An Open Letter to the Religious Leaders of the World [UPDATED]

It's time for a yearly summit to address the scourge of fundamentalism, especially in the three Abrahamic religions

In November 1995, after a non-violence rally celebrating the Oslo Accords between Israel and Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a radical Jewish student named Yigal Amir. The peace process never recovered. Likud, Israel’s nationalist party, one that is steeped in religious fundamentalism, has, with minor interruptions, played the dominant role in the nation’s politics since that dark day.

What grew out of that assassination by a fundamentalist is an Israeli government that uses a combination of genocide and apartheid as formal government policy. Its most recent display of fundamentalist violence is tens of thousands of dead civilians in Gaza, and an American/Israeli axis that has promised to clear out the survivors to make way for beachfront resorts.

In 2016, American Christian fundamentalists played the primary role in electing Donald Trump and creating a bloody gash in American society that continues to fester. During the 2016 election, fundamentalist priests extolled the virtues of Trump at their pulpits. Even today, many of them say that his depravity is all part of the plan, part of the Rapture that will bring Christ back to Earth.

What grew out of that was no rapture. What emerged was a rupture in American society, a soft civil war that has divided Americans into two camps. Christian fundamentalism has led to an absurdly incompetent American government that has started a reckless war in Iran with no plan. American armed forces officers were even caught elevating U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Christo-fascist messaging to their enlisted officers and troops.

The U.S. regime has also attempted to formally institutionalize racism, destroy efforts to address climate change, and threaten democracy. Racism has been normalized. Angry young men with guns routinely slaughter the objects of their wrath in public spaces. I could devote ten more minutes of reading time to continue listing symptoms of the disease that has gripped America, but the world already knows them well.

In 1979, a revolution in Iran led by radical Shi’ite Muslims overthrew the Iranian monarchy of Reza Pahlavi. The revolution was led mostly by non-Iranians who took advantage of discontent over the Pahlavi monarchy, which was essentially installed by the American and British spy agencies, the CIA and MI6, when they overthrew Iran’s prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. Mossadegh had the temerity to nationalize the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which sealed his fate.

Misogynistic religious fundamentalists seized the country and have established a vicious theocratic dictatorship that has become a model for others, such as Afghanistan’s Taliban government.

What grew out of the takeover was a brutal, authoritarian, theocratic dictatorship that uses government policy to trample on women’s rights and individual freedom, especially among women. In the months leading up to the Trump regime’s Iran War, the fundamentalist regime killed tens of thousands of its own people in a cruel response to protests. Some estimates of the death toll run as high as 100,000 or more. It’s impossible to establish a correct number because the government has had nearly a half-century to master the art of repression.

Islamic fundamentalism also convinces children exposed to terrorist cells to cover themselves in explosives and kill people, and themselves, in the name of Allah.

Misogyny is a common thread in fundamentalism across all three Abrahamic religions. The squashing of women’s rights and access to education is a sacred tenet to them.

So is violence.

Just this Friday, March 27, the Jewish Defense League, a fundamentalist terror organization, targeted Palestinian American activist Nerdeen Kiswani. Luckily, the attack was thwarted by law enforcement.

Much of the worst violence in Africa is caused by fundamentalist Christians and Muslims seeking hegemony for their religion.

The stories are endless. Religious leaders know them all, but don’t seem willing to address the elephant in their rooms.

Fundamentalism doesn’t ask us to choose a religion. It tells us to choose sides. It tells its adherents to follow dogmatic philosophies that leave no room for open debate. Open debate itself is discouraged, often ruthlessly.

Those of us who quietly practice our religion are tired of the violence, hatred, and patriarchy that form the basis of fundamentalism.

Image licensed from Adobe Stock

It is time for religious leaders of, at the very least, the three Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, to put an end to the scourge of fundamentalism. While they’re at it, perhaps each segment and denomination can review its own doctrines to better understand what they’re doing to contribute to the growth of fundamentalism.

It’s time for difficult conversations and debate among the leaders of these religions. Symposiums, workshops, and high-level meetings should all eventually be part of it. Think Davos aimed exclusively against fundamentalism.

The first step in doing so is to establish a yearly summit, similar to climate change summits, but without corporate poison. My first thought would be to focus on the three Abrahamic religions because they seem to be causing the most destruction. But all religions that want to share the conversations should be welcome.

Ideas like this are easy to dismiss. Nobody will be interested, nobody will show up. Organized religion itself is the root of evil. This, however, dismisses the daily spiritual practice of billions of people who quietly worship without throwing things or shooting people.

It only takes three. Three leaders, one from each religion, are enough to begin the summit process. It will grow from there. Before you know it, it will be full of hundreds of clerics each year.

Interfaith summits already exist. What I’m suggesting here is a yearly summit focused exclusively on eradicating fundamentalism. That is its only agenda. And make it loud, so that the world’s press promotes it every year.

Religious leaders love to remind their constituents that we all must be accountable for our actions.

So step up, followers of Abraham. Be accountable for yours.

Update

Pope Leo, in his Palm Sunday address:

“Jesus is the King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” the pope said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”

Notes

1. I don’t quite have the audience of Meidas or Heather Cox Richardson, so this is probably a waste of valuable cyberbits, but I needed to put it out there for my own sanity, because this has been on my mind for a long time. Restacking it might help it fall on the right pair of eyes, so please restack it if you like the idea. Miracles are sometimes human creations.

2. I’m not dismissing fundamentalism in religions outside of the Abrahamic domain. But this is the part I know most about. Much of the world’s other religious and sectarian violence, such as what routinely takes place on the Indian subcontinent, is triggered by fundamentalists, too.

3. A summit like this doesn’t need to become political. It just needs to begin with the premise that religious extremism, in other words, fundamentalism, is a worldwide plague. How to specifically define fundamentalism will be one of the first, most interesting tasks, but for me, it’s easily identified as a misinterpretation of scripture that promotes violence, misogyny, and hatred of any kind, for any reason.

Thanks for reading!