To discourage irrational, intolerant religious extremism…
Far-right religious nationalists should keep their religion to themselves if we are to hang on to what makes our country great, preserve the tradition of pluralism, and maintain the wise vision of our Founding Fathers. Rigid fundamentalism should remain in its place if we are to remain a people of tolerance and acceptance and if we truly prize religious freedom.
Last but not least, the far right dominionism that has been infecting conservative politics for years ought to remain within the churches and the communities that desire it; extremism cannot be permitted to spread, take hold, and then — God forbid — send the United States careening down a path of horror.
It would be encouraging if humanity could learn from its mistakes, take lessons from history, and avoid the costly mistakes of 
A brand-new reader recently commented and asked Search for Truth the following:
At first glance, I assumed you were against religion until I read the About page. Is there a quick, simple acid test to determine whether or not you consider a particular religion (or religious group) to be extremist, fundamentalist, fideistic, or otherwise "less than ideal" so as to meet with your discouragement?
Search for Truth answer
Clever… Good one! We believe the "golden rule" applies here: That all respectful, tolerant religions should be respected and tolerated. IMHO, one of the best litmus tests I can think of at the moment might be the simple list of basic, universal spiritual principles: The practical guidelines, rules, suggestions, and practices agreed upon by virtually all religions. (That’s rather affirming, don’t you think?)
Accordingly, we believe the central role of Christianity — and religions & spiritual paths in general — is the delivery of a positive spiritual message of compassion leading to inner peace and unity, as opposed to any type of religious message designed to induce belief in fanciful, supernatural stories, beings, or events — which, by default, can only lead to division because the supernatural stories inevitably disagree!
Finally, it seems religious fundamentalism and similarly rigid worldviews contain too many inherent conflicts with universal spiritual principles to represent truth.
I have once again digressed… Back to the story:
One fine day on the way to the Nashville flea market, politics was the subject of discussion. After briefly attempting to explain the fanatical quest of a few squeaky dominionist wheels on the far, Hard Right (e.g., those radical religious supremacists who have declared war on secular society & wish to banish separation of church and state) — whose goal is to re-assert Christian control over the nation’s political and cultural institutions — Dale said:
A Bible-based society for the United States sounds OK to me. Besides, what’s wrong with a country that lives according to basic spiritual principles?
The description of Dale’s comment as uninformed was accurate, not derogatory. The fact is, Dale had never given one moment’s careful thought to the idea — to what it would mean for dominionism to take hold in the U.S. Dale never even considered what it might mean to so many peaceful, hard-working non-fundamentalist U.S. citizens, for our country to merge one group’s religious ideas into our national politics, scrap our long history of religious pluralism, and ultimately allow the new breed of Hard Right dominionist to define religion and spirituality for the rest of us….
Thanks, but no thanks. (No way!)
The writer of the heartfelt letter below was merely attempting to explain to Dale why it is not acceptable for the United States to adopt such rigid, divisive, controversial, intolerant views.
My dear fundamentalist friend,
There are thousands of distinct, varying flavors of Christianity covering virtually every possible combination of religious and/or spiritual belief. Many Christians are labeled by the more conservative and devout as being liberal or moderate Christians, a large portion of whom cringe right along with Buddhists, New Thought adherents, the spiritual-but-not-religious, Perennial Philosophers, agnostics, and so on when they hear the extremist, divisive teachings of Hard Right Christian fundamentalism.
Unfortunately, that’s where modern, Hard Right Christian fundamentalism consistently crosses the line from peaceful to intrusive — or worse.
Perspective is everything: Revealed religions
There are a handful of "revealed religions"; the most popular are Christianity and Islam.
The Koran contains an approximately equal amount of "proof" or evidence that Muhammad is God’s true prophet as the Bible does to support Jesus as God’s literal son.
