Part 15 – Fundamentalism

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Part 15 – Fundamentalism

NB: Please note this is not a word for word transcript of the audio programme


Abigail: The term Fundamentalist has been discussed a lot in recent years and you will
probably have heard it in connection with terror attacks and it seems to be
linked with Islam rather than other religions. We’ll find out why those
connections have been made - and whether they're fair - later on.
But first what is a ‘fundamentalist’? For the answer I went to Ben Cohen, a
radio producer who’s been making religious programmes for the last ten
years.

Clip Ben Cohen
The word fundamentalist dates back 100 years - a group of Christians in America felt modern
ideas were edging out key beliefs, fundamentals in Christianity - they produced a series of
booklets called ‘the Fundamentals’ - things like the resurrection, also bible being absolutely
true - completely without error. So originally fundamentalist meant somebody believing what
they thought were fundamentals of religion. I think it's moved on from there. The thing with
the word is, people all use it differently - it can be used as a term of abuse. If somebody is very
religious and very intolerant of somebody who doesn’t believe the same thing as them, they can
be called fundamentalist - it’s a term of abuse.


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Abigail: So what does a Christian fundamentalist believe?
Ben: Some of the important things are that they hold to traditional ideas over modern ones.
They believe that the bible is accurate in everything it says so if the bible says that earth is
6,000 years old and Adam and Eve were real people - if they find science challenging that,
they’ll hold to the bible and say science is wrong. In the same way - if man is head of
household, not wife, then they’ll hold to that rather than modern ideas of equality.
Abigail: I’d like to come to the word secular. Can that be considered as a kind of opposite? Or
is that modern?
Ben: […] I don’t think one word is the opposite of fundamentalist but the modern world, the
secular world that looks at other ideas like science, changing opinions - those are the things
that make people define themselves as fundamentalists. Because they have ideas that are
challenging them, fundamentalism is a reaction against ideas like science and secular ideas.
Abigail: These days we're likely to hear the word fundamentalist attached to Islam - how did
that happen?
Ben: I think a lot of fundamentals that are true for Christians are true for believers of other
religions. You have a set of holy traditions, maybe holy books, and you hold to those very
passionately - so with Islamm, an Islamic fundamentalist […] In Islam they would think that
the holy Koran cant be contradicted by modern thinking.

Abigail: We’ve heard how ‘fundamentalism’ began with a group of American
Christians around 100 years ago, as a direct challenge to secular -
non-religious - ways of thinking.
But that battle between fundamentalism and secularism is still going on - and
as recent news reports have shown - it’s going on right at the heart of the
Anglican Church:


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Clip News Report on the Anglican row
Few would want to be in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s shoes as he attempts to hold together
a communion at war with itself over the issue of homosexuality. […] The crisis was sparked in
North America. In August the governing body of the American Church confirmed the election
of Gene Robinson as the Bishop of New Hampshire […]

Abigail: Gene Robinson was recently elected as Anglican Bishop of New Hampshire
In the United States. But Gene Robinson is an openly gay man, who lives
with his male partner. This has caused problems in the Anglican Church
between people who support the inclusion of gay men and women in the
church and those who do not.
How can there be a row between fundamentalists and modernisers within a
religious organisation? Producer of religious programmes Ben Cohen
explains:

Clip Ben Cohen
That’s a good example of fundamentalism versus modern secular thinking because on one hand
there's a group of Christians say the bible seems to say God isn't happy with homosexuality, on
the other hand there's a group of Christians who say bible is inspired by God, but we need to
look at it in fresh light with new knowledge we have about homosexuality. A fundamentalist
would say the bible has last word on this, and it had last word when it was written 2,000 years
ago or whenever that bit was written.



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Abigail: So fundamentalists are not only fighting against secularism - against a lack of
religion. They’re also in opposition to religious modernisers, people who
believe that religion can be re-thought, can adapt to modern life.
But in recent years the word fundamentalist seems to have become strongly
associated with Islam - and with terrorism - with for example the attack on
the World Trade Centre or the bombing in Bali.
Now that the word fundamentalist is so often used to link Islam with
violence and intolerance, I asked Ben Cohen whether he would ever use the
word himself:

Clip Ben Cohen
I would be careful because every person uses it differently, and it can mean slightly different
things depending on whether you’re a Hindu or a Christian and remember, you can be a
fundamentalist and not have extreme or intolerant opinions.
Abigail: Why do I feel that the word is linked with terrorism - is this something to do with Al
Q'aeda, bombings in Bali, what’s happened recently in Turkey?
Ben: Yes, the word fundamentalist has been used so much in connection with terrorist attacks
- not true of only Islam. You have to remember that not all fundamentalists would go to the
extremes of bombing - they're just people who happen to hold very traditional opinions, but are
peaceful. But it has been connected with the Islamic group Al Q'aeda. And that’s fair enough
because one of the things Al Q'aeda feels strongly about is that the Koran has made a set of
laws and they feel the west is bringing in secular fashions that are watering down Islam. That is
a very fundamentalist idea - that purity of teaching is being spoilt, and that is one thing that is
motivating Al Q'aeda in these attacks.



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Abigail: When journalists in western media talk about religion and fundamentalism - do they
really understand what they're talking about?
Ben: Not knocking the BBC because I do think they try very hard. But often I do hear the
term fundamentalism or extremist kicked about in a way that suggests to me that they're using
them lazily. Certainly in the West - religion is less and less an important part of people's lives
so there is this feeling that somebody can be looking at something very complicated from the
outside and not stepping into the shoes of somebody who believes something very
passionately, and it is hard to think yourself into mindset of somebody from a very different
culture for whom religion is vastly more important than somebody who is a journalist in, say,
London or Paris.
Abigail: Looking at the word fundamentalism - how does that misunderstanding affect the
language they might use?
Ben: The word fundamentalism is so complicated and can sometimes end up being used as a
dirty word - it’s a short hand for saying they take their religion far too seriously, they're
extremists, they quite possibly have a bomb in their bag and that can be unfair on people who
have very devout religious beliefs but wouldn't harm a fly.


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Abigail: Today we’ve heard how the word fundamentalist can be used as a term of
abuse about other people - implying that they're intolerant and even violent.
But it is still a word which can be used accurately to describe many people
round the world who believe that society should operate according to
traditional religious teachings.
And we’ve heard how in opposition to fundamentalists are modernisers and
secular thinkers - people who believe morality can change, be re-thought.
Ben Cohen explains:

Clip Ben Cohen
The situation in Iran is incredibly complicated. But I do think it comes down to this question of
fundamentalism again. Because one thing fundamentalists do feel quite strongly about is that
their teachings aren't just true for them - they're true for everybody. […] A lot of people
believe that the country should be governed jointly by religious leaders, to impose if you like
holy living, Islamic living on the whole country. […] At the moment you have a government
where Islamic teachers play the key role and some people aren't happy with the amount of
power they exert and they feel they should have more freedom to vote for who they like about
how they lead their life and they feel too much is being imposed by the religious nature of
government at the moment.