The problem with Fundamentalism:
In the case of religious fundamentalism, the problem isn’t that folks embrace some basic accurate concepts of what reality is and get stuck there. The problem is these basic concepts were flawed from the very beginning, misinterpretations of experience at best, and outright manipulative lies at their worst. In any event these basic flawed concepts of reality, which are often viewed as absolute formative structures by some religious folks today, had nothing at all to do with any actual reality. They were the words of men, not the words of god.
These long dead men, tribal heroes, warriors with tribal agendas claiming to be prophets and speaking for god, often called for the complete annihilation of other tribes who had land or goods they coveted. Claiming their god instructed them to spare no man, woman, or child, as is recorded in many different biblical passages similar to Joshua 9:24 to Joshua 10: 28-30, these warrior prophets would leave no one alive. Joshua was a particularly ambitious and brutal tribal warrior, who was the instrument of death for many innocent people. But he was certainly not alone in his bloody work and there were many warrior prophets in this tribe throughout its history. Still are.
What these prophets claimed was revealed to them, was the will of a primitive warrior deity, which curiously always seemed to reflect exactly the mindset already held by these men, and the needs of their particular tribe. The Old Testament, the Torah, is the history and thoughts of a primitive brutal warrior tribe, living in a very rough neighborhood.
The words of self proclaimed warrior prophets were mistakenly seen to be words reflecting authentic divine directives, rather than being the simple tribal agendas they actually were. These primitive tribal agendas were sung, recited, danced, time and time again over millennia, until the were finally written as if they were god’s unalterable divine words.
There are obvious reasons why this tribal warrior deity appeared to be a bloodthirsty real estate god at times. Wandering tribes of warriors always need land, goods, and slaves. These are much easier to get if the taking and killing is done in the name of your god.
The two faiths that later also worshiped this warrior deity were no different in many respects. They shared the same agenda of conquering unbelievers, infidels, pagans, and taking their lands, goods, and gathering slaves, while using the offered chance of conversion [salvation] to justify unspeakable acts of cruelty done in the name if their god.
How curious the history of a small warrior tribe eventually morphed into everyone’s history. How curious these two later appearing faiths adapted the words and ideas of this warrior deity to their own self centered dreams of conquest, plunder, and divine destiny.
Unfortunately current fundamentalists on this planet, found in all three Abrahamic faiths, still build their beliefs, their perceptions of reality, on the back of ancient tribal agendas and the imagined words of a tribal war deity that has nothing at all to do with any people alive today. That is the real problem with fundamentalists who worship a warrior deity instead of a god that is love, having no tribal agendas. -
Chris Waller
