Islamic and Secular Fundamentalism

Posted at Monergism:

Both Muslim and militant Secular fundamentalists are quite alike. They both seek a monopoly on power and wield this power through the worship of an "us vs. them" political deity which will use just about any means, including demolishing their opponents, to accomplish their political ends. Both marginalize their rivals: one uses the tactics of fear in mass media by demonizing their opponents, relegating them to a outer margins of society through the endless repeating of the mantra that those who do not think like them belong to the untouchable status of a bigoted hate group; the other through forced conversions or death. Both groups are ultra-violent and genocidal: one toward those who do not convert; the other to those who are an inconvenience. Both are enemies of free speech: The secularist originally championed free speech but now that they have gained power the first amendment has started to become a liability to them. Political Islam believes outward submission is all that matters so as long as no one freely speaks about their actual thoughts and feelings then all is well. Both fine or tax groups that disagree with their agenda (Jizya). Militant Secularism sings "Imagine no religion" while seeking to privilege its atheistic values, as in Communist states. Islam sings "Imagine a worldwide caliphate." Hmm, Not that different after all. The biggest difference between these groups, I would argue, is that Fundamentalist Islam does not really conceal their true intentions. It is right there in their historic doctrine and early practices. But Secularism is a bit less transparent. It pretends to be tolerant and believe in freedom of conscience, all the while ultimately having similar totalitarian tendencies. This may give ISIS-style fundamental Islam the political edge over secularism as ISIS and other groups associated with fundamentalist Islam have no qualms over openly suppressing dissent with violence. However, militant exclusionist secularism, like Islam, is a recipe for social disharmony; it feeds the 'culture wars' in the US and provokes those it seeks to exclude.

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