think of the usual suspects -- the Christian Right, the jihadist variety of Muslims.  Not all Christians are Dominionists, nor are all Muslims jihadists, in fact the fundamentalists in these faiths are in the minority but due to media "spin", we often see them as comprising the majority among their religion when in fact this is not the case at all.

However, fundamentalism can take place in every religion, including branches of Paganism.  While many people come to Pagan faiths specifically to escape the dogma of the Abrahamic religions, many find out that running to Paganism does not mean a religion exempt from dogma.

We first need to understand what the word "fundamentalism" means.  In its most classical definition, it means "a belief in the infallibility, and literal interpretation, of a doctrine or holy book".  In a more generalized sense, it is used to "characterize religious advocates as clinging to a stubborn, entrenched position that defies reasoned argument or contradictory evidence".  (Taken from the Wikipedia article on fundamentalism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalism)

Besides the information on what fundamentalists believe, I also feel that there is behavior that typifies fundamentalism.  When fundamentalists feel their dogma is being challenged for whatever reason, they revert to very defensive behaviors which can range from needing to engage the opposition in debate (even if the debate is going to be a big timesink for both parties), and in extreme cases deciding to harass the opposition.  You see this most in the United States with people doing "witnessing", who will try to argue with you if you say "no thank you" to the offer of a tract, even by getting in your close personal space to prevent moving past them and not engaging in debate, and they will even repeatedly approach you or at least your property to try to "get the Word out".  I have a sign on my door with a Mjollnir that says NO SOLICITING.  This for the most part has stopped tract-spam, but it does happen with a persistent group who does not understand "no" as an answer.

Another technique used by fundamentalists when they are opposed is shunning and hostility towards the opposition.  You see this in families where some members are of a fundamentalist faith and some are not, and the fundamentalists withdraw communication and/or support to the non-fundamentalist members until "they come to know The Truth".  This also sometimes happens among children and teenagers when families will tell their kids not to associate with "the ungodly".

Perhaps the most tragic thing about fundamentalists is that those who adhere to a fundamentalist version of a religious faith are unhappy.  They have become so caught up in "being right" or "doing right" that they have lost the whole purpose of being and doing.  Religion becomes a grudging obligation and not what it actually means, "re-linking" -- re-linking to the Divine, re-linking to the Divine part of yourself, re-linking to the Divinity within others, re-linking to what is sacred and beautiful of this world.  Those who are fundamentalists suffer internally, as they have gone from the positive aspect of religion, "moving towards" and rather are "moving away from", into us/them, whether it's with other humans or even with the Divine Itself/Themselves.  As much as fundamentalists may cause suffering to others by obnoxious behavior or actions borne in hate, it still pales in comparison to their own suffering within, their own self-hatred borne in fear of the self and the unknown.

Fundamentalism was the reason why I rejected Christianity in the 1990s.  Since that time I have reconciled myself to the idea of Jesus, but I still feel that Christianity is not a religion that is appropriate for my Path.  A large reason why I initially left Wicca for Asatru was fundamentalism.  You would not think Neo-Wicca could be a fundamentalist faith because there is no one Great Book of Wicca (even the books by Gardner and Buckland do not present as having Absolute Truth), however there are many Neo-Wiccans, particularly the younger, eclectic, and solitary variety, who believe reading one book has now taught them everything they need to know and can be found lecturing people on The Burning Times, the evil patriarchy, why it's always wrong to eat meat ever, and that my hard polytheism is in fact narrow-minded "fundamentalism".

Within Asatru, in the United States, you do see fundamentalist behaviors even if most would say fundamentalism is something "that the kristinns do" and are blind to what is actually being done by them to the Northern religion.  The Eddas and Sagas were recorded by Christians, after Iceland had long since been converted to Christianity.  The majority of historical Lore was written by Christian converts or cultural outsiders.  We also have far less primary source material than the Hellenes so the idea of strict reconstructionism is a crapshoot, yet many within the Northern religion think it is possible and a worthy goal.

To spell this out and make it clear:

If you believe that what is written is all there is to a religion, that it is the end of what there is to know and experience of the religion, rather than the text being a means to an end -- you are a fundamentalist.

If you feel that there is only one way to do things and anyone who veers even slightly from that norm is "doing it wrong", you are a fundamentalist.

If you are obsessed with eschatology, whether you call it Armageddon or Ragnarok, and especially if you are convinced you are going to be a warrior for your God/s at The End of Time, you are a fundamentalist.

If you feel the need to lecture at, argue with, provoke, and harass others who do not share your beliefs, values, and practices, you are a fundamentalist.

If you take yourself and your religion way too seriously and you cannot laugh at yourself making "happy accidents" or some irreverence in the portrayal of your Gods and/or holy men (not the same as blasphemy), you are a fundamentalist.


Ultimately, religion should not be an opiate: it is not the Gods' job to do what we want.  Necessity breeds invention, for us to be human we must experience the whole of our humanity.  However when a religion causes us to hate ourselves and fear others, and project that hatred onto what we fear, it is a toxic religion.  And I feel that to avoid the trap of religion becoming an opiate or a path of suffering, there must be a sane middle ground.  There is no point in "re-linking" to the Gods if you feel They cannot appreciate the diversity and uniqueness of humanity, and I feel that They do, as They are diverse and unique Themselves.  While I agree that for working with different cultural paradigms -- the Norse pantheon, or the Celtic, or the Egyptian -- the Gods should be offered to and treated as They are accustomed to, They all are intelligent enough to understand this is not the 6th century and besides not having much primary source material in many cases, we also need to not be bound by that as The Ultimate Truth.  If Odin thought it was fine to travel the Nine Worlds seeking wisdom from different Beings, and Odin's modus operandi is different from the way Thor does things, which is different from the way Frey does things, which is yet different from Freyja who is different from Frigga, then we in the Northern religion must avoid fundamentalism and seek better understanding all around.

There is no one way to do anything, especially as we are all different people with different Wyrd to work out.

If somebody does something "wrong", that is not my concern unless it directly causes harm to myself or my family.  In most cases this is not happening.

Somebody can't be all that "wrong" if they are finding something positive in their faith, conducive to healing and growth... even if it looks "fluffy" or "erroneous" to you.  Conversely, being too concerned with what other people are doing means something is lacking in one's own spiritual path.

Nobody has all of the answers to everything.  Not even me.  But that's OK.  Learning is one of the things that life is about.

(C) 2008 Sigrun Freyskona.