What is Fundamentalism?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fundamentalism refers to a "deep and totalistic commitment" to a belief in, and strict adherence to a set of basic principles (often religious in nature), a reaction to perceived doctrinal compromises with modern social and political life
What is is the Basic belief of religious fundamentalists ?
For religious fundamentalists, sacred scripture is considered the authentic and authoritative word of their religion's god or gods. This does not necessarily require that all portions of scripture be interpreted literally rather than allegorically or metaphorically - for example, see the distinction in Christian thought between Biblical infallibility, Biblical inerrancy and Biblical literalism. Fundamentalist beliefs depend on the twin doctrines that their god or gods articulated their will clearly to prophets, and that followers also have an accurate and reliable record of that revelation.
Since a religion's scripture is considered the word of its god or gods, fundamentalists believe that no person is right to change it or disagree with it.
What is Developmental Psychology?
Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of progressive psychological changes that occur in human beings as they age. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence and more recently, adult development, aging, and the entire life span. This field examines change across a broad range of topics including motor skills and other psycho-physiological processes, problem solving abilities, conceptual understanding, language acquisition, moral understanding, and identity formation.
Developmental psychologists investigate key questions, such as whether children are qualitatively different from adults or simply lack the experience that adults draw upon. Two important issues concern the nature of development. One concerns whether development occurs through the gradual accumulation of knowledge or through shifts from one stage of thinking to another. The other concerns whether children are born with innate knowledge or figure things out through experience. A third significant area of research examines social contexts that affect development.
What are the stages of Moral Development in a Child?http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/kohlberg.htm
Level 1. Preconventional Morality
- Stage 1 - Obedience and Punishment
- The earliest stage of moral development is especially common in young children, but adults are capable of expressing this type of reasoning. At this stage, children see rules as fixed and absolute. Obeying the rules is important because it is a means to avoid punishment.
- Stage 2 - Individualism and Exchange
- At this stage of moral development, children account for individual points of view and judge actions based on how they serve individual needs. In the Heinz dilemma, children argued that the best course of action was whichever best-served Heinz’s needs. Reciprocity is possible, but only if it serves one's own interests.
Level 2. Conventional Morality
- Stage 3 - Interpersonal Relationships
- Often referred to as the "good boy-good girl" orientation, this stage of moral development is focused on living up to social expectations and roles. There is an emphasis on conformity, being "nice," and consideration of how choices influence relationships.
- Stage 4 - Maintaining Social Order
- At this stage of moral development, people begin to consider society as a whole when making judgments. The focus is on maintaining law and order by following the rules, doing one’s duty, and respect ing authority.
Level 3. Postconventional Morality
- Stage 5 - Social Contract and Individual Rights
- At this stage, people begin to account for the differing values, opinions, and beliefs of other people. Rules of law are important for maintaining a society, but members of the society should agree upon these standards.
- Stage 6 - Un iversal Principles
- Kolhberg’s final level of moral reasoning is based upon universal ethical principles and abstract reasoning. At this stage, people follow these internalized principles of justice, even if they conflict with laws and rules.
What the fundamentalists believe and what is the approach used by them ?
Islamist Fundamentalists:Madrassa Education
http://www.apcss.org/Publications/Edited%20Volumes/ReligiousRadicalism/PagesfromReligiousRadicalismandSecurityinSouthAsiach5.pdf
The madrassas in Muslim South Asia teach a curriculum known as
Dars-i-Nizami, first introduced by Mullah Nizamuddin Sihalvi (d.
1747) who was a scholar of some repute in Islamic jurisprudence and
philosophy in Lucknow. This curriculum is not the same as that associated
with the name of Mullah Nasiruddin Tusi (d. 1064) and the
Madrassa Nizamia, which he established in eleventh-century
Baghdad. Almos t all Sunni madrassas, irrespective of whether they are of Deobandi, Bar elvi, or Ahl-i-Hadith persuasion, follow the
same standard Nizami course of studies adopted by the Deoband
seminary in 1867.(Is the education curriculum of 18th century valid for the world today??)
Britain's youngest teenage terrorist: 'a wake-up call for parents'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2988926/Britains-youngest-teenage-terrorist-a-wake-up-call-for-parents.html
Speaking after the sentencing of Britain's youngest terrorist, Shahid Malik, the minister for International Development, said parents had to be vigilant against the threat of radicalisation.
He also called on mosques to do more to combat fundamentalism.
The MP spoke out after the sentencing of Hammad Munshi who was just 15 when hewas recruited by a terror cell believed to have been plotting against the Royal Family.
The teenager, from Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, had downloaded information about bomb-making material from the internet and hidden notes about martyrdom under his bed.
The judge at the Old Bailey said the schoolboy's head had been filled with "pernicious and warped ideas" which led to his involvement in a plan to kill kuffars or non-believers.
