In his work, AMONG THE BELIEVERS--- AN ISLAMIC JOURNEY

[KlatooBNikto]

V.S.Naipaul, the celebrated writer and Nobel Prize Winner, describes the attitudes of many Islamic countries when asked about the general level of poverty and poor educational achievements of their societies. He says that many replied that that was because their societies have deviated too much from the teachings of the Koran and if they had stayed true to the teachings of Islam, they would be prosperous and intelligent.Whenever some deficiency is discovered, it is due to the fact that their society was tempted by Western mores and neglected the teachings of Islam.The solution to their backwardness was to go back to Koranic teachings.

I wondered about this passage from Naipaul and whether it might be applicable to our current upsurge of irrational exuberance for Christian Fundamentalism.What is even more tragic in our case is that we are heirs to one of the great intellectual traditions of humanity,Cartesian and Newtonian logic, that has made Reason the supreme arbiter of discourse in our society.It is this tradition that is being undermined.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Christian fundamentalism isn't following the teachings of Jesus

who said to help the poor. Perhaps if they did, they would find they have a lot in common with the teachings expounded in the Qur'an. The Qur'an, like the words of Jesus, talks of social justice, tolerance, and mercy. Somehow, I don't see these things talked about in Christian or Islamic fundamentalist circles.

That being said, all Abrahamic traditions talk about having no other gods but God-and many see the materialism preached by the West as a false god that is worshipped.

[InvisibleBallots]

2. Is there really an "upsurge" of Christian Fundamentalism?

I was under the impression that church attendence is declining, the percentage of people calling themselves Christians lower than ever, and groups like the Christian Coalition were losing members, at least relative to the population?

Perhaps there is no "upsurge" in Christian Fundamentalism, but an upsurge of Christian fundamentalism getting airplay on the Corporate Media, and more attention to them because of Bush's catering to this crowd?

[KlatooBNikto]

3. You may be correct. It is more properly an upsurge of TV exposure of

religious fundamentalists.Whatever we may call it, it goes against the
idea of Reason as the basis of our social discourse.How else can we explain the opposition to the teaching of Evolution in our schools and the invoking of Biblical explanations for how the Universe was created? Not to mention the opposition to stem cell research.