Do not expect me to be tolerant of extreme religious fundamentalists [View all]

[Hugabear]

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Do not expect me to be tolerant of those who espouse extremist religious fundamentalist beliefs. The Constitution may guarantee someone's right to believe whatever the hell they want, but it also gives me the right to question, criticize, and even mock those beliefs if I so choose.

Personally, I think the idea of praying to any invisible deity is silly, as is the notion that some singular magical being somehow is responsible for everything in the universe. When it comes to Christianity - the religion I am most acquainted with - there are so many ways to pick the religion apart, it's difficult to know where to begin. If someone's belief is so fragile that they cannot withstand any scrutiny or questioning, is that my problem?

But for the most part, I really don't have any major quarrels with those who want to practice their religious beliefs in private or within the company of like-minded people in their churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, etc. However, I do have a major beef with extreme religious fundamentalists. By this, I mean anyone who believes that their belief is the only correct belief, and that they believe it is their duty to impose their beliefs on everyone else around them.

When this is applied to the public realm, the results are disastrous. For many years, people used religion to defend the practice of slavery (after all, in the New Testament book of Philemon, Paul instructs a slave to return to his master). I've heard many fundamentalists use the Bible to justify segregation and to oppose interracial relationships. Women are treated as second-class citizens because of religions reasons, with government having control over their bodies. Fundamentalist attitudes towards homosexuality is very well established - with many fundamentalists still advocating death as a legitimate recourse for gays. Fundamentalism leads to a decline in education (many believe that public education should be abolished completely). Schools would be required to teach creation as a valid science, evolution would be banned. Many still believe the Earth is 6000 years old and that humans coexisted with dinosaurs - despite absolutely no scientific evidence to back this up, they would have this taught in school. Indeed, there is a push among many fundamentalists to have Biblical "history" taught in public schools. Most fundamentalists are very rigidly anti-choice, even in cases of rape or incest. Birth control is also to be discouraged or even banned.

Then there is the foreign policy aspect of fundamentalism (I'm going to reference Christian fundamentalism here, since it's the most prevalent form in the US). It's safe to say that almost all fundamentalists have this obsession with Israel, which they believe is "God's chosen nation". Under this viewpoint, Israel can do no wrong - they must be supported no matter what. There is a belief among fundamentalists that in the "End Times", every nation on Earth will come together against Israel in the final battle - Armageddon - and that Christ will return at this point and defeat these forces and set up his 1000-year rule on Earth before the Final Judgment. Of course, the fundamentalists would like for the United States to be allied with Israel during this Final Battle. Many of their policy decisions are geared towards this goal.

So yes, please do not expect me to be "tolerant" of those with extremist religious viewpoints. In the US, the biggest threat just happens to come from Christian fundamentalism, but I also have the same opinion towards Islamic fundamentalism, or any other group who would try to impose their religious beliefs on those around them.