Fundamentalist Phage

The Comenian Cure to Fundamentalism, I

By John Taylor; 2009 Sep 26, Izzat 19, 166 BE

There is no need for me to prove to anybody that religious fundamentalism is a virulent force for evil. Like the poor, fundamentalists will always be with us, and as long as they are, our world will remain a dangerous, violent place. The fact that fundamentalism seems perennial and intractable did not stop Jan Amos Comenius from devoting his life to ending it. In his early spiritual masterpiece, The Labyrinth of the World, Comenius used literary devices like symbolism, parody and satire in hopes of shaming fundamentalists into recognizing how extremism and nitpicking rot the core of their own most dearly held convictions. In a chapter called 'The Pilgrim Beholds the Christian Religion,' Comenius wrote,

"Then going outside of this railing, lo! I see that this church had many little chapels, to which those went who had not been able to agree when before this touchstone, and behind each of them followed a number of men. They gave the people rules as to how they should differ from the others; some said that one should be marked by water or fire; others, that one should always have the sign ready at hand and in the pocket; others said that beside the principal image, at which all should gaze, men should, for greater perfection, carry with them also as many small ones as was possible; others said that when praying one should not kneel, for that was a thing of the Pharisees; others, again, said that they would not endure music among them, as it was a wanton thing; others again, said that one should accept the teaching of no man, and be content with the innermost revelation of the spirit." (cited in, Daniel Murphy, Comenius, A Critical Reassessment, 141)

As a leader of the Moravian Brotherhood church, Comenius made every effort to re-unite the split in the Western Church that had begun during the Renaissance and worsened during the Reformation. Quixotic as it sounds, for many in his time reunification of all Christians did not seem a hopeless dream. The Irish scholar of Comenius, Daniel Murphy, explains that,

"The Moravians saw religious intolerance as one of the most widely manifested corruptions of the Christian doctrine of love. (Comenius) profoundly condemned the Churches for failing to reconcile their differences. ... in "The Bequest of the Unity of Brethren", (Comenius) held out the hand of friendship to all other Christian communions, even to the Roman Catholic Church which had persistently harassed and persecuted the Moravian Brethren throughout the first two centuries of their existence." (Id.)

At the heart of fundamentalism is arrogance, "I know and nobody else does," and intolerance, a hypocritical and insidious presupposition that we are right and everybody outside is deluded. This goes beyond failure to love our neighbour, it is a narrowness of soul that leads to ignorance and folly. The solution to ignorance and folly is wisdom and understanding. In support, Comenius often cited the proverb,

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding," (Prov 9:10, KJV)

At the same time, fervent as Comenius was in his belief that religious fundamentalism needs to be expunged, he was not so narrow and guilt ridden as to imagine that it is the only serious form of bigotry. Political prejudices and superstition masquerading as science also block progress, inflame violence and cause wars. Rather than point fingers by arguing over which brand of prejudice is most harmful, Comenius proposed in his final work, Panorthosia, or Universal Reform, to institute mechanisms designed to eradicate all three in one fell swoop.

The first step to reform always starts in the schoolroom. This is is the only certain way to remove fundamentalism. We should change our education to train the next generation in virtues like courtesy and humility, which lay the groundwork for productive discussion among adherents of widely varying beliefs. Comenius anticipates some of objections right away. Fundamentalists of all stripes, however much they dispute with one another, may well unite in arguing against the reforms of Comenius:

"Everybody who thinks, tries to come up with answers and when he does, he is a fundamentalist. That means that in a sense we are all fundamentalists. Of course I disagree with others, and those who think like me dispute with one another. We agree to disagree. This is necessary, you have to get the fundamentals straight first, then the Kingdom is added unto us. I would not be so enthusiastic about this if I did not think it was the truth, and that this truth will help others. Therefore, if I see somebody peddling a doctrine that is clearly false, I am obliged by conscience to do everything I can to minimize the harm that that error will do in the world."

Here, in his own words, is how Comenius addresses such concerns.

==========

Someone will raise the question, How is tolerance to be shown to those who peddle and defend goods that are manifestly false as if they were true?

"My answer is, first, you must stop attacking them, then the other will stop defending them. Secondly, do you know for certain that they are false? Are you not rushing too hastily into judgment? Lastly, supposing that they are notoriously false, it is still better to have them tolerated than thrown into conflict.

"For the experience of many centuries makes it clear that there is nothing to be gained from conflict except increasing contradiction. But everything encourages the hope that there will be much to gain from tolerance and the wise pooling of opinions, and even from futile and false opinions themselves.

"For vanity and falsehood cannot exist anywhere alone and unaided, because they would not hold together; but they will contain some element of good which may be taken out of its evil context and increase the common treasury. In fact an admixture of evil will give us good reason eventually to separate the truth and fortify it correctly, so that there is no loophole for error in future."

(Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 8, para 24, p. 118)

==========

Next time we will look at the systematic, worldwide program and publicity campaign that Comenius proposes for the elimination of the actions and reactions and the immoderate attitudes that make religious fundamentalism into a force for evil rather than good.

::