CRS 3319: Religious Fundamentalism and Asian Culture
Download
Report
Transcript CRS 3319: Religious Fundamentalism and Asian Culture
CRS 3319: Religious Fundamentalism
and Asian Culture
Prof. WONG Wai Ching Angela
Religious fundamentalism?
A wide range of
phenomenon, some
violent, others peaceful:
The Shia regime in Iran
The Taliban regime
recently ousted from
Afghanistan
The Hindutva movement of
India
The Jamaat-e-Islami and
Jamiat-e-Ulema-Islam of
Pakistan
Iran election 2009: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khamenei
Religious fundamentalism?
some violent, others
peaceful:
James
Dobson and his Love Won Out conferences
The Muslim
Brotherhood of Egypt;
The conservative
Baptist movement in
the US
The pancasila in
Indonesia
Religious/Political “disturbance”:
Upsurge of religious extremism
Rise of massive violence
→
→
→
→
Is it waning Enlightenment?
Is it product of modernization?
Is it merely Islamic fundamentalism?
Is it a religious movement or a social
movement?
Common features:
1.
2.
3.
A conscious effort to return to the core beliefs or
values of a given religion or culture;
Texts taken to be authoritative are used to
justify the return
An attitude of ambivalence is exhibited toward
modernity or secularism
4.
Rejected some aspects while endorsed others
Normally the presence of a self-appointed elite
that assumes the leadership role
For transformation of society, capture of state power
Related features:
1. A return to traditional values and an accompanying
sense of restoration for the building of alternative
structures;
2. The search for a new identity, often at the expense of
minority groups;
3. A preoccupation with moral concerns that tends to
have an adverse effect on the position of women;
4. A spirit of militancy with which these objectives are
pursued
5. No necessary tie between violence and religious zeal
until recent association
R. Scott Appleby: A working definition
Religious fundamentalism is
An identifiable pattern of religious militancy in
which self-styled true believers attempt to
arrest the erosion of religious identity by
outsiders,
fortify the borders of the religious community,
And create viable alternatives to secular
structures and processes
A short history
Origin of concept:
Recent attention:
American Protestants in early 20th Century
1979 Iranian Revolution
The success of an Islamic and anti-western political
movement
The first theocracy in the 20th Century
By 2000
Religious ideology is back on world political agenda
2001, 9/11: The global Al Qaeda and the US-led War
on Terror
“The Fundamentals”
Freely chosen self-description of the
American Protestants in 1920s
Strict adherence to “five fundamentals”:
the inerrancy of Scripture, the Virgin Birth, the
Substitutionary Atonement of Christ, Christ’s bodily
resurrection, and the historicity of the miracles
(second coming was added later)
The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth
(1915)
1910-15, a series of 12 pamphlets
a manifesto published by the conservative
magazine The Presbyterian entitled "Back to
Fundamentals”
The Fundamentalists
Description of “others” in late 20th century
With negative connotations
Almost exclusively referred to Islam
Anti-Western cultural and political values
E.g. Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979
British Observer (1981): “the dangerous
fundamentalism revived by the ayatollahs and their
admirers as a device, indistinguishable from a weapon,
for running a modern state.”
An imposed label by outsiders, journalists and
academics
Belief versus means
The use of violence often not implied in
the original concept
Militancy in fundamentalism ≠ violence
Militancy: built on religious exclusivity of
specific groups at the expense of other groups
Aims at revitalization of traditional religions
Characteristics:
Modernization—a disruption of tradition
Urbanization and technological innovation
Ethnic and religious pluralism
Creation of the nation-state, etc.
Resulted in change of worldviews or relationship to
the divine
Social and religious identity at stake
Look to the past for solutions
Return to the religious utopia
Use of violence as an unfortunate resort by some
A Project of Restoration
A process of selective retrieval
often found on a sacred history as
recorded in sacred texts
Sacred history vs worldly history
A moral opposition btw tradition and modernity
Tradition: divine centers in human society and acts as
the source of good
Modernity: deviation from original tradition and
therefore epitomizes all society’s ills and moral decay
Glorious Past as Vision for Future
Whether historical or mythical
A deep sense of commitment, generated
and sustained thru’ religious ideology
With religious imagery accounting for the
possibility of another world
A moral foundation for such an alternative
society
Projected onto the future through the
present
Exceptionalists:
These are special times
Departure from normal standards and
procedures are allowed
Tradition of tolerance and peace could give way
to intolerance and violence
Old social norms no longer apply
→
A militant interpretation of jihad
Project of empowerment
Effective organizational structure:
including the congregational groups and the
independent “cells”
E.g. Al Qaeda network of Osama Bin Laden
Development of practical strategies
“Pro-family”: for anti-abortion, anti-gay and
lesbian, and anti-feminists
Intervention in law, education policy etc.
E.g. American Christian Right
A fundamentalist program:
1.
2.
3.
4.
A
A
A
A
project
project
project
project
of restoration
for “back to future”
of exceptionalist
of empowerment