Fundamentalist

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NB: Please note this is not a word for word transcript¹ of the audio programme

Abigail:The term Fundamentalist（基本教义派）has been discussed a lot in recent years and you will probably have heard it in connection with terror attacks and it seems to be linked with Islam rather than other religions. We’ll find out why those connections have been made - and whether they're fair - later on. 

But first what is a ‘fundamentalist’? For the answer I went to Ben Cohen, a radio producer who’s been making religious programmes for the last ten years.

Clip Ben Cohen

The word fundamentalist dates back 100 years - a group of Christians³ in America felt modern ideas were edging out key beliefs, fundamentals in Christianity - they produced a series of booklets called ‘the Fundamentals’ - things like the resurrection（转世重生）, also bible being absolutely true - completely without error. So originally fundamentalist meant somebody believing what they thought were fundamentals of religion. I think it's moved on from there. The thing with the word is, people all use it differently - it can be used as a term of abuse. If somebody is very religious and very intolerant （不宽容的，偏狭的）of somebody who doesn’t believe the same thing as them, they can be called fundamentalist - it’s a term of abuse. 

Ben: Some of the important things are that they hold to traditional ideas over modern ones. They believe that the bible is accurate （准确的，精确的）in everything it says so if the bible says that earth is 6,000 years old and Adam and Eve were real people - if they find science challenging that, they’ll hold to the bible and say science is wrong. In the same way - if man is head of household, not wife, then they’ll hold to that rather than modern ideas of equality. 

Abigail: I’d like to come to the word secular⁴. Can that be considered as a kind of opposite? Or is that modern?

Ben: […] I don’t think one word is the opposite of fundamentalist but the modern world, the secular world that looks at other ideas like science, changing opinions - those are the things that make people define themselves as fundamentalists. Because they have ideas that are challenging them, fundamentalism is a reaction against ideas like science and secular ideas.

Abigail: These days we're likely to hear the word fundamentalist attached to Islam - how did that happen?

Ben: I think a lot of fundamentals that are true for Christians are true for believers of other religions. You have a set of holy traditions, maybe holy books, and you hold to those very passionately⁵（热烈的） - so with Islamm, an Islamic fundamentalist […] In Islam they would think that the holy Koran cant⁶ be contradicted by modern thinking.

Abigail:We’ve heard how ‘fundamentalism’ began with a group of American Christians around 100 years ago, as a direct challenge to secular - 

non-religious - ways of thinking. 

But that battle between fundamentalism and secularism⁷（世俗主义） is still going on - and as recent news reports have shown - it’s going on right at the heart of the Anglican Church:

 

Clip News Report on the Anglican row

Few would want to be in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s shoes as he attempts to hold together a communion at war with itself over the issue of homosexuality. […] The crisis was sparked（闪烁，闪光） in North America. In August the governing body of the American Church confirmed the election of Gene⁹ Robinson as the Bishop⁸ of New Hampshire […]

Abigail:Gene Robinson was recently elected as Anglican Bishop of New Hampshire In the United States. But Gene Robinson is an openly gay man, who lives with his male partner. This has caused problems in the Anglican Church between people who support the inclusion of gay men and women in the church and those who do not. 

How can there be a row between fundamentalists and modernisers within a religious organisation¹⁰? Producer of religious programmes Ben Cohen explains:

 

Clip Ben Cohen

That’s a good example of fundamentalism versus（对抗，相对比）modern secular thinking because on one hand there's a group of Christians say the bible seems to say God isn't happy with homosexuality, on the other hand there's a group of Christians who say bible is inspired by God, but we need to look at it in fresh light with new knowledge we have about homosexuality. A fundamentalist would say the bible has last word on this, and it had last word when it was written 2,000 years ago or whenever that bit was written. 

Abigail:So fundamentalists are not only fighting against secularism - against a lack of religion. They’re also in opposition¹¹ to religious modernisers, people who believe that religion can be re-thought, can adapt to modern life. 

But in recent years the word fundamentalist seems to have become strongly associated with Islam - and with terrorism - with for example the attack on the World Trade Centre or the bombing in Bali.

Now that the word fundamentalist is so often used to link Islam with violence and intolerance, I asked Ben Cohen whether he would ever use the word himself:

 

Clip Ben Cohen

I would be careful because every person uses it differently, and it can mean slightly different things depending on whether you’re a Hindu or a Christian² and remember, you can be a fundamentalist and not have extreme or intolerant opinions. 

Abigail: Why do I feel that the word is linked with terrorism - is this something to do with Al Q'aeda, bombings in Bali, what’s happened recently in Turkey?

Ben: Yes, the word fundamentalist has been used so much in connection with terrorist attacks

-not true of only Islam. You have to remember that not all fundamentalists would go to the extremes of bombing - they're just people who happen to hold very traditional opinions, but are peaceful. But it has been connected with the Islamic group Al Q'aeda. And that’s fair enough because one of the things Al Q'aeda feels strongly about is that the Koran has made a set of laws and they feel the west is bringing in secular fashions that are watering down Islam. That is a very fundamentalist idea - that purity（纯度） of teaching is being spoilt, and that is one thing that is motivating Al Q'aeda in these attacks.

Ben: Not knocking the BBC because I do think they try very hard. But often I do hear the term fundamentalism or extremist kicked about in a way that suggests to me that they're using them lazily. Certainly in the West - religion is less and less an important part of people's lives so there is this feeling that somebody can be looking at something very complicated from the outside and not stepping into the shoes of somebody who believes something very passionately, and it is hard to think yourself into mindset(意向，精神状态) of somebody from a very different culture for whom religion is vastly more important than somebody who is a journalist in, say, London or Paris.

Abigail: Looking at the word fundamentalism - how does that misunderstanding affect the language they might use?

Ben: The word fundamentalism is so complicated and can sometimes end up being used as a dirty word - it’s a short hand for saying they take their religion far too seriously, they're extremists, they quite possibly have a bomb in their bag and that can be unfair on people who have very devout¹² religious beliefs but wouldn't harm a fly.

But it is still a word which can be used accurately¹³ to describe many people round the world who believe that society should operate according to traditional religious teachings.

And we’ve heard how in opposition to fundamentalists are modernisers and secular thinkers - people who believe morality can change, be re-thought. Ben Cohen explains:

 

Clip Ben Cohen

The situation in Iran is incredibly complicated. But I do think it comes down to this question of fundamentalism again. Because one thing fundamentalists do feel quite strongly about is that their teachings aren't just true for them - they're true for everybody. […] A lot of people believe that the country should be governed jointly¹⁴ by religious leaders, to impose if you like holy living, Islamic living on the whole country. […] At the moment you have a government where Islamic teachers play the key role and some people aren't happy with the amount of power they exert（发挥） and they feel they should have more freedom to vote for who they like about how they lead their life and they feel too much is being imposed by the religious nature of government at the moment. (本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

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