social psychology: religious fundamentalism
I need some assistance with these assignment. social psychology: religious fundamentalism Thank you in advance for the help! Fundamentalism, on the other hand, refers to the ideology whereby the person holds that his beliefs are not only completely true and absolute but that these views should be imposed on others as well. In the words of Bruce Lawrence (1989), fundamentalism is “the affirmation of religious authority as holistic and absolute, admitting of neither criticism nor reduction. it is expressed through the collective demand that specific creedal and ethical dictates derived from scripture be publicly recognized and legally enforced”. The main idea behind fundamentalism is “contending with modernity and regaining religious identity” (H. Paul Chalfant, 1993). Fundamentalists believe that modernity is essentially against orthodoxy (James D. Hunter, 1993). This term was coined during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and though, in the beginning, it was used to refer to American Protestants, now it is used for the adherents of other religions too, though most often to those of Islam.
Most, if not all, of the religions, have their share of these religious fundamentalists who have certain similar traits, or “family resemblances” (Wittgenstein, 1968). The difference between fundamentalists of different religions is mostly the tenets of their faith, however, the way they operate is essentially the same irrespective of their religious beliefs and inclinations. Though, culturally and religiously, the reasons for people to become fundamentalists may vary, yet once a person becomes a fundamentalist s/he essentially operates in the same fashion irrespective of which religion s/he adheres to.
The fundamentalists see their way of life, which they see as ordained by the Almighty, threatened by the “modern” society, and they strive to take the society back into the past where, according to them, the rule was of God and the people truly followed the dictates of God.