Munshi's local MP Mr Malik said: "It is a real wake-up call for parents because there is a real need to be vigilant, especially when their kids are on the internet.
"It is a real wake-up call to how older jihadists can prey on vulnerable young people.
"Mosques have done a lot but they need to do more in terms of telling young people what is acceptable and what is not in Islam."
Munshi, who is the grandson of a senior Islamic sharia judge, was groomed by terrorist Aabid Hussain Khan, 23, who was jailed last month alongside postman Sultan Muhammed, 23, both from Bradford.
He was arrested on his way home from a GCSE chemistry exam in 2006 and found with two small bags of ball-bearings - a key component of a suicide vest.
Anti-terrorist officers also discovered notes about how to make napalm, detonators and grenades on his computer, which he had forwarded on to Khan.
Now 18, he was found guilty last month of compiling information likely to be useful in terrorism.
Sentencing him to two years in a young offenders' institution, Judge Timothy Pontius said Khan and others had taken advantage of Munshi's youth.
"It is regrettable and tragic that you find yourself in court on such a serious charge," he said. "You have brought very great shame upon yourself, your family and your religion.
"In the light of the evidence, I have no doubt that you, amongst others of similar immaturity and vulnerability, fell under the spell of fanatical extremists."They took advantage of your youthful naivety in order to indoctrinate you with pernicious and warped ideas masquerading as altruistic religious zeal.
"Were it not for Aabid Khan's malign influence I doubt whether this offence would ever have been committed. Yet there is no doubt that you knew what you were doing."Harendra de Silva QC, defending, said the schoolboy had been subjected to "grooming and manipulation" by others who were "more criminally inclined".
He said Munshi's relatives were "devastated" by what had happened "not least because of the shame that it has brought upon this very upstanding family".His grandfather is Yakub Munshi, president of the Islamic Research Institute of Great Britain at the Markazi Mosque in Dewsbury.Mr Munshi said afterwards: "All of us feel there are lessons to be learnt, not only for us but also for the whole Muslim community in this country.
"This case demonstrates how a young impressionable teenager can be groomed so easily through the internet to associate with those whose views run contrary to true Muslim beliefs and values."The trial heard how Munshi, a pupil at Westborough High School in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, had a library of videos, documents and audio clips showing acts of Jihad, Mujihadeen fighting and Al-Qaeda preachings.
He conversed regularly online with Khan, described as the "Mr Fix-it" of the terrorist world, and they had discussions about how to smuggle a sword past airport security.Khan had links to several other cells, including jailed terrorist, Mohammed Atif Siddique and alongside Muhammed, he assembled a dossier on 15 members of the Royal Family.Khan was jailed for 12 years and Muhammed jailed for 10 years last month.
A huge bomb crater is visible outside the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, which continues to burn after the explosion. Dozens are confirmed dead and many more injured.
Delhi Bomb Blasts
Indian police evacuate a wounded man following a blast in New Delhi. Five synchronised bomb blasts ripped through crowded markets across the Indian capital New Delhi on Saturday, killing more than 20 people and wounding at least 90 others.
Hindu Fundamentalists
The "Sangh Parivar"
The Sangh Parivar, or "family of organisations", is an umbrella term used to describe the range of social, educational and political organisations and groups that have been formed by the Indian Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since the 1950s. However, the ideas that the Sangh promotes have existed, in one form or another, for over 150 years. They generally have a series of common ideological or political objectives, with different emphases at different times. These can be broadly summarised as follows:
- India has been in the past, and should be in the future, a Hindu-only country. Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists are accepted as being within the Hindu "community" (whether they like it or not!).
- Hinduism is a unified religion and civilisation (without conflicts of sect, caste, region, "theology", even when such conflicts clearly exist) which goes back thousands of years. Hindus need to be re-educated and be proud of their historical destiny.
- Hindus constitute a "race" - the Vedic-Aryans.
- Hindus have been traditionally tolerant, which has been interpreted as "weakness". Tjos has resulted in India being conquered by others over the centuries, including Muslims and the British. Hindus now need to become strong ideologically, in their faith, politically and in health (through exercise and mental preparation) in preparation for the struggle to form a Hindu nation (Hindu Rastra) based on Hindutva - blood belonging, religious identity and territorial nationhood.
- People of other religions in India have either been forced to convert (and in essence therefore remain Hindus) or are "foreigners" in India and should be expelled or forced to live within a Hindu society and according to Hindu defined laws. The Muslims of India have been the special focus of attention, but others, such as Christians, have also been stigmatised as the non-Indian "other" and targeted for attacks or forcible reconversion back to Hinduism.
