Fundamentalism

I want to call your attention to an op-ed from the Boston Globe entitled "The many forms of fundamentalism". Here's the first paragraph:

NEARLY A decade and a half ago, this condemnation of fundamentalism was issued: "The fundamentalist approach is dangerous, for it is attractive to people who look to the Bible for ready answers to the problems of life . . . instead of telling them that the Bible does not necessarily contain an immediate answer to each and every problem. . . . Fundamentalism actually invites people to a kind of intellectual suicide. It injects into life a false certitude, for it unwittingly confuses the divine substance of the biblical message with what are in fact its human limitations." This robust denunciation came from the Vatican, in a 1993 document entitled "The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church."

Of course, there are Catholic fundamentalists too but they're usually called "traditionalists" as are those of the Episcopal/Anglican variety. And here's another passage from the article:

Fundamentalisms will especially thrive wherever there is violent conflict, and wherever there is stark poverty, simply because these religiously absolute movements promise meaning where there is no meaning.

Fundamentalism is everywhere today - in every religion - because everyone needs security and when mere survival is threatened, people tend to look for security in belief systems of certainty.