Of Faith, Fundamentalism and Intellectual Sloth

(Note: this entry constitutes de second part of a short five-parts series.)

In my first blog (A Brave, New (Old) World … ), I defined intellectual sloth as a scourge which fosters ignorance, which in turn breeds fear, which begets intolerance and hate, and which begets, at last, violence (in any of its forms, verbal or physical, however “mild” or “deadly”). Considering that intellectual sloth renders one guilty of it incompetent to deal with facts and reality, I suppose this confirms the principle that violence is the last refuge of incompetence (a principle I first read about in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation).

Which brings me to dwell upon the pernicious consequences that intellectual sloth exerts on faith.

First off, I would like to state here that I respect any person who has faith in a benign, good-willed and loving Divine Creator, regardless of religion. Faith in itself is not a problem as far as I am concerned.

The problem rather lies with those people who have faith and who are guilty of intellectual sloth. Indeed, these are the folks who refuse to accept reality and scientific facts. They are the folks who view their faith and religion as the Truth (whereas everything else is “wrong-headed” religion or heresy), who take their Holy Books literally and who accept no reality aside from the one described in said Holy Books – i.e. the universe and the world was created a few thousands of years ago and, of course, the Divine Creator made mankind in His Image. In short, these are the fundamentalists. Such people would be usually considered as harmless and would be simply left unbothered on the fringes of the mainstream thinking of our modern, democratic societies - who happen to value free speech and freedom of faith.

Hence, all would be well and fine, right? Unfortunately, no. The tragic fact is that those people are far from harmless.

Humanity’s history is filled with such people. In their immature need for absolute and easy answers, caused by their intellectual sloth, they fear any fact which even remotely challenges their tenets of faith. They are incapable of questioning anything of their faith because of this and, consequently, are unable to adapt their beliefs with each new understanding of the universe and of life that we reach. Inevitably, these people express their incompetence by seeking the last mean and refuge to secure their cozy and warm intellectual sloth: violence.

Sadly, this remains ever true in 2006.

Blinded by their self-righteousness, they seek to impose their faith and “values” on everyone – after all, if no one dissents or questions, everyone can remain undisturbed in their intellectual sloth. All are secure and unafraid. All are oblivious and content. Everything about the universe and life remains simplicity. All is about God’s Will, His Word and His Laws.

Again, this would be in itself harmless. However, it is the means that they use to impose their intellectual sloth-driven and intractable views which cause problems. They appeal passionately to those of similar beliefs who are not as stringent, promulgating dire warnings of being swarmed by demonized, so-called “Godless” concepts such as “(pick a choice: secular humanism, technocratic science, elite intellectualism, evolutionism, heretic thinking, etc.)” and thus running the risk of being forced to abandon their faith. In other words: of being denied their right of freedom of religion. The danger here is that anyone sensible will agree that being denied the right of freedom of religion is unacceptable … and thus many “common-sense” people will support to some extent the fear-driven decriers without examining more closely their real agenda: that of imposing by any means necessary their fundamentalist views of faith on all aspects of society.

Then, the fundamentalists turn around and point angrily their self-righteous fingers at anyone and anything that does not fit, or agree, with their views. All is fair game with them: race, religion, lifestyle, art, literature, et al. They are afraid of what they perceive as different, they are afraid of the unknown and the uncertain. Any challenge against their intellectual sloth causes a reactionary attitude of fear and loathing. Thus, they hate.

And with fear and loathing comes the inevitable violence – in words and in actions.

The list goes on and on about the violence perpetrated by those “good, humble, God-loving and God-fearing” folks. From any and all religions: the persecution of Christians by polytheist Romans; the Muslims’s invasions against the Infidels; the Christian Crusades against the Muslims; the Inquisition against heresy (witches, scientists, scholars, dissenters, etc.); the persecution of Jews by Christians and Muslims; the Church-sanctioned slaughter of Aztecs and Incas by the Conquistadores; Ghandi's assassination by a fundamentalist Hindu; Algerian Muslims massacred by their fundamentalist Islamic brethren; the assassination of Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish radical; Shiite mosque bombings by Sunnis (and vice versa); bombings and shootings against abortion clinics (and/or staff) by fundamentalist Christians; etc., etc., etc.

Violence against different faiths. Violence against those that think, look or live differently. Violence against those of the same faith but who disagree with the fundamentalist point of view. All of this, in addition to the typical fiery and violent rhetoric of condemnation used by those same “people of pure faith”.

All of these constitute more than enough proof that intellectual sloth renders those guilty of it irrational. What clearly illustrate this sad fact is the shocked reaction of too many catholic bishops and faithfuls when Pope John-Paul II acknowledged the reality of evolution in 1996. Then years later, Christian and Muslim fundamentalists still deny this reality and are quite incendiary about the subject, using their ignorance to formulate baseless biblical or pseudo-scientific arguments against evolution, still trying hard to cast it as heretic religion instead of the science and fact that it is.

In conclusion, self-righteousness is nothing more than a defense mechanism to remain secure in one’s intellectual sloth – which reaps ignorance, then fear, then hate, then incompetence. Of course, we now know all too well that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent – hence the inevitable use of it by religious fundamentalists.

Even still in 2006.

Nonetheless, I find solace in the fact that fundamentalists world-wide remain a minority. A forcefully vocal and all-too-often violent one, yes – but a minority all the same.

The real danger lies with the majority’s complacency – a milder form of intellectual sloth.

It is therefore up to all of us “tolerant” and “free-thinking” folks, whether of faith or otherwise, to remain ever vigilant and watchful of not being conned by the fundamentalists – otherwise, we will allow our democratic societies to be transformed into theocracies.

And make no mistake about this: anything that does not allow critical thinking and acceptation of facts (and reality!) is nothing short of tyranny. Pure and simple.

Which, incidentally, leads to my next blog. Stay tuned.


(Reposted as a DKos Diary)


(This entry was originally posted 23/05/06)


(Google caches of original posts - in English and in French)