Religious Fanaticism And How to Deal with It.............Posted by Two Spirit

By Belenios Ategnatos

Viveka is a Sanskrit word meaning "philosophical discrimination" or the ability to distinguish one thing from another, to tell what is true and what is false, etc. In the world today, fanaticism is one of the most dangerous forces. Fanaticism can be defined as the blind belief that an idea or doctrine is absolutely true, AND that it is acceptable or even right to force others to share that particular belief. Let us consider how viveka can allow us to find and recognize fanaticism.

Fanaticism can occur with religions or with political ideologies. In politics, fanaticism is manifested as enforcement of "political correctness". Interestingly, the practice of viveka is very often accused of being politically incorrect, by the politically correct.

Apparently, the opposite of fanaticism would be absolute openness, with the idea that everything is true, and right; or moral relativism would be another apparent opposite. In fact, such ideas are themselves enforced by their adherents fanatically.

The true opposite of fanaticism, of any sort, is viveka, distinguishing the actual right and wrong or true and false of ideas, without blindly and irrationally accepting, adhering to, or rejecting them.

In the world today, one of the greatest threats is considered to be terrorism, which is the use of indiscriminate force against innocent people in order to send a message or to coerce particular choices by a government or society at large. Terrorism is sometimes used by people fighting for freedom when no other method is seen as effective, as when the oppressor has overwhelming resources. Most other kinds of terrorism are driven by fanaticism, either political or religious.

The latter kind is what we shall consider. By numbers and governmental control, the two most powerful religions in the world today are Christianity and Islam. The majority of known religious terrorists today are fueled by strict interpretations of Islam and its scripture and tradition. Its main opponent, both its target and main resistance, is the so-called "West", which is predominantly Christian. This gives the impression that Christianity is opposed to fanaticism, and stands for freedom, which is a main value of the "West".

Viveka combined with history shows us that this is wrong. Freedom in the "West" exists in spite of, and even in response to, Christianity, not because of it. According to history, until a few hundred years ago, ever since the Roman Empire made it the established religion, Christianity enforced totalitarian thought control in every place where it predominated. It did so with the full power of the military behind it, and with the penalty of torture and death for any dissent. Does this sound familiar? Not much different from the Taliban during their reign in Afghanistan?

Why do Christians, in the West, today not realize this? They are indoctrinated as much in the "Western" values of freedom as they are in their religions, and their religions are subordinated to the theoretically secular states of the "West". Further, they do not much study history, which is increasingly unpopular and considered irrelevant in the "Western" mind.

The result of this is that there are Christians in the "West", as well as followers of Islam, that are not themselves fanatics, and do not believe their religion to be fanatical, if "properly interpreted".

Thus, the question is how do we recognize the seeds of fanaticism in any ideology? It is worthwhile for every freedom-loving person to careful examine any ideology or religion that they might belong to, or consider belonging to, with viveka, to determine whether or not it contains and supports fanaticism.

Here are some points that must be noted:

Fanaticism firstly discourages viveka, or tries to limit it. It places scriptures or the teachings of leaders first. Non-fanaticism instead says that we accept the authority of scriptures and leaders after finding them, through viveka, to be right and useful.

Fanaticism says that if people do not accept doctrines or ideas, they may be coerced, persecuted or even eliminated, either by believers, or by a "higher authority." This includes prophecy that unbelievers will be "eternally damned" after a final "judgement day". Non-fanaticism says that although not everything and every belief is true, differences of opinion and belief are to be tolerated; and ideas are to be freely discussed, considered and debated, NOT suppressed.

Fanaticism teaches what to think; non-fanaticism teaches how to think.

Fanaticism is a simple thing, and it is that easy to recognize. That is to say, the potential for fanaticism in an ideology is that easy to recognize. In fact, as we can see around us, many followers of religions that have recognizable seeds of fanaticism are not fanatics.

Sometimes we find some seeds and not others, which gives us a more difficult exercise in viveka. For example, let us take the Indian culture. Among followers of the Vedas, it is usually held that the Vedas are incontrovertibly true. However, in fact, the only kind of fanaticism that this leads to is that followers of the Vedas may reject those who are not followers. The Vedas themselves reject any other aspect of fanaticism, for the Vedas and their descendant traditions, as Indian culture as a whole, recognizes and accepts multiplicity of paths of religion and search for spiritual knowledge. Furthermore, the tradition teaches the search for Absolute Truth for oneself, rather than blind faith in a previously "revealed" doctrine. The Vedic way has revelations to be sure, but not every true seeker is enjoined to achieve revelation for oneself.

It is also necessary to distinguish between the traditional teachings at the core of any of them, and the actual attributes of the followers. Sometimes, followers of non-fanatic religions have become fanatical, but usually such followers are converts from fanatical religions.

Let everyone practice viveka in this way, and examine any religion, school of thought, or ideology that they might wish to belong to, or that they study. Even where we have given our judgement here, let the reader do their own examination, and not follow the writer blindly!

http://www.vedanet.com/Belenios3.htm

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