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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bela_ghoulashi who wrote (12796)	12/4/2001 11:59:57 PM
From: LPS5	Respond to of 281500

I'm not mounting a defense of anything except looking at other people's beliefs without getting hysterical about them. If there are any "hysterics," they've come in the form of your apparent bigotry, or favoritism toward, a certain religion when, in fact and as I've said repeatedly to the contrary, dangerous extremism knows no religious boundaries. Have you ever eaten in an Amish restaurant? Yes, I have. Have you ever stayed in a Benedictine monastery? No, I have not. Have you ever visited an all black Baptist church in the rural south? Yes, a few times in Alabama. Have you ever chanted "Hare Krisha" with a group of Kashmir Shaivites? No, but I saw the reunion of Jean Luc Ponty's Mahavishnu Orchestra some years back. Does that count? [Th]ey are all pretty "fundamental" and extreme in their own unique ways... I certainly wouldn't call the Amish restaurant I ate at extreme, LOL. On the other hand, the Baptist church services were animated, especially as compared to the religious services I attended as a kid in NYC. As for the other experiences, I wouldn't know enough to answer. However, as with your mutilated definition of "bigotry," you ought to look at the difference between "fundamentalism" and "fundamental." In fact, they may imply nearly opposite characteristics. Fundamental means "primary, basic, or essential." That word definitely describes the Amish restaurant. Fundamentalism, on the other hand, describes an interpretation of philosophy or religion which emphasizes the literal infallibility of its' tenets. In other words, it can, in some contexts, quite easily imply zealousness, enthusiasm or quiet, dogged adherence to verbatim interpretations of a tome. I certainly wouldn't use either of those terms to describe the Baptist church services I've attended: the former, because it was not, in any way, basic. The latter, because I - not being a Baptist, and in particular not a Southern Baptist - am in no position to determine exactly how closely they interpreted the Bible and their other religious guidelines, individually or as a community. It was animated, though. That's for sure. A lot of fun. ...but you'd be in more personal danger attending a little football game. For the umpteenth time: the Amish, and Baptists, are a community of, and a denomination of, Christian. It's fundamentalists, whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, or of any other religion, that are - in my opinion - dangerous. LP.