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:
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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:

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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
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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:
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Recent attention:
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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
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Religious ideology is back on world political agenda
2001, 9/11: The global Al Qaeda and the US-led War
on Terror
“The Fundamentals”

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Freely chosen self-description of the
American Protestants in 1920s
Strict adherence to “five fundamentals”:
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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)

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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
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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

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The use of violence often not implied in
the original concept
Militancy in fundamentalism ≠ violence

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Militancy: built on religious exclusivity of
specific groups at the expense of other groups
Aims at revitalization of traditional religions
Characteristics:
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Modernization—a disruption of tradition
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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
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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

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Sacred history vs worldly history
A moral opposition btw tradition and modernity

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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
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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:
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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:
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
including the congregational groups and the
independent “cells”
E.g. Al Qaeda network of Osama Bin Laden
Development of practical strategies

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“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