When does faith become extremism?

Question

This is a serious question, and I'm looking for serious, well-thought-out answers. I'm what you might call an atheist who is respectful of faith, and I'm looking for other points of view on when a person's faith ceases to be something to be protected and starts to be something from which others need to be protected.

In particular, I'm not looking for opportunistic stabs at other faiths, or answers that essentially boil down to "a faith is extremism when it is sufficiently different from my own." I AM looking for answers that are insightful and give me something to think about, and in particular those that can be universally applied to any faith (including non-religious faiths: think nationalism, faith in relationships, others, and oneself, superstitions, faith in systems and authorities, et cetera).

So, is 'extremism' just a dirty word we use to label faiths we don't like? Or is there something characteristic to 'extremism' that makes it universally bad (and what is it?)?

Answer 1

Either of these two criteria qualify as extremist to me:

1. When practitioners of faith try to force their particular beliefs on others through violent methods of persuasion (although more subtle methods could be potentially extreme as well.)

2. When faith is accepted without a grain of independent thought, taken whole-sale into one's life without any critical evaluation whatsoever. Every religion which I have studied has advocated for critical thought to some extent or another. The Old Testament (Hebrew Bible, whatever you'd like to call it), for instance, has nearly every major figure calling Yahweh out on the carpet.

Beliefs themselves can be extreme as well, but that would seem to be a different kind of criteria.

Answer 2

I like people like you.

I too, could be considered an atheist; and have considered this question myself. It's hard to examine someone's faith and point out whats wrong with it, or what could be considered extreme.

This is a particularly difficult question. You may consider a religon or faith extreme when they have ritulas or acts that harm others, but what about sacrafice? What if the person being sacrafices truley believes it's a good thing?

Or

What if there is a sort of raid, in which a tribe, or group of one faith, attacks another? Is this considered extreme? Maybe. But what if they truly believe what they are doing is right.

To tell you the truth, I dont know! I don't have an answer for you. But if I was FORCED to answer this question, I suppose I would answer along the lines of some sort of limited violence. But I dont know.

Good Question.

Answer 3

This is interesting. My service at church today was about this very thing. My pastor made the point that fear is what seperates faith from extremeism.
Fear of hell, fear of sin, fear of disapproval from God are what drive the fundamentalist/extremeist movement. Couple that with the fear of being wrong and it is easy to see how faith in ones own beliefs can be transmuted to the you're wrong/we're right tone that fundamentalism/etreamism thrives on.
It is only when we look at true faith as fidelity to our own core beliefs that we can accept that others may have different core beliefs with out being enraged or feeling assaulted.
I think that is the difference between faith and extremism.
If you are looking for a spiritual home that is tolerant of all spiritual paths (including, but not limited to Atheism) I urge you to check out your local Unitarian Universalist Church. While I struggle to define my own beliefs, I once labeled myself an Atheist as well (although now I prefer Humanist), finding the Unitarian Universalist Church has really helped me to learn more about my spiritual side. It is also an awesome place to have thoughtful respectful conversations with people about things similar to your question.

Answer 4

When there is no room for debate. When the proponents of a monetry system Free Trade for example will not accept that other people have different ideas. The same people who are proponents of Free Trade advocate green solutions then designate Environmentalists Terrorists . This is confusing it is if as someone somewhere wrote as if we are all like Catholics confessing are sins and on the other hand being accused of heresy of a different sort.On a site dealing with terrorism and hate crimes can be found under terrorism books on Eco-Terrorrists. above this is found a section to click on dealing with Hate Speech. To allow books like these might seem like hate speech which can confuse a person even more. Greed can be a source of extremism and can lead to monetary extremism a belief in controlling resources to feed it and that no one has the right to resist it. Greed can be placed in a place of belief and controlled by the same law applying to other belief systems. No harm done you are free to worship it if you desire just only in your place of worship. This relies on a voluntary reliquishment of power to do so which is not likely. It is not very even that a religious belief in monetary gain can go unchecked but constraints can be placed on religions not to interfere in the lives of people with force.There is a belief that criminals who murder should be executed either by The Country they live in or through vigilantism.Both extreme. Extremity usually results in death. Other examples films which portray Detectives beating confessions out of suspects because they ''know'' the suspects are guilty. Torture a version of extremism. Justification for it. People alsosay things like ''grow some nuts join the military then you can talk about freedom''. A person does not have to protect Freedoms through armed force though it is often used against nonviolent people by The Police. The army is not necessarily a defender of freedom it can be made use of against the citizens of it's country along with the police. There is going to be unavoidable extremism wafare among half a billion people when water supplies run short by 2015 if nothing is done. Suspect those in charge py only lip service to green power though and war will ensue.

