Is fundamentalism bad?

Question

WIll sticking to tradition bar humanity from moving forward in its destiny to greatnes, or will it save human culture?
(for those of you who believe in a coming apocalpse w/in the 21st century, please leave that out of this).

Answer 1

Fundamentalism....
Fundamentalism takes a beautiful faith/religion, and turns it into a goose-stepping, intolerant and dangerous cult!
Period.

Answer 2

As time has passed, things have changed. Some events have dramatic impacts on society and culture. Tradition is neither bad nor good, it just is. Like everything else, traditions change. I heard recently that the Pope wants to change the Catholic liturgy so that the congregation no longer responds to God be with you by saying, "And with you". Now it's going to be a more accurate Latin translation and some feel uncomfortable with the change.
Fundamentalism: A usually religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism.
Is there something wrong with that? Yes, it blinds a person to the realities of life. For example, Galileo was nearly put to death because he believed the earth was round and not the center of the universe. Fundamentalists who are still willing to kill Galileo today would be considered stupid and barbaric. But they still fight scientific evidence with scripture. The consistent trend for those that insist on interpreting scripture contrary to scientific evidence is a diminishing respect for what is truly important in scripture: God's admonition to us to treat each other well and love God. Fundamentalist bigotry is stupid.

Answer 3

I would question your assumption that humanity is "moving forward in its destiny to greatness", but that is another question.
I think to answer your question you need to look at examples from the past where traditional beliefs just had to give in to new discoveries of fact. For example, people used to believe that the earth was flat and the christian church charged those who had other ideas with heresy. Early astronomers believed the earth was the centre of the universe before it became obvious that several planets revolved around the sun.
In terms of culture, different groups hang on to different ideas. The style of dress in mainly Christian cultures has been modified greatly over the last hundred years and you can find very devout women wearing short skirts with nobody batting an eye. Muslims in Indonesia have different cultural customs from those in the Middle East.
Traditionalists in some cultures use holy scriptures to justify a ban on gay marriage, whereas forward looking, inclusive Christian groups embrace all loving, respectful unions. Where's the harm in that?
Freedom of expression lends itself to change, and that leads to new learning experiences. That has to be good in the long run. Education and critical thinking are the cornerstones of making new discoveries and gaining new knowledge. Traditionalists stand in the way of that.
Obviously some traditions are good, let's say those that honour human rights and civil behaviour in day to day life. Even the tradition of fighting for one's rights is a good one. But I would say that traditions that impose restrictions on the rights of others harm a culture in the long run.

Answer 4

Anything that has an extremest fringe usually is never good. My personal observations have been that fundamentalism in general, usually catches up with society in about 5 to 15 years depending on the issue. For example, rock music used to be critisized as the music of the devil; however, today "christian" rock is quickly bing accepted.

Answer 5

Fundamentalism is evil. The devil's work. LoL

Answer 6

Religion and superstition will keep causing more problems than they solve as long as they exist.

Answer 7

Fixed ideas lead to division and violence, do they not? Get rid of the "idee fixe" inside you.

Answer 8

sure go aheard and let child molesters and anybody else into your church who openly disobeys God Word

Answer 9

fundamentalism in any thing is bad

Answer 10

no it is not bad, moral behavior does not stop greatness only perverse behavior.