The following statement probably applies to those who:
- Practice and believe the same religion they were raised to believe as they grew from child to tween to teen to adult, AND
- Have not deeply contemplated or studied alternate worldviews, religions, or spiritual paths
In all likelihood, the most significant determinants as to which of these two popular "revealed" religions (Christianity & Islam) a given individual believes and follows are:
- Where one was born, and
- How one was raised
If you are a Christian fundamentalist in the United States who has never seriously explored any religion or spiritual path apart from Christianity — the religion of your upbringing — then it’s rather clear that, had you been born in the Middle East, you would be a fundamentalist Muslim.
The reverse holds true for fundamentalist followers of Islam. (If you are a Muslim born and raised in Afghanistan who has never examined any other path, and you had instead been born in the United States to a Christian family, it’s virtually certain you’d be a Christian.)
Remaining true to the beliefs one was raised to embrace certainly does not make a person defective or dumb; in fact, it demonstrates some positive qualities — such as loyalty and perseverance.
Simply put, we as individuals have widely varying traits. What is right for one may not be right for another. Circumstances that cause intense curiosity in some of us might not even warrant a second glance — much less, closer investigation — by others. And this is a crucial point when it comes to the HOWs and the WHYs of our religious choices.
If you aren’t naturally prone to exploring underlying causes, applying critical thought, or exercising a reasonable degree of skepticism, then it may be completely natural for you to remain devoted to the beliefs of your culture, your peer group, your family, and your friends. Again, I stress that this is acceptable… for those "built" that way.
For others — this blogger, for instance — the failure to deeply explore world religion and spirituality is almost unthinkable.
Resources: Why pick on Hard Right fundamentalist and fideist religious beliefs?
- Christian nationalism and dominionism
- Dominionism – Wikipedia
- Dominion theology – Wikipedia
- Christian Reconstructionism – Wikipedia
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(Objectively speaking, there’s rather little hard evidence on either side).
Obviously, there’s no need to get our approval for a set of religious views!
A frank and challenging book by Bob Avakian
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There is absolutely nothing wrong with using anthropomorphic metaphors: humans apply human characteristics to many things in an attempt to better understand them, explain them, communicate about them, and so on. The wind "whispers" and "moans," our pets are our "children," and violent thunderstorms are "angry." 
– just like all the previous ones — in order to make the concept of the Bible God easier to understand. It is simpler to describe the Bible God by assigning human qualities to it. 
When man begins to accept anthropomorphic metaphors as being literal truth or representing reality, it can lead to serious problems. For instance, some religious groups expect everyone else to adopt their interpretation and thus encourage others to fall victim to radical misinterpretation. 
Would a true universal creative force really be a "he"? What does it mean to be a male? 
The Genesis story of Noah’s ark and the 
The truth is, not everyone is capable of being intellectually honest when it comes to consideration or discussion of these matters. Most religious fundamentalists, due to their upbringing and fear of a punishing God, are unwilling or unable to conduct objective research or apply critical thought to their literally translated religious beliefs. There’s an almost insurmountable level of fear: Fear of what other church members might think, fear of God’s judgment of their doubt, fear of being sent to Hell, fear of being wrong, fear that their personal religious beliefs are false, and on and on the list of fundamentalist fears goes.
I completely understand that barrier of fundamentalist fear. I experienced the very same fear myself – and I carried that fear inside of me for many years. Being raised in conservative, fundamentalist churches almost always instills a level of fear that is quite effective in preventing the honest pursuit of truth, the application of serious and honest critical thought, and so on. Although I understand that fear, I no longer agree with it. These fears are the most important fears to conquer — that is, if one desires to live a free, happy, spiritually centered life and to align one’s beliefs more closely to reality and truth.
Be sure to 
It’s obvious from speaking with friends and relatives that many people, regardless of age, still ask themselves whether to take the Noah’s Ark and 
In the interest of objectivity and fairness, this blog will always strive to provide the best publicly available resources, representing both sides of the issues at hand. For example, we are including (in the Resources sections below) links to sites that claim the story of Noah’s Ark is factual; that it’s supposed to be taken literally – despite how preposterous the assertion actually is.
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