FAITH AND FANATICISM

Faith and Fanaticism

Table of Content

FAITH AND FANATICISM1

FAITH V. FANATICISM: DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS1

DEFINITION OF FAITH3

DEFINING FANATICISM4

DANGER OF DIAGNOSIS6

Some Research Problems9

Characteristics of Fanaticism16

An Anthropological Perspective24

Educating Fanaticism25

Administrative considerations28

Curriculum29

Pedagogy32

Personal32

RELIGION AND PSYCHOSIS: THE CHICKEN AND THE EGG?33

THE TOPEKA ANTI-HOMOSEXUAL CHRISTIANS37

SUICIDE: DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IDEOLOGY AND RELIGION39

FBPA: FAITH BASED PRESUPPOSITIONAL ASSUMPTIONS41

RELIGION AND REASON AS ADVERSARIES46

GENESIS OF RELIGION47

CONVERSION AND RADICALIZATION50

CONCLUSION52

REFERENCES53

Faith and Fanaticism

FAITH V. FANATICISM: DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS

There's a very fine line between faith and fanaticism. Faith is when you believe in something strongly. Fanaticism is when you believe in it so strongly that you wish to impose it on everyone else. Anyone who does not believe what you believe is an outcast. (Armstrong 2000)Fanaticism does not have to be confined to religion -even though it is perhaps provides the most glaring examples of bigotry and fanaticism. You will find fanaticism in politics, social values and mores and even in art and music. Very recently a friend of mine found religion. I was happy for him (still am!) because it certainly improved him. He stopped drinking, became health conscious and his people skills improved. But a few months into practicing his new religion, he became so convinced that it was the only true religion that he has become unbearably persistent in insisting others should follow suit. (Babic 2002)

Call him out for a cup of coffee and he's most likely to ask you to attend a religious discourse instead. Call him over to lunch or dinner and he will insist that you first become a vegetarian. Tell him you are not feeling well and he will ask you to perform certain religious practices instead of going to the doctor. If I tell my friend that someone has met with an accident. I am most likely to be told that it happened because that person did not follow the teaching of "his" religion. Tell him someone's child had died, and he he's most likely to say that anyone who does not follow the "true path" (Baumfield 2002)will face suffering. Those who follow other faiths are caught up in a whirlpool of ignorance.

To me, this is not faith. This is fanaticism. Though perhaps in a more subtle and non-violent form. Faith does not preach or threaten. Faith does not entice or tempt. Faith is being faithful to one's belief. If one really has faith, (Girard 2001) it should not be difficult for that person to accept the faith of others. If I really love my wife should I have problems believing that someone else loves his wife just as much or maybe more?

True faith is not deterred by what others say. Nor is it swayed. Faith is firm as a rock and can move rocks. But faith, when it tries to bring others to the fold through threats and manipulation, it's fanaticism. (Grimmitt 2000)

The truly faithful attract others by becoming living examples that attract others to their faith. (Hauerwas 2000)They become lighthouses for those who are storm tossed by hopelessness and despair. They never become policemen of ...