Beware of Secular Fundamentalism or Dogmatism
By Jeff Wismer
January 2007
Have
you been called a Secular Fundamentalist
or Secular Dogmatist lately?
Some
idealists out there, like RJ Eskow, would like atheists to think that there is
a dangerous movement of secular fundamentalism and secular dogmatism that the
world needs to beware of. Is that true? More importantly, does it
make sense to use those type of descriptions or labels?
Here's
a recent article that might shed some light on this recent labeling of
atheists...
Christian Science Monitor
January 04, 2007 edition
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0104/p13s01-lire.htm
“Growing
religious influence in the US government has led some nontheists to take
positions some describe as 'secular fundamentalism.’”
“They undermine
their own case by writing in a language that suffers from many things they say
are true of believers - intolerance, disrespect, extremism," says Alan Wolfe, a professor of religion at Boston College, who is a secularist and author of several books on American
religious perspectives.”
“New York Times
columnist Nicholas Kristof, calls for a
truce: "We've suffered enough from religious intolerance that the last
thing the world needs is irreligious intolerance."
I
think we're all familiar with the FOX News style of handing out a memo of
"talking points" to their news directors and conservative friends and
then everyone repeating verbatim what was given to them. It seems that
the idealists of the world got together and made some "talking
points" of their own on how to handle the surge of popularity of atheists
like Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins.
Such
is the rantings and ravings of RJ Eskow...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/dear-cenk-uygur-dont-le_b_38063.html
I
think these two lines sum up RJ Eskow very well:
"So, even though I have a problem with
organized religion, I'd rather attempt to reform
it than to try eradicating it."
"Idealist
that I am, I still believe we can all work together - you, me, that priest, my
Mom, even Richard Dawkins if he's willing - to fight fundamentalism and
religious extremism and build a better society."
You
could see all of this coming from a mile away couldn’t you? See what happens when we try to have too
much fun…you know like organizing, helping the community, and pronouncing our
existences to the world. I know it's
not even like we tried to run for office or something incredible and
extraordinary as that would be for an atheist.
I sure the idealists like Mr. RJ Eskow are saying why
can’t atheists be like the homosexual…oh wait bad example. Why can’t atheists be like the Wiccans…oh
wait another bad example…well why can’t atheists be like the Adamites
(Another religious tradition whose followers made a point of taking their
clothes off in the name of their God)…at least they’re cool, in the literal
sense, and creative. More creative than
RJ Eskow anyway.
Speaking of being
creative, how creative is the label that we’ve been given…Secular
Fundamentalists, or Secular Dogmatists.
I’ll analyze:
According to Wikipedia, Secular means: This word derives from a Latin word meaning
"of the age." The Christian doctrine that God exists outside of time
led medieval
Western
culture to use secular to indicate separation from religious affairs
and involvement in worldly (or time-related) ones. This meaning has been
extended to apply to separation from any religion,
whether or not it has a similar doctrine.
That seems about right to
me. Then again it’s not like we hide
from that term, and it’s not like we use it all the time right?
The Secular Web is the world's most comprehensive website devoted to the
promotion and defense of a naturalistic worldview, the view that our natural
worldview on the Internet. (http://www.infidels.org/)
The
Council for Secular Humanism Web
Site provides timely information concerning the activities of the Council
for Secular Humanism and also acts as a general educational resource on
secular humanism. Please select a topic from the navigation bar on your left,
or the drop-down menu above, for more information. (http://www.secularhumanism.org/)
The Secular
Coalition for America is the new Washington-based lobbying organization for
atheists, humanists, freethinkers, and other nontheistic Americans. Our mission
is to increase the visibility and respectability of nontheistic viewpoints in
the United States and to protect and strengthen the secular character of our
government as the best guarantee of freedom for all. (http://www.secular.org/)
According
to Wikipedia, Fundamentalism is defined as: Movement
or attitude stressing strict and literal
adherence to a set of basic principles. 1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a
movement in American Protestantism that arose in the early part of the 20th
century in reaction to modernism and that stresses the infallibility of the
Bible not only in matters of faith and morals but also as a literal historical
record, holding as essential to Christian faith belief in such doctrines as the
creation of the world, the virgin birth, physical resurrection, atonement by
the sacrificial death of Christ, and the Second Coming. 2. the beliefs held by
those in this movement. 3. strict adherence to any set of basic ideas or
principles: the fundamentalism of the extreme conservatives.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines fundamentalism as a usually religious
movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental
principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of
other views and opposition to secularism.
Ok,
so if I get this right, Fundamentalism is based on some type of principles that
are written down some where. And it’s
in opposition to secularism so I guess that’s a
contradiction in terms. I don’t know,
why would someone use a term to describe an oppositon to secularism, on secularists? That might confuse a great many secularists,
and fundamentalists as well. Anyway,
getting back to something being written down, I think there is term that
describes something like that….mmmmm….
DOGMATISM
According
to Wikipedia, Dogma is defined as Dogma (the plural is either dogmata
or dogmas, Greek δόγμα,
plural δόγματα) is the
established belief
or doctrine
held by a religion,
ideology or
any kind of organization, thought to be authoritative
and not to be disputed
or doubted. While in the context of religion the term is largely
descriptive, outside of religion its current usage tends to carry a pejorative
connotation — referring to concepts as being "established" only
according to a particular point of view, and thus one of doubtful foundation.
Meaning
an older term that atheists might recognize and be able to relate to a little
more succinctly is the term Militant Atheism.
Such
as describe in this article:
Published: January 2, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/02/news/letter.php
"Here on the first days of the
year of our lord 2007 it seems awkward to talk about a Godless world, but the
fact is that in the waning months of 2006, a kind of militant
atheism was making itself felt across the land."
" There
were two best-selling books declaring belief in God to be a kind of mass
delusion, and a harmful mass delusion at that, occasioning a vigorous and often
angry response from many people who believe the repeated announcement of the
death of God to be wrong, spiritually deaf and dangerous.This situation gives
rise to a New Year's prediction that 2007 will see an intensified war of
religion in America, or, perhaps more accurately, a war of the religious
against the irreligious, and why that should be happening just now is an
important sign of the times, a reflection of our moment in history."
"Atheism as a necessary
attribute of civilization — religion as the opposite of civilization — that
argument is being stated more assertively and is being welcomed in some
quarters more warmly now than at any time before. What is going on? One
conclusion is not so far-reaching. It could be simply that there's a market for
just about anything in this country — whether atheism or psychic channeling. "
"The two movements are almost entirely dissimilar, of course, with
Christian fundamentalism engaging in no violence or threats. "
Bottom line, I think atheist need not concern ourselves too much with
the diatribes of a few idealists...rather concentrate on something more
meaningful and that is being careful of absolutism. According to
Wikipedia:
ABSOLUTISM
Absolute truth (also known as 'absolutism'),
the contention that in a particular domain of thought, all statements in that
domain are either absolutely true or absolutely false
Enlightened absolutism, a term used to describe the actions of absolute rulers
who were influenced by the Enlightenment (eighteenth and early nineteenth
century Europe)
Moral
absolutism, the position that there are
absolute standards against which moral questions can be judged, and that
certain actions are good or evil, regardless of the context of the act
Absolutism is a problem umong any and all communities in the world, and if
any group is good at self-governing themselves, then this should always be
looked at and discussed.