reading journal

Fundamentalism is Here to Stay
By Karen Armstrong
Summary:
The mid-20th century saw a secular movement, separating religion from society. Today religion dominates headlines in the forms of terror, war and political influence.
Fundamentalism is not:
1. Not equated with religious conservatism.
2. Not linked to violence
3. Not subject to Islam alone
Fundamentalism is:
1. Non-violent revolt against secular society
2. Unite religion and public life
3. Most use non-violent methods such as action through private schools and government.
4. Fundamentalists get sucked into violence with the rest of society.
Modern society evolved from what was a mid-age agrarian society to one that demands a secular and tolerant democracy. The process of modernization is currently accelerated in some cultures. Some of these cultures cant cope with the change so they choose to cling to religion. Western culture is based off of independence and innovation; bringing to life fresh and new ideas. In the beginning western culture was derived from the desire of independence from political intellectual and religious constraints; they sought a right to discover the truth for themselves.
In developing countries, modernization came with colonialization, so when the colonials left, the people were not able to forge new beginnings of their own. Japan is a perfect example of a country and a culture that was able to retain originality while undergoing modernization.
Fundamentalism represents a clash within a civilization between new and old. It stems from the feeling of being “back into a corner” and subsequent fear of total annihilation.
In the early 20th century when Muslim countries started to modernize horrific things happened to the people. Leaders in turkey ordered that people HAD to wear western clothing, and religion institutions for schooling were closed. In Iran, peaceful protesters were slaughtered out side of a mosque. Even the Sunni sect of islam was speared on by a fight with modernization.
These people feel that they are being hunted by society to begin with; military action only affirms this feeling. This is why they fight back. They first fight against their own culture’s beliefs, but when that fails they lash out at the world.
Fundamentalism is here to stay and we need to understand each other better in order to curb future acts of violence

Response: I think the author offers some very unique insight into the workings of the modern fundamentalist movement. The movement is not centered around one religion or isolated to one country. With the rise of globalization, what affects one culture will affect multiple cultures. Modernization gave countries an economic advantage in the world. When these first countries modernized, they were the first to do such a process and it yielded the unique result of a new culture, molded to suit that prior cultures views. However this is not going to work the world over because every culture, its values, traditions, and ethics, vary greatly from one the next. When one country’s leadership makes the move to modernize the country’s infrastructure, it can’t help but take notes from countries that have done it before. It is natural to assume that if you adopt enough of another countries qualities, that you will embody more of the countries qualities. I believe that many countries have a culture’s best interest at heart when they try to force the people to accept a more western way of life. The fear is that if they don’t grow and adapt they will fall apart from poverty or be invaded by a more technologically superior country. The US and country’s like it will never forgive Islamic fundamentalist for terror acts perpetrated by them. The author says that we must understand the fundamentalist state of mind so that both ideas may coexist in one society. However this asks for a huge leap of faith on the part of the people of the US and other country’s to forgive those who they feel have been attacked by the fundamentalist ideal. This is the biggest obstacle in the author’s argument for a solution (not much in the reading for a solution anyways).