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Tom Cruise on Scientology
Topic Started: Jan 16 2008, 03:13 PM (487 Views)
Rob
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RJHSaints,Jan 17 2008
02:03 PM
Rob, I should probably cut in at this point and state that the Christian 'fundementalist' you talked to doesn't understand what it means to be a Christian, nor a fundementalist Christian.

In fact, if she did a bit of reading up in the New Testament she'd realise that since she too has, no doubt, committed many sins in her life she would be a hypocrite if she denounced you and told you you were going to hell. Jesus specifically preaches against such hypocrisy at numerous points in the gospels. I should also mention that the idea of universal forgiveness means that you aren't going to hell anyway, not that I guess you were really worried about that.

Fundementalism is also not to be confused with extremism. Fundementalism is a desire to abide by the original ideals of the said religion, whereas extremism is, for example, taking the passage 'If you live by the sword, you'll die by the sword' out of context to justify conflict.

I probably shouldn't use fundamentalism and extremism interchangeably. A lot of fundamentalists are extreme, but clumping the whole lot together probably was not the correct way to go.

Sorry bout that. <blush>
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Red Andy
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To say that "fundamentalism" involves "abiding by the original ideals of the religion" is a bit inaccurate IMO. Most religions are the result of a process of gradual cultural evolution, so it's difficult to define an "original state" by which a fundamentalist would adhere. Moreover, fundamentalists tend to be characterised more by their literalistic, uncompromising attitude towards their holy scriptures and doctrines than any resemblance to the "original" religious believers.
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RJHSaints
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Yes, I agree that religions evolve and change. I am not disputing that. But most major religious evolutions have a distinct identity. For example, modern Christianity grew out of the old Judeo-Christian religion with an emphasis on Christian ideals about the Judeo-Christian God, while Mormonism has in turn grown out of Christianity with emphasis on certain parts of Christian scripture. The same is true of many modern Christian denominations, such as Baptism that places emphasis on the ritual cleansing of sins.

A Christian fundamentalist could therefore be associated with strict adherence to 'turn the other cheek' ideals and consider him or herself a fundamentalist without at all being violent, hateful or condescending towards others.

Also, no offence taken Rob. <thumbsup>
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timmadigan
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Very well stated, RJH <clap>

A fundamentalist position in any religion is one where they go back to what they believe/feel/know is the underlying basics of the religion and believe that this is what's important. It need not come with an extremist position nor a hateful one.
Nor does extremism need to come with a 'fundamentalist' position.

As for the Tom Cruise video and Scientology, the scary part of this is, IMO:
1) You start seeing the position of "us vs. them" in it as the norm
2) The Scientology position of suing / fighting anyone who says anything bad about them - it's legal censorship on their part. This is as bad as anything that other non-violent extremist do (violent extremism is ALWAYS worse).
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