Scott Bistrup's Homepage Truth and Reason is a major website of essays and editorials over a period of ten years from 1995 to 2005. Of special interest to these Forums is his
essay Why The "Fundamentalist" Approach To Religion Must Be Wrong, last modified October 14, 2001.
Bidstrup defines fundamentalism:
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Fundamentalist religions... uniformly place a high priority on doctrinal conformity, with such force that it takes higher priority than love, compassion and service.
Bidstrup emphasizes that according to fundamentalist religion, salvation depends on conforming to doctrine, and this appears to be more important than love and compassion. He believes fundamentalist religion appeals to so many people because
As a kind of joke he sets up a list of 14 items by which to measure fundamentalism. He says:
Quote:
It is scored like this: If a religious organization is characterized by each or any of the statements below, add the points indicated to the score.
While the points he high-lights are no laughing matter, they can probably not be used as a serious sociological measure of fundamentalist religion.
Bidstrup also presents his opinions on:
- Why Fundamentalism Denies The Power Of God
- Why Fundamentalism Appeals To The Base Tendencies In Man
- Why Fundamentalism Accepts Hypocrisy
- Why Fundamentalism Promotes Intolerance
- Why Fundamentalism Contradicts The Intent Of Founding Prophets
- How Fundamentalism Promotes Ignorance
- Why Fundamentalism Is A Force For Evil In Society
- Why Fundamentalism Should Be Fought
- How Should Fundamentalism Be Fought?
Finally he lists books and online resources with which to combat fundamentalism.
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