Chapter 1: The Rise in Religious Fundamentalisms: Understanding the Causes Complexities in Understanding the Factors behind the Rise in Religious Fundamentalisms
Complexities in Understanding the Factors behind the Rise in Religious Fundamentalisms The self-perpetuating nature of religious fundamentalisms Although at the beginning of this chapter we defined “causes” of fundamentalisms as factors that arise irrespective of what fundamentalist actors do, in practice most “causes” do not exist entirely independently of religious fundamentalisms; war and conflict can be both a cause of religious fundamentalisms as well as a result of fundamentalist politics, sometimes in a seemingly never-ending cycle. For example, national conflict in the Congo, Kenya, Lebanon and Former Yugoslavia has promoted and been promoted by religious fundamentalisms. “Religious leaders of the Serbian Orthodox Church continued to support the nationalistic, aggressive denial and justification of the war” (survey respondent, Serbia). The “war on terror” deserves particular mention. Like other conflicts, it was both caused by and has been a cause of religious fundamentalisms. Since the 9/11 attacks, religion has been routinely used as a justification for aggression both on the part of the United States and its allies, and its opponents in the form of al-Qaida, the Taliban and parts of the Iraqi opposition.5 As a backlash to the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, fundamentalist coalitions gained unprecedented strength and won provincial elections in Pakistan in 2002, and reformists in Iran lost out to conservatives as the conflict in neighbouring Iraq worsened in 2004. The “war on terror” has also increased racism and prejudice, especially impacting migrant communities in Europe and North America, but also affecting Muslims more generally. This has in turn exacerbated religious identity politics and fuelled a cycle of local and global violence. Finally, the “war on terror” has contributed to the growth of authoritarianism—already seen as a factor contributing to religious fundamentalisms. Using the argument of post-9/11 “security”, civil rights have been severely undermined in many countries of Europe and North America and a global atmosphere of impunity for human rights violations has prevailed 6, while allied authoritarian or military governments, as in Uzbekistan and Pakistan, have been supported by the US-led coalition.
The central role of conflict in the cycle of fundamentalisms is illustrated by the fact that womens rights activists from regions strongly affected by or involved in some of todays hottest supposedly “religious” conflicts are more likely than activists from other regions to see conflict as a major factor behind the rise in religious fundamentalisms in the past decade. The regions involved are the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and Western Europe and North America, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Fundamentalism in one religion undoubtedly fuels fundamentalism in others. This pattern is visible in the case of majority-minority tensions such as in Chechnya; Israel and Palestine; and Hindu, Muslim and Christian fundamentalisms in India. It is also visible in Chiapas where both Evangelical and Catholic fundamentalisms fuel each other in the midst of the on-going conflict. Competition between different religious fundamentalisms for the public space can also result in mutual reinforcement, as in Brazil where “in reaction to an alliance of Evangelical political groups, the Catholics formed an alliance of Catholic political groups; this did not exist in Brazil before” (Maria José Rosado-Nunes, Brazil). Conflict is not the only example of how it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between the causes of fundamentalisms and fundamentalist strategies designed to perpetuate themselves. For instance, when a Ministry of Education rewrites all history textbooks so as to present a version of history that privileges one religion or one religious interpretation, that fundamentalist worldview becomes “naturalized” for the next generation, there is less space to challenge it and it is more likely to be reproduced and perpetuated. Also, many fundamentalist communities pursue pro-natalist practices and tend to have very large families, which ensures a constant growth in their numbers. Demographics have played a role in the growing political strength of Ultra-Orthodox/ Haredi Jews in Israel and across the world, and Christian sects such as the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in Canada and the United States.
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Michael Dickinson, “Blessed are the warmakers: Billy Graham’s final crusade,” CounterPunch, 6 July 2005. http://www.counterpunch.org/dickinson07062005.html; Jim Lobe, “Conservative Christians biggest backers of Iraq war,” InterPress Service, republished by Common Dreams, 10 Oct. 2002, http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1010-02.htm 6 See Catching the Wind, International Council on Human Rights Policy, Geneva, 2007 pp. 13-15 http://www.ichrp.org/files/reports/4/133_report_en.pdf
awid
Towards a Future without Fundamentalisms: Analyzing Religious Fundamentalist Strategies and Feminist Responses
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