fundamentalism

SCAR CITY

Irakli Zurab Kakabadze — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 23:19:02 -0700

One week after the bombings in Boston and I still feel the urge to write about this so much.

Character Fundamentalism

William Egginton — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:35:31 -0700

In a radio interview with Dan Rodricks last week, I used the term "character fundamentalism" to indicate a kind of thinking that, while not explicitly religious, was nevertheless fundamentalist and iniquitous to a functioning democracy.

How Religions Become Fundamentalist

William Egginton — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:36:02 -0700

I just posted an excerpt from chapter three of In Defense of Religious Moderation on the blog Religion in American History (http://usreligion.blogspot.com/). As the editor, Paul Harvey, notes, the "post is particularly timely here after the events in Norway and yesterday's commemoration of 9/11, both of which suggest that the ancient ideal of moderation still has an awful lot going for it."

In Defense of Religious Moderation

William Egginton — Thu, 12 May 2011 10:02:05 -0700

The book I've been blogging occasionally about for the last year or more is now coming out in June. I've just written this op-ed piece to accompany its release:

Who After Osama? My Answer Is Salome, or, Salome Korkota's Secular Dream After Postmodern Fundamentalism

Irakli Zurab Kakabadze — Mon, 09 May 2011 09:01:12 -0700

I am no big fan of conspiracy theories. I think all kinds of myths have their deep flaws. Rather I believe that often genuine mistakes are made and those mistakes become crimes after a while.

An interview about "In Defense of Religious Moderation"

William Egginton — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:20:56 -0800

Q: What are everyday fundamentalisms?

Physicists Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow have recently used the term "model-dependent realism" to talk about the extent to which humans can approximate knowledge of the world as it really is, independent of our senses and the media we use to grasp it. The idea is basically that different conditions require different models of reality, and there is no sense at all in talking about a model-free reality.

Defining "moderate" belief

William Egginton — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:58:05 -0800

When we believe something in a moderate, as opposed to a fundamentalist, way, we tend to think of it as subject to contestation, to correction by further or better knowledge, to discussion and interpretation. When we believe something in a fundamentalist way, in contrast, we think of it as ultimate and unchanging, never subject to further interpretation or discussion.

The historical problem of fundamentalism

William Egginton — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:54:05 -0800

José María asked: Do "fundamentalism" and "moderation" take on the same "connotations" (to use your word) when the "doctrinaire faithful" are seen as existing within a so-called "pre-political" realm (they are thus gathered as an "ecclesia" proper) as they do when the "state" makes its appearance as "the" overarching and all-encompassing form of community?

Are there different ways to believe?

William Egginton — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:37:55 -0800

A key issue in the debate around atheism concerns what happens at a cognitive level when we say we believe something.

An uncertain faith

William Egginton — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:45:07 -0700

An uncertain faith is the title of the manuscript I am currently working on. It refers to an alternate definition of faith to that used by atheists to dismiss religious believers, namely, belief without evidence.