Alfirin

I was just watching the news earlier and was amazed to hear a reporter state that Brideshead Revisited was filled to the brim with “Extreme Religious Fundamentalism”.

Extreme religious fundamentalism!? Words can’t describe how offended I am by that. Basically, Brideshead Revisited explores Catholicism and how Christian ideals and beliefs influence a Catholic family and an atheist - amongst other characters - and how they examine their own lives. The characters in the book range from very strict Catholic to strong atheist, with the majority of characters fitting somewhere in between, much as they seem to in normal life. Major themes include faith, reconciliation, and vocations in life - themes which aren’t uncommon in any novels, religiously motivated or otherwise. Most characters undergo some form of ‘conversion’, but those conversions are more like epiphanies about their own lives than anything else, and all this takes place with the backdrop of an excellent story.

How dare the anyone describe this book as being about extreme religious fundamentalism! The very small minority of people who use being Muslim, or even masquerading as being Muslim, to act as terrorists and cause untold pain and suffering to so many people are merely described as ‘religious fundamentalists’ and yet a charming novel which commits the evil of allowing characters to consider God for even a moment during their lives must be described as being filled with ‘extreme religious fundamentalism’. The world truly has gone mad.

I would also take this opportunity to point out that in several book reviews I’ve read recently it seems that novels following more typical themes and underlying messages are described as being whateveritwas-themed, whereas books where Christianity is permitted to play even the smallest part are described as having a religious agenda.

This is not the first time recently that people who simply happen to be Christians have been described as religious fundamentalists. It’s becoming a frighteningly common occurrance, and it seems to be accepted in all standard media and by very well respected outlets. It seems that if anyone dares to profess their faith or to suggest that Christians be allowed to do so they get shouted down and vilified instantly (with one notable excpetion I heard on the radio once, when an Imam was outraged that officials wanted to rename Christmas in their area in case it offended minorities - he said how appalling it was and that we should all be entitled to religious freedom - hear hear!).

I may be something of a traditionalist Catholic, so does this mean I too am a religious fundamentalist? It’s worth pointing out here that I have a great many very liberal friends, and not only have they never described me as a fundamentalist, but on the infrequent occasions when we’ve had long discussions about morality and faith we’ve always had the greatest respect for each other’s views and though we’ve often disagreed we’ve never argued and always found a great deal more common ground than people expect.

Well, if I’m a religious fundamentalist is someone who’s a slightly less traditional Catholic than me a fundamentalist? How about someone a little more liberal than them? Would some atheists think that anyone who believes in God is a fundamentalist? The term fundamemtalist seems to me to be used by an increasing number of people as a tool by which to win arguments, it’s bandied about whenever someone wants to belittle a stance or even a thought if it’s held by someone religious, so that their argument can be dismissed as mere nonsense.

Sorry for the completely unprovoked rant, I should probably stop before I bore anyone who’s been determined enough to read this far down gives up. At least I’m not alone though, someone else appears to agree with me, and apparently this is discussed a lot in another blog too.