- Hindus are discriminated against in their "own" country and have been divided by others (the "secularists", communists, Congress Party) on the basis of caste, class, regional identities or politics. Such "secularists" should also be targets and are labelled "neo-secularists" by the Sangh (who claim they are the true secularists!).
- The only legitimate languages of India should be those derived from Sanskrit, the ancient language of north Indian, high-caste Brahmins, as written in Hindu holy texts
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh And VHP:Shakha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sangh
"Shakhas" means "branch" in Sanskrit.
Most of the organisational work of the RSS is done through the coordination of shakhas or branches. These shakhas are run every morning (prabhat shakha), evening (sayam shakha) or night (ratri shakha) for 1 hour in public places and are open to people of all castes, creeds or social and economic status .
RSS was founded in 1925 by Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, a Nagpur doctor, with the aim to unite Hindus.[6] Hedgewar proposed that Hindus must unite to face challenges and protect the freedom and diversity of Indian civilization.
The RSS was banned in India thrice during periods in which the government of the time considered them a threat to the state: in 1948 after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, during the Emergency (1975-77) , and after the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition.
Following Mahatma Gandhi's assassination in 1948 by former member of the RSS Nathuram Godse,[9] some RSS members were jailed. Godse's connection with the RSS was investigated[10]; the RSS was suspected of involvement in or incitement towards Gandhi's assassination and was banned on February 4, 1948.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/PoliticsNation/Christians_Sangh_Parivars_new_target/articleshow/3505720.cms
the wrath of the saffron brotherhood, led by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), has turned on the Christians with attacks against them by the Hindutva warriors in states ranging from Orissa to Karnataka to Kerala.
http://www.persecution.in/node/3109
SHIROOR:50 plus VHP radicals armed with tridents, saffron flags barged into the hall and started praising the Orissa action against Christians.
MUDUR: In an other attack on Immanuel church in Mudur, Kundapura, Udupi district. As Pastor Sunil Kumar was conducting the worship service in the church adjacent to his house, it happened at around 10.30 am a group of 20 Hindu radicals arrived on a jeep...
Similar attacks in BELTHANGADI,MOODABIDRI,BANGALORE,KULOOR,KODICAL,HEMANAGATTA and many more places.
The Bharatiya Janata Party
The BJP is now the leading party of government in India. However, its more extreme Hindutva agenda is often constrained by its coalition partners. Most leading BJP leaders are also RSS members. The electoral victories of the BJP in recent years have led to increasing "Hinduisation" of Indian society at all levels (e.g. the history curriculum in schools), increasing tensions between India and Pakistan and increasing internal communal conflicts. However, there is some evidence that support for the BJP may be waning following recent regional elections. Gujarat is the "jewel in the crown" for the BJP and the state it most needs to win in future elections. It is also the Indian State where the theories of Hindutva are being pursued most vigorously. This may go some way to explain why recent communal tension is centred in Gujarat.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad
The VHP (or World Council of Hindus) claims to represent the entire Hindu world, propounds a Hindutva world view, asserts Hindu collective power and aims to unite all Hindus in opposition to Islam. When originally formed, it intended to bring all Hindu sects within the orbit of its overarching umbrella. In India it has formed a number of related organisations including Bajrang Dal (its militant wing) and Hindu Jagran Manch, both of which have been involved in spectacular forms of violence against religious minorities.
http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=main.doiLanding&uid=2006-10940-013
Terror management theory suggests that people cope with awareness of death by investing in some kind of literal or symbolic immortality. Given the centrality of death transcendence beliefs in most religions, the authors hypothesized that religious beliefs play a protective role in managing terror of death. The authors report three studies suggesting that affirming intrinsic religiousness reduces both death-thought accessibility following mortality salience and the use of terror management defenses with regard to a secular belief system. Study 1 showed that after a naturally occurring reminder of mortality, people who scored high on intrinsic religiousness did not react with worldview defense, whereas people low on intrinsic religiousness did. Study 2 specified that intrinsic religious belief mitigated worldview defense only if participants had the opportunity to affirm their religious beliefs. Study 3 illustrated that affirmation of religious belief decreased death-thought accessibility following mortality salience only for those participants who scored high on the intrinsic religiousness scale. Taken as a whole, these results suggest that only those people who are intrinsically vested in their religion derive terror management benefits from religious beliefs.
Conclusion:Is Violence the solution?
- By killing a fellow human being in the path of proving ones religious fundamentals can we proceed to a solution?
- Everyone knows : From the times immemorial the definition of the word God and our understanding of the religion has been changing.Hundreds of religions came into being and gave hundred different theories of creation of this universe.But it is a simple logic that there can be one and only one theory of creation of this universe.As of now we do not have a valid theory in hand which gives us the real definition of God or the creator. So we don't even know what are we fighting for today...is it the real God or just a product of human mind .
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