Some thoughts on Fundamentalism and Therocracies...
A while back, I posted a thread here about the existence of God that was partly tongue-in-cheek, partly serious. The question that immediately comes out of that discussion is: "To what extent do our concepts shape reality?"
Now this isn't some idealist's navel-gazing: we are all aware that our conceptions shape not only our perceptions, but also actions, which changes *what* we perceive. If concepts can change how we perceive, and what we perceive, then I would think they hold a huge sway over the goings on of reality.
Which leads to fundamentalism. Most fundamentalists want a theocracy, or at least a governmental system that recognizes the right and wrong of their religion, and a society that considers their religion to be paramount to the exclusion of others. Why?
Well, the fundamentalists are actually being smart, although probably without knowing it. In order for religion to be true, it has to be *made* true by societal structure. They realize people can sin without retribution... and that it is losing them believers. So they try and make a society whereby their morality is backed by the law. This is why it is so important for them to claim the US is a Christian nation... because that is the only way the Christian world-view can survive: to have a society where it makes sense and *is* true as much as can be made true. In other words, they wish to make the world in their God's image (and who doesn't, metaphorically speaking), and then present their God as the proof or reason of why that is. Trying to set things up so God's existence is almost a tautology. Pretty slick, if you ask me. It is almost like guerilla meme-warfare.
Almost like we make the philosophies of democracy (in the guise of a republic) and capitalism "true"... they exist because we make them exist.
To bring it back to my philosophy, the society, government, and culture are abstractions of people's actions and concepts. If the government and society are correctly constructed, the concept of God is almost insidiously forced into the minds of people, which then modify the society, strengthening the concept... I think you get the idea.
If a concept and social acceptance of it can get adults to earnestly, truly, believe they are speaking with another invisible entity, a symptom of delusion, schizophrenia, and many other mental disorders (belief in God is even specifically excluded from psychological evaluation in the DSM IV), then what *can't* be accomplished similarly?
/I really need to try and pare my opening posts down
A while back, I posted a thread here about the existence of God that was partly tongue-in-cheek, partly serious. The question that immediately comes out of that discussion is: "To what extent do our concepts shape reality?"
Now this isn't some idealist's navel-gazing: we are all aware that our conceptions shape not only our perceptions, but also actions, which changes *what* we perceive. If concepts can change how we perceive, and what we perceive, then I would think they hold a huge sway over the goings on of reality.
Which leads to fundamentalism. Most fundamentalists want a theocracy, or at least a governmental system that recognizes the right and wrong of their religion, and a society that considers their religion to be paramount to the exclusion of others. Why?
Well, the fundamentalists are actually being smart, although probably without knowing it. In order for religion to be true, it has to be *made* true by societal structure. They realize people can sin without retribution... and that it is losing them believers. So they try and make a society whereby their morality is backed by the law. This is why it is so important for them to claim the US is a Christian nation... because that is the only way the Christian world-view can survive: to have a society where it makes sense and *is* true as much as can be made true. In other words, they wish to make the world in their God's image (and who doesn't, metaphorically speaking), and then present their God as the proof or reason of why that is. Trying to set things up so God's existence is almost a tautology. Pretty slick, if you ask me. It is almost like guerilla meme-warfare.
Almost like we make the philosophies of democracy (in the guise of a republic) and capitalism "true"... they exist because we make them exist.
To bring it back to my philosophy, the society, government, and culture are abstractions of people's actions and concepts. If the government and society are correctly constructed, the concept of God is almost insidiously forced into the minds of people, which then modify the society, strengthening the concept... I think you get the idea.
If a concept and social acceptance of it can get adults to earnestly, truly, believe they are speaking with another invisible entity, a symptom of delusion, schizophrenia, and many other mental disorders (belief in God is even specifically excluded from psychological evaluation in the DSM IV), then what *can't* be accomplished similarly?
/I really need to try and pare my opening posts down
