DOGMA, the great friend to fundamentalism, the enemy of reason.  Now that we have identified our enemy,?
436315
I believe in questioning.  Dogma is nothing more than that.  If we believed everything that was writing ans aid, where would we be now?  That in itself is a matter of opinion and some people would asy we were better off, but would we be?  The world is flat and we can't fly........
1181616
terrorism isnt a thought, its an act. and a networked group of people who infiltrate governments and societies for the purpose of destroying other countries who they claim are against Allah.
16981
Luther. This antisemitic dogma was then used by Hitler to justify his atrocities.\n\n"For thus says the LORD of hosts: 'He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.'"
1174835
The existential brightness of reason.
44859
The idea of fundamentalism arose around this time. One aspect it regarded was the teaching of evolution in schools. One teacher was put on a trial, and it was actually quite famous, for teaching about evolution. It supposedly went against the teachings of Christianity and creationism.
482
Oftentimes, we mean "An organized, militant Evangelical movement originating in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century in opposition to Protestant Liberalism and secularism, insisting on the inerrancy of Scripture." \n\nBut the concept of fundamentalism can be extended to any ideology or theology whose tenents include a strict adherance to a code, especially one which demands the observance by persons who do not subscribe to that code.\n\nNaturally, this makes for a source of conflict. And an understandable one at that. For example, say you believe some act is wrong. Furthermore, you believe you have a duty to prevent wrongdoing altogether. Consequently, you have a moral obligation to prevent any person from doing that act - including people who do not think that act is wrong.\n\nAny critical examination of a dogmatic theology or ideology will reveal how necessary this is, yet any objective look at disparate cultures will reveal how subjective - and frightening - this can be.\n\nThe hope of the future is that fundamentalist evangelism will be enacted by appeal to reason rather than dictates of law. Ideally, people would choose to perform 'right' acts for their own sake, rather than out of fear of punishment.
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No. Always be prepared to plant the seed of reason. It will not always find a fertile spot in the swamps of dogma, but when it does you may see the blooming of a great thinker, a scientist, a philosopher. If nothing else, you will have made it possible for someone to value humanity on its own terms.
1018892
Organized religion is the culprit.
85562
Three words: RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM and CAPITALISM.\nSome have responded with answers such as Satan. However, that would imply that the world is getting worse. Historically speaking, it certainly is not. The unification of and cooperation between countries indicates a positive movement of participants in the world economy. This is a recent and continuing phenomenon.\n\nThe current threat to stability is the widespread conflict in the Middle East, in addition to much of Africa's problems. What fosters these problems? RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM and CAPITALISM.
1182795
You know what? This is one of the points where their religion crashes. One of them, because there are many more. Where has common sense escaped to, nowadays, I wonder?\n\nI'm a fellow atheist, and a satanist, so I'm not involved in any activity requiring brainwashing.
521801
Not all religion. I would have to say though that FUNDAMENTALIST religion IS INDEED a tool of mind control that allows a small group of people to wield enormous influence over the masses, and I think that's wrong.
26486
We have been in it since 1979. And just didn't admit it until 9/11.  With the Islamic Fundamentalist bombing in places like Sri Lanka, Israel, Spain, Great Briton, Egypt (the Coptic Christians are being hounded pretty good right now), Phillipenes.  It wasn't until Afganistan that we have taken the threat seriously.
1046053
I converted to jim_darwinism a long time ago.  Jim_darwinism is the Way, the Truth, the Light, etc.
954753
if mankind cant remove the dogmatics of religion they will never make it anywhere in this world. that is my opinion of it
351353
Let me begin by saying that I always enjoy reading your answers and very often you beat me to the punch with an explanation that is more coherent than I could likely come up with. Excellent work.\n\nI think that much of the issue here comes back to the basic divisiveness of faith. It makes sense for each religion to clearly define lines between "us" and "them." Jesus might have believed in peace and love, much like a modern day hippie, but the only real way to gather people around a common idea is to give them a common enemy. These days it's considered relatively poor taste to engage in crusades against Muslims, or chase Jews out of town for drinking the blood of the Christian born, so modern-day Christians have needed to unite against a new common enemy, evolutionists. Strangely, the only group of Christians now required to agree with us are the Catholics, based on JPII's statments that evolution is the most likely explanation for the current state of the world. Then again, many Protestants have issues with Catholics (and Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons), but I think their favorite target du jour is the atheistic evolutionists.\n\nOne of the nice things about scapegoating is that you don't really have to define what is so terrible about the goats. Most of the time you can just point a finger and shriek. Pretty soon the rest of the mob will join in. As far as I know there has been no theory put forth by the creationist camp as to the "true" motives of evolutionists. Clearly most middle-of-the-road Christians (well, the ones who don't agree with us) feel that we've just studied the world and come to the wrong conclusions. However, many others likely feel that there is a nefarious agenda behind evolutionist ideas. Fortunately, they have a catch-all go-to-guy when it comes to nefarious agendas. Anything that isn't "godlike" is always attributed to this character. What's his name? Could it be...Satan?\n\nI'm sure that there are creationists out there who think that most evolutionists are on Satan's payroll and will be driving big gold Cadillacs around shortly after the Rapture. Sadly, no amount of reasoning on our part will get them to think any differently. In the meantime they will continue to see all of us as part of some cabal in Satan's service. It's strange to think that there was a time when only heavy-metal bands and role-playing-gamers were part of The Devil's army, now it seems that a degree in biochemistry is a standard recruitment tactic. \n\nWell, keep up the good work, and I'll see you at the meetings.
805656
Secular Humanism.  That or Flying Spaghetti Monsterism *aka* Pastafarianism.
1173665
You are correct in your line of thinking. It would appear that many Chistians are biggoted in their view, particulrily fundamentalists, who have difficulty see the wood for the trees. I agree with your logic and many orthox Chistians do too.\nBest of luck in your search for the 'truth'