When most people think of religious extremism their mind typically conjures up images of the Taliban, an Afghan religious sect notorious for its intolerance and unrestrained violence. For years prior to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban repressed the civilian population, revoked the basic rights of women, and committed genocide against minority groups.
Even now, in a supposedly democratic Afghanistan, a man faces trial for converting from Islam to Christianity, and if convicted may be handed a death sentence.
In Afghanistan, unchecked religious extremism served as a genesis for intolerance, hatred and brutality against anyone holding a different set of beliefs. In this respect, the Taliban are not unique. History is filled with examples of the unholy union between religion and violence. No single religion can assert dominion over another in terms of blood-soaked zealotry, for each faith at some point in its history can lay claim to that shameful title.
In the past, religious extremism, more often than not, led to the breaking rather than following of rules lain out in religious tomes such as the Koran, the Torah or the Bible. Sadly, contemporary times are no different. Religious fanatics are usually the first ones to break the religious tenets they profess to hold so dear.
Why are some of the most ardent and outspoken followers of holy books (that for the most part preach love and fraternity) inspired to break the covenants of peace so willingly? What made the spilling of blood in the name of God so acceptable and commonplace?
The answer isn’t obvious, because in most cases, fanatical religious movements don’t start out as murderous regimes. At their conception, they are simply intolerant and condescending of others’ beliefs. The extremist’s first act of oppression isn’t the murder of an infidel, but a subtle assault on a law or custom that contradicts their unique world view.
If you want to understand how religious extremism arose overseas, you need only look in your own backyard. The same seeds of strife that are bearing their terrible fruit in the Middle East are being planted right here in America.
Take the case of Tresa Waggoner, a Colorado elementary school music teacher who decided to introduce her students to opera by showing a video obtained from the school’s own library. The video featured sock puppets singing the popular opera Faust. Mrs. Waggoner is now looking for a new job after a few religious-minded parents complained that Waggoner was promoting abortion, homosexuality and the worship of satan.
Then there is the case of Wendy Devore, a Missouri high school drama teacher forced to resign after members of the Callaway Christian Church disapproved of students performing in the play Grease. The members complained of lewd scenes that included smoking, drinking and (make sure you’re sitting down for this one) kissing. Everyone get out your burkhas.
Christian fundamentalist intolerance isn’t limited to the eviction of a few small town teachers. One need only observe the nationally orchestrated attempt to replace evolution with intelligent design in the science classroom. In a classic re-enactment of the Scopes Monkey trial of Tennessee, everything but the outcome was repeated, as a federal judge in Dover, Penn., unmasked intelligent design as simply another fundamentalist attempt to infuse creationism into public education.
So what might be next on the evangelical hit list? Will fundamentalists call for the firing of teachers who assign To Kill a Mockingbird, Ethan Frome or A Brave New World with their references to incest, adultery and promiscuity? Should history professors that reveal the ugly truths of American and world history be replaced with more compliant instructors that paint a rosier, more colored version of our past? Perhaps the constitution should be replaced with Leviticus, permitting the abolition of the 13th Amendment.
These examples are justifiably pertinent considering the shrill and scathing denunciations doled out by fundamentalists toward any judge that enforces the separation of church and state. You should be thanking your local “activist” judges, because they earn that label every time they hand down a decision denying the slightest bit of fundamentalist oppression.
Why can’t some people be content to worship as they wish without assailing the beliefs of others? What compels them to force-feed their views down the throats of complete strangers? More importantly, why do so many people sit idly by and watch as extremism diligently works to flush one liberty after another down the drain?
For over 200 years the citizens of this country have enjoyed religious freedoms unmatched in any other country.
Like so many others, this particular freedom is often taken for granted. It is this unfortunate indifference, which nurtures the growth of our very own, homegrown religious extremism.

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