Answer 5

When my religion dictates to me that my own practice must raise my interests above those of the others who do not share my beliefs or practices, then I am approaching extremism.

To be on the extreme or to approach the extreme is to go toward the limit, to be reaching the limit of a place. True faith I think does not take you to the extreme but centres you. Zealotry is a distortion of faith in that reason is chucked aside in favour of blind faith or bad faith. Fanaticism is another word for this religious extremism.

A fanatic is one who is stuck on one track. He or she is moving as if only looking in one narrow focus, as with "tunnel vision" or "going with blinders."

True faith does not preclude reason but fortifies reason. Faith must be balanced with reason, even a certain amount of skepticism, for the faith to be well used. Faith without reason is like a weapon without sights.

No, extremism is not just a dirty word for labelling faiths we don't like. Some can use the word that way, but I think there are really extremes, and there are paths of moderation. One of my inspirations is Socrates' and Plato's teachings of "All things in moderation," and "the Golden Mediocrity."

Another building block in my philosophy is the Tao, the Way, as taught by Lao Tzu and the schools of Chinese Kung Fu Tze or Confucius.

The worse characteristic to extremism is that it is a losing of the balance. It is unlike the ideal of keeping balance, of living with grace, shibumi. With this extremism, there is either almost all Yin or almost all Yang, but not a harmonious state of balance, with faith, hope, and love.

Answer 6

I believe that Faith becomes "extreme"- when it begins to deny the validity of other peoples beliefs. I've always felt that it's not "WHAT one believes..."- but "THAT one believes" -is what Faith is all about... And whether it's to a "God", or a "Power" or a "Concept" , or ones "Big Toe"- to BELIEVE in an IDEA strong enough to base Ones Principles, Ethics & personal morality around- is what ANY Faith, is really all about. ...It's when someone turns around & declares "My God (Faith) is BETTER than Yours..."- is when the FIRST seeds of "extremism" take root... And the Intolerant Hypocracy that grows from THAT- casts a dark shadow across the face of Humanity..... :(

Answer 7

any faith regardless of what it is becomes extreme when it totally dominates your life and what you do to the point nothing else matters but that faith. This includes any religion, even atheists.

People can allow themselves to be completely controlled by their faith to the point they can no longer function literally in a sane manner.

I have observed this a number of times and it quite literally makes me sick to see these people suffer under their delusion of faith.

Answer 8

Force!

Simple faith (beliefs) is a personal choice. It becomes extremism when that person forces the beliefs on others. It becomes political when those same beliefs are forced on an entire population and consequences arise if you do not conform.

That's my view on it.

Answer 9

When one takes the tenants of his/her faith to the letter of the law regardless of thought to wisdom or the meaning of the tenants to your faith then they are extremists.
Some examples, the Pharisees, and Sadducee's were like that. People who warp and twist the Americans constitutional rights to their own advantage are like that. Jerry Falwell seems to me to be using Christianity for his own agendas he is like that. The French revolutionaries were like that, they took the tenants of their revolution and went to the extremes of tearing the fabric of the land apart.

Answer 10

Extremism is merely that - in basic terms taking the prepare of religion/faith to an absurd intense. that's a sort of religion that provides upward push to an undesirable style of "faith". that's what you get whilst a guy or woman loses the present concept-approximately his ego(The ME who's right here, NOW), and then overcompensates his attribution a particular team with a fixed set of regulations/regulations/traditions/customs to fill in that hollow. (this implies, Nazis and the KKK fall under this team. )considered one of those guy or woman is under no circumstances content, under no circumstances happy - for this reason, envious, he's often out to wreck the happiness of others. he's likewise quite protective of his so-referred to as convictions, under no circumstances suffering a delightful rational debate to the touch his middle ideals, lest this is torn asunder by a breath, like the frail and flimsy element it truly grew to become into. to that end you have the unenviable combination of a guy who dearly needs to make particular of himself, and is invariably denied that freedom. between the superb acid exams for extremism is how those human beings manage the thought they may be incorrect. eighty%-ninety% coverage isn't precisely undesirable, despite if that's worrisome - if some says he's one hundred% effective of his ideals, i could say he could desire to be between the three: one million. a liar. 2. a saint. or 3. a very stupid guy or woman. You your self can choose by the undemanding approach of removing, what the respond is likely to be. my very very own view of religion is consistent with yet another word completely. I call it believe. that's a wakeful determination to stake something or somebody on the spoken word or purpose of somebody else.