Fundamentalism an Enemy to All Faiths

I don't think the headline of this article "Fundamentalism is the enemy of all faiths" is correct. Fundamentalism is the belief that faith trumps facts. I personally would prefer not to believe anything that contradicts the known. But fundamentalism is the friend of people who prefer to believe than to know.

It is true that all polarized and polarizing forces need and seek out a contrary force. An opponent. They need the enemy.

Here in 'christian america' the taliban serve that role exceptionally well. And Mr. Spong is right that it is easier to recognize the truth of a thing when we can see it at a nice and disconnected distance.

My course, in unison with Mr. Spong in most of his post, diverges on one main point. I do not think that "all religious systems ... claim to represent ultimate truth", though I do think that all of the big ones do. Facing the upsurgence of fundamentalism in the world these days it is hard not to reject religion altogether, particularly if the fundamentalist claim of owning ultimate truth is believed.

It is not believed by me. I agree with the final statement: "Religion's most passionate advocates are always the enemies of the search for truth." This is the greatest sadness. Those that could be the greatest lovers of God become advocates of ignorance and fear, and so minions of the 'Devil'.

HI , there would seem to be a lot of truth in your words, it is my opinion which may or may not be a bit of truth that all human beings whether religious or not could benefit from answering publicly two questions.. 1) do yo believe in the possibility of a powerful knowing God which might understand things which humans cannot... 2) maybe the most important of the two are you or do you think that you .. are God.. every open i have asked has answered no and we have been able to able a genuine inspections of ideas or they immediately became angry and walked off which gave me the answer i needed about them without their words confirming what i already suspected.

Fundamentalism is relative, and fundamentalists wouldn't exist were it not for the foundational believer...the sweet little old lady who attends service every Sunday. Without the support of the masses, they have no basis for their agenda.

The secularists are rewriting history and using the judiciary and public schools to try try to erase religion from the public eye. In this shameful endeavor we have the leftie liberal religion representatives abetting them in this cause.

Spong did a "great" job of shrinking the diocese of Newark as bishop. He nearly halved membership (three times the rate of decline as the rest of the denomination.

Spong and his cronies paint evangelical Christians as "just as bad as the Taliban." What a vile lie. What he did to his diocese, sucking out the life, ostracizing anyone with orthodox beliefs, etc., was simply evil.

Spong preaches a cold, distant god, too impotent or uncaring to intervene in the lives of men.

mr. spong,
do you have any idea what percentage of christians are "literalists"? and what percentage of jews are? and what percentage of muslims are? this might be measured by a percentage who believe in a 6000-yr-old earth and disbelieve evolution.

it is my thinking that the percentage is highest among muslims. and it is also my thinking that maintaining this construct causes/is-a-product-of irrationality.

amen to that!

Yep -- a fundamentalist is someone who thinks that no amount of human knowledge can ever supersede the doctrines of their faith because the latter comes from the infinite mind of God. Like Creationists who don't care what DNA sequencing or radiocarbon-dating tell us.

Spong's Episcopal church has always treated "reason" as on par with scripture, so easily discards doctrines that don't make sense to a modern educated mind.

Unfortunately, too much of Islam is tied up in the idea that God's final pronouncement was made in the seventh century, and 1300 years of learning don't change it. Which is why educated Muslims run away to America and discard that nonsense. And if you're a 50-year-old wealthy Saudi pedophile, being able to buy an 8-year-old bride like they did in medieval Arabia, has a certain appeal.