The latest edition of the New Humanist includes a piece by Rahila Gupta, looking at the history of the campaigning organisation Women Against Fundamentalism. One of the points she makes is that fundamentalism is not restricted to any one religion, and that all forms of bigotry need to be fought.
Accompanying the article, we included a short round up of fundamentalist movements of different religions from around the world. It's by no means an exhaustive list, and is merely intended to give some idea of the forms that religious fundamentalism takes, and the impact that extremist groups can have on the mainstream. Here's the list:
ISIS
The Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), also known as Islamic State, was formed in early 2013. ISIS believes in re-establishing a caliphate and imposing a version of Sunni Islam that closely adheres to practice in the seventh century, the Prophet Muhammad’s time. Like Al-Qaeda, its ideology is founded on the idea of “jihad” as armed force and a duty for all able-bodied Muslim men (other Muslims believe that “jihad” –“struggle” – can have different meanings).
Despite sharing an ideology with other jihadist fundamentalist movements, ISIS is strategically distinct. Al-Qaeda focuses on destabilising governments and attacking the West, but ISIS prioritises seizing territory. Some compared ISIS’s land-grab in Iraq and Syria to the Taliban’s sweep across Afghanistan in 1996. But the Taliban remains tightly focused on Afghanistan, while ISIS wants to reshape the whole Middle East.
In some respects, ISIS is even more fundamentalist than Al-Qaeda. Both agree that Shia are heretics and beheadings are a legitimate tool, but Al-Qaeda does not actively target Shi’ites or carry out beheadings, believing such tools could be unpopular. Support for ISIS persists, but experts suggest its conservative social programme – including a ban on smoking and music, violent oppression of religious minorities and women, and strict rules on both male and female dress – is starting to alienate the population in areas it controls.
THE 969 MOVEMENT
Myanmar’s 969 Movement is named for numbers associated with the Buddha and his teaching. Founded in 2012, it states its aim as “promoting and protecting religion”. In practice, it is opposed to the expansion of Islam in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, and has been responsible for terror attacks against the country’s Rohingya Muslim population. In June 2012, 200 people were killed and around 100,000 displaced. There have been frequent resurgences of violence since.
A newspaper in Singapore recently described it as a “neo-Nazi” group, while its founder, Bhikku Wirathu, has called himself a Buddhist Bin Laden. While 969 is ultra-nationalist, it remains grounded in religion, as it explicitly ties Buddhism to national identity. In Myanmar and neighbouring countries, monks occupy an honoured position as emblems of religion, and are seen as almost beyond reproach. Monks – even those preaching hate, like Wirathu – are largely insulated from criticism.
The movement is just the latest example of Buddhist militant violence. In Thailand in the 1970s, monks advocated the killing of Communists. During the Sri Lankan civil war, monks encouraged a tough stance against the Tamil Tigers.
SANGH PARIVAR
When Narendra Modi was elected prime minister of India in 2013, religious minorities were anxious. Modi was implicated in the deadly 2002 riots that killed 1-2,000 people (mostly Muslims) in Gujarat, while he was chief minister. He also began his career in the 1970s with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Formed in 1925, the RSS is the mothership of Hindu fundamentalism, or Hindutva. This ideology developed as a way to form a specifically Indian national identity, which stood against the British colonisers and the preceding Islamic dynasty. The RSS started as a right-wing paramilitary group. It was banned by the British Raj, then three times by the post-independence Indian government; first in 1948 when a former RSS member assassinated Mahatma Gandhi for being too tolerant of Muslims; then during emergency rule in 1975-78; and finally after the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992. All bans were lifted.
Today, it is a prominent group which runs schools and charities. But alongside this is a darker element. The RSS and associated groups have been censured over the years for encouraging violence against Muslims and Christians. It is part of the Sangh Parivar, or “family” of Hindutva groups, which includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), currently in power. Broadly, the Sangh Parivar equates Indianness with Hinduism, and promotes unflinching nationalism. At the mainstream end, the BJP insists this is cultural nationalism that does not exclude other religious groups. At the more extreme end, groups agitate for book bans or advocate violence.
