Unitarian Universalist Meeting of
“Fundamentalism is Not a Religion”
Rev. Kathy Duhon
Do
you remember the important nutritionist and cookbook author for healthy living,
Frances Moore Lappe?
She’s still around, but really made her mark in the 1970s with the Diet
for a Small Planet book. When she
was a little girl, a friend invited her to a Bible class. She went home and asked her mother, “What’s
hellfire and damnation?” Her father
heard the question and said, “It means it’s time to gather a Unitarian
fellowship.” Her parents helped found a
Unitarian congregation in
Our
family experienced a worse version of this story from a church where my
children were visiting with friends. They
came home with the information that their father was going to Hell since he was
Jewish. This was not
The marks of fundamentalism are found in these stories. Fundamentalists believe that their understanding of Holy Scripture is the right and only understanding for how to be religious, and that those who do not believe in that same way are not religious, and are probably, depending on the fundamentalist religion, going to hell or some equivalent; they are not going to be saved or redeemed or in paradise or with them in a good eternity.
So if I declare that “fundamentalism is not a religion”, am I doing the same thing as the fundamentalists? Have I unfairly excluded their way of being religious? Fundamentalists often say that Unitarian Universalism is not a real religion, that we are a fringe, marginalized group. How can I say that they are not a religion?
I could take the easy way out. Fundamentalism is not the religion; Christianity is, or whatever religion, and fundamentalism is only the way of holding that religion. Fundamentalism describes how you are religious, just as liberal or evangelical or puritanical or liberationist or traditional describes how you are religious.
I could take the easy way out, but I am trying to say something stronger about fundamentalism, not just pointing out that it is more of an adjective than a religion. I could talk about the root meaning of the word religion, which meant to tie or bind, so religion is the force that binds or connects us to each other. Fundamentalism is only about connecting within a limited group, and about disconnecting with those not in that group, so it functions in a contrary way to the original meaning of religion. But this is another easy way out – what I want to say today is not about semantics, no matter how fascinating I find it that fundamentalism does not fit the original definition of religion.
Some of you will remember a few months back when our UU World magazine had an article about fundamentalism. The author, Davidson Loehr, began with H.L. Mencken’s definition of fundamentalism as “a terrible, pervasive fear that someone, somewhere, is having fun.” He went on to a more serious discussion of our tangle with fundamentalism after September 11th, when we found out in a personally terrifying way about Moslem fundamentalism out there, and then in a horrifyingly personal way about Christian fundamentalism right here, through Jerry Falwell’s blaming comments after 9/11 – Loehr notes that the two groups actually believe many of the same things. Both abhor liberated women, the wide range of sexual orientations, and individual freedoms that let people stray from a simple set of truths.
Davidson Loehr says that fundamentalisms from different religions have the same agenda because they are about something definitely not religious – territoriality. The fundamentalists are responding to a natural biological survival impulse to define the boundaries of the group, and to dominate in order to protect the in-group and to expel the potentially dangerous out-group. I found his explanation too simple on the one hand, and beyond my knowledge of biology and sociology to evaluate it on the other hand. Loehr’s analysis points out that fundamentalism is not a religion, but rather a gut survival response which religions rise above, but I am not sure about this approach.
You may want to follow Loehr’s position, but I have a different reason for why I boldly claim that fundamentalism is not a religion. I struggle to be able to say this with integrity. I respect religions of all kinds, and believe that there are many beliefs, many paths, many practices, up the one mountaintop. We are more alike than different, we multitude of religions. We all believe in and work towards love, peace, joy, transformation, hope, faithfulness. We religious folks all seek something more than the superficial, unexamined, materialistic, and selfish life. All religions work to make the world a better place, even if we Unitarian Universalists think we’re doing an especially good job of it – we can be a bit prideful. All religions also work to help people be less prideful, less removed, more connected, more at one with themselves, with each other and with the world. All religions affirm and promote the oneness and interdependence of creation.
Unitarian Universalism in particular respects and promotes the wisdom of world religions and the many forms of spiritual practice. Our service today is typical of us in that it has included words from many different religions, from men and women, from people of different colors and of varying sexual orientation. Yet it all seemed to be in unity, didn’t it?, a universal witness to being human religiously. Sadly, I can never use the words of fundamentalists in this service.
Here is the crux of the matter. Fundamentalism cannot be a religion because it does not abide by its own key values, whatever religion it is associated with. Any religion that divides and excludes and condemns is a force that works against what religion stands for – oneness, love, peace, unity, hope, truth, faith.
Christianity is the religion where we first called people fundamentalist, although now generally we extend the definition to those in other religions who similarly want their religion to be about only the fundamentals in certain written texts. Christian fundamentalists are those who find fundamentals in particular parts of the Bible translation they have, and think there is clarity enough in these texts to designate this religion as being not only the answer for them, but for everyone. It’s not just that they haven’t studied enough of the Bible critically to understand how little clarity there is about any passage, and how many translations exist, but they don’t even notice that Jesus is always asking questions, not making pronouncements, is always asking people how they will choose, not telling them their choices are evil. Or that the apostolic writings speak about seeking truth and growing in the spirit, and even Paul says that he is on a journey from being a child and seeing things as a child to being an adult who still only sees things dimly, in part, and who looks forward to knowing fully later. Paul, the first Christian theologian, doesn’t think he’s figured it all out, but the fundamentalists do – they don’t leave room for growing in the spirit and the truth.
As UU minister Dave Johnson writes, “…Jesus taught truth not as dogma, but as a way of life produced by the discipline of honesty”. Jesus did not invite just a select few, a predestined elect, a group of narrow believers – he invited everyone to help renew religion and spirituality and come together to the heavenly banquet.
In Islam, there are many different forms of the religion, and only some are fundamentalist. Muslims learn in the Koran that it is terribly wrong to commit suicide, and yet fundamentalists have found a loophole and tried to interpret into the Koran, a text that is not supposed to be open to examination and re-interpretation, a justification for suicidal terrorist acts. These Islamic fundamentalists are trying to influence the world with their perception of a strict Allah, rather than travel the traditional Muslim path of surrender to God’s Compassion.
The
Jewish fundamentalists who take more and more of the
Other religions undoubtedly have their fundamentalists, but let me stop here. Fundamentalists are the ones who controvert their own religions, who do not remember their true history, who do not follow their deepest teachings, who do not seek the truth and follow the way of love that is central to all religions. As long as they exclude based upon their limited knowledge of their scriptures, they are destroying the sacredness that they wish to protect.
Religion relies upon authority – all religion does. Most religions rely upon a variety of authorities in order to be sure that the One Reality, whether called God or Brahman or Truth or Allah, is known and followed. These authorities include holy scriptures, which the fundamentalists follow exclusively, and also tradition, revelation, reason, study, experience, conscience, councils, prophets and teachers. A check and balance system is in place, since we all know that any given area of authority can be corrupted – we are awfully good at self-deception, at following after what is self-centered rather than centered in the spirit. Unitarian Universalism is unique, not in having multiple areas of authority, but in having each area of authority be open to many traditions, and in believing that we are individually finally responsible and authoritative, given however we rely upon the varieties of living traditions which we embrace.
Fundamentalism is not a religion. It is an adjective; it is contrary to the meaning of religion; its source of authority is too narrow; it is destructive of religion. That is my belief and it may not be yours, and that I respect. Fundamentalism, not religion, is one of the most dangerous forces in our world today, but thank goodness religion is around to bring comfort, healing and peace. Amen.