Why fundamentalists need religious moderates [View All]

[trotsky]

One of the topics that draws a lot of fire for people who suggest it, such as Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins, is that religious moderates help protect and enable their fundamentalist cousins. So I fully expect lots of flames here, but hear me out.

What are the hallmarks of religious fundamentalism? Basically, you have beliefs that:
1) The Abrahamic god exists
2) People can learn about this god from a religious text (bible, koran)
3) Religious faith (belief without evidence) is reasonable and even commendable

Religious moderates - even some here on DU - will defend the above 3 tenets fiercely. In doing so, they protect their beliefs from criticism. But they do so at the cost of protecting extremist beliefs as well. So instead of articles attacking extremist elements within their religion, we have authors who instead launch salvos at the Dawkinses and Harrises of the world - the terrible "new atheists" who don't understand true religious faith and need to stop criticizing items 1-3 above. And the Pat Robertsons and Fred Phelpses laugh and give those folks a virtual high-five for the assist.