HAREDIM AND SETTLERS
There are two broad strands of Jewish fundamentalism in Israel. The first is the ultra-Orthodox Haredim, who follow a strict version of Judaism and reject modern secular culture. Many other Israelis view them as fanatical, misogynist and determined to impose their values. Traditionally, the Haredim opposed Zionism, seeing it as heretical to return to the Holy Land before God willed it. Most remain sceptical about Zionist expansionism and do not settle in the Palestinian territories.
The second group, the Orthodox-settler movement, is defined by this land. The Six-Day War of 1967 saw crucial parts of ancient Israel coming under Jewish control. Some felt returning the land to the Arabs would defy God’s plan for the redemption of the Jewish people. They began to settle in the territories occupied – or, in their view, liberated – in the war.
Practitioners of militant religious Zionism conform strictly in their daily lives to the laws of God and advocate the a society based on those laws; they share this with the Haredim, although they are not as segregationist as the traditional ultra-Orthodox. They are also distinguished by their strong nationalism, and their focus on the land. In 2013, there were 399 incidents of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians.
Both strands of fundamentalism have impacted the mainstream. The settler movement has spawned several ultra-nationalist political parties that oppose a two-state solution – including Jewish Home, part of the ruling coalition. Haredi political parties want to see Israel run on religious principles, and the country’s system of proportional representation gives them a say. The Haredim are the fastest growing segment of the population, contributing to the decline of Israel’s secular majority.
THE US CHRISTIAN RIGHT
American Vision was founded in 1978. It argues that the US was originally a Christian nation and that a theocratic Christian government enforcing Old Testament rules should replace democracy. American Vision’s main activity is producing “educational resources” that aim to “restore American’s Biblical foundation”, as well as training parents, teachers and pastors. Its leader, Gary DeMar, has advocated the death penalty for homosexuailty, leading the Southern Poverty Law Centre (a civil rights organisation) to label American Vision a hate group.
The organisation is at the extreme end of the spectrum of America’s religious Right, an informal coalition of evangelical Protestants and Catholics that carry out grassroots activism and organise electorally. The most hard-line groups remain on the fringes, but draw additional support from mainstream but politically conservative Protestants and Mormons.
The movement has had roots in American politics since the 1940s, but the modern Christian right began in the 1970s, when Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson founded the Moral Majority, a lobby group. Since then, the Christian Right has transformed from a fringe movement into the mainstream of the Republican Party. This powerful lobby advances socially conservative positions on issues such as prayer in schools, stem-cell research, homosexuality, contraception and abortion.
While the more extreme suggestions – like American Vision’s theocratic state – are ignored, the Christian right wing as a whole has significantly impacted policy and the direction of public discussion.
IN EUROPE
For at least the last millenium and a half, the largest religion in Europe has been Christianity. But, like other parts of the world, the continent has its home-grown religious traditions as well as those of immigrants. Accordingly, it is also home to various fundamentalist movements.
A 2013 study of European Muslims in six countries, by the WZB Berlin Social Science Centre, concluded that “religious fundamentalism in western Europe is not a marginal phenomenon”. Two thirds of the 9,000 Muslims interviewed said religious rules were more important to them than the laws of the land, while three quarters said there was only one legitimate interpretation of the Qur’an.
Islamic fundamentalism gets most public attention, but is not Europe’s only religious extremism. The same study noted Christian fundamentalism, particularly among smaller Protestant groups such as Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Pentecostalists.
Many of Europe’s Christian fundamentalists have formed political parties that sit in the European Parliament. One is the Netherlands’ Political Reformed Party, a Calvinist group which wants to see a government based totally on the Bible, and which didn’t allow female members until 2006. Some of these parties are allied with the political far right.
