... . : interesting ... . : This page is about the psychological, societal and religious sources of violent religious extremism, fundamentalism and terrorism. Religious freedom and tolerance is most commonly upheld by secular democracies, minority religions, paganism, new age spiritualism and many new religious movements, and by the non-religious. The horrific spectre of oppression and violent coercion have resulted mostly from Abrahamic monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity (mostly in the past) and Islam (particularly prone to it at present1), and to a lesser extent from other traditional religions such as Hinduism, especially as a result of battles against multiculturalism. The declining strength of religion in the face of secularisation means there are fewer middle-ground religionists to rein in extremists. Fundamentalist branches of religion across various religions tend to share certain traits and features2, in particular scriptural literalism and active resistance against multiculturalism.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 00:25:10 +0000