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Deanna Brennan
Professor Ward
THE 101A
The Sins of Fundamentalists
In an era of mass communication and connectedness, the understanding of differences is
of vital importance to maintaining healthy global relationships. Unfortunately, some continue to
reject the idea that the best for society is to compromise and comprehend differences. These are
the fundamentalists, people who only attribute credibility to their own opinions and exclusively
surround themselves with others who share the same ideological beliefs. In Chris Hedges’ book,
When Atheism Becomes Religion, Hedges argues that fundamentalism, specifically atheist or
religious, does more harm than anything else and encourages society to view the world through
only one viewpoint, which blinds us from acknowledging any legitimacy in different
worldviews. Because of their willfully ignorant nature and their unwavering devotion to their
personal ideologies, the doings of atheist and religious fundamentalists result in the exact
opposite of what they set out to accomplish. Instead of establishing utopia or ushering along an
era of vast human progress like they claim to do, they expel from society the beauty of diversity
and perpetuate ignorance in culture.
Atheist fundamentalists reject the notion that religious individuals can be intellectual, and
they often make it seem as though science has a monopoly on logic and intelligence. In reality,
some of these secular fundamentalists who attack religion are themselves, shamefully blinded
and have not bothered to do much research on the religion they are abusing, “[atheists] attack a
religious belief of their own creation. They blame religion for the worst of human depravity,
superstition and ignorance, and call on us to discard it. And once we free ourselves from religion
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we will be able to march forward as a species to their sunlit utopia.”1 It is simple to pick and
choose the worst aspects of a religion and argue against them, but these atheists go on to unfairly
denounce every aspect and follower of the religion. Labeling religion in its entirety as “the worst
of human depravity” is possible only when the accuser overlooks countless features and
fundamental dogmas in all religions. Their uninformed allegations only preserve the state of
ignorance in society that their precious science is meant to destroy.
Religious fundamentalists are as equally uninformed as the atheists when it comes to
their arguments against science. Many religious fundamentalists refuse to stray from the word of
their holy book and are unwilling to debate logically about scientific truths that have been
proven. The blatant refusal to accept certain scientific truths that may contradict religious beliefs
is apparent in an article written by former creationist, David MacMillan. When MacMillan went
off to college, his most personal beliefs were challenged; but after putting aside his ideologies
and opening his mind to the possibility of credibility in evolution, he was “amazed by the
amount of evidence I systematically ignored or explained away, just because it didn't match
creation science.”2 If one is to become a fundamentalist, then one must get in the habit of
continuously ‘ignoring or explaining away’ copious amounts of evidence or facts just to defend
flawed views. Fundamentalism, whether it be religious or secular, cannot exist when there is
inquiry or intellectual examination; fundamentalism only festers when there is a clear expulsion
of study and exploration.
The reason why religious and secular fundamentalists remain stubborn and unchanging in
their views is because they firmly believe only their ideologies and actions will result in the
1
Chris Hedges, When Atheism Becomes Religion, page 26-27
David MacMillan, “As a Reformed Creationist, I Hope Bill Nye Doesn't Underestimate Ken
Ham”, Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-macmillan/bill-nye-ken-ham-debate_b_4651407.html
2
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progress of society. They fail to acknowledge that by deliberately keeping their minds sheltered
against any opinion that differs from their own, they will steadfastly diminish any possibility of
progress. Hedges argues that any form of fundamentalism will result in the death of intellectual
reasoning and understanding by stating, “fundamentalism is a mind-set. The iconography and
language it employs can be either religious or secular or both, but because it dismisses all
alternative viewpoints as inferior and unworthy of consideration, it is anti-thought.”3
Damagingly to the acquisition of progress, fundamentalists blindly hold their own beliefs as
infallible and viciously attack any opposing views without ever critically assessing their validity;
this eliminates the need for questioning and creates a world of conflicting answers, answers that
might not even be correct, although they are taken as absolute. When questioning is regarded as
obsolete, progress is impossible and society will remain static in a period of illogicality.
Someone who works to maintain their ignorance is unable to acknowledge the vast and
astounding diversity found in the world. Atheist fundamentalism makes followers unaware of all
the different and beautiful beliefs found within religion that give courage to people, who then
accomplish unimaginably great things. This cult of science exclusively focuses in on all the evil
that religion has caused throughout history, and a worrying problem arises when atheists only
choose to become educated on the evil and disregard any good that can be found in religion. The
religious fundamentalists view modern science as a direct attack on precious beliefs when they
should at least consider accepting the fact that not everything in their religious text is flawless.
Both fundamentalists view all their arguments as absolutes or black and whites, irrefutable facts
that demand to be accepted. The world no longer is a mixture of cultures, a single dwelling
beautifully intermixed with contrasting and complex beliefs, desires, and ideas; instead, the
3
Chris Hedges, When Atheism Becomes Religion, page 69
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world of a fundamentalist becomes simply a place “divided into those who embrace or reject his
belief system.”4 This is the greatest sin that results from fundamentalism: the destruction of any
hope for intellectual understanding, coexistence, or appreciation for diversity.
4
Chris Hedges, When Atheism Becomes Religion, page 74