- QUESTION : Religious extremism and terrorism are gaining strength within the world’s major and minor religions, and across all the world’s regions especially in India. Is fundamentalism compatible with any religion in particular with Christianity?
- Alvin Louis
ANSWER: Jacob Parappally MSFS
Religious extremism and terrorism have emerged as grave threats to the peaceful and harmonious coexistence of people of diverse religious affiliations, ethnicities, and linguistic backgrounds across the world. Religious fundamentalism undermines the very fabric of societies built on tolerance, justice, respect for the “otherness” of the other, and fraternity. It is present in the attitudes and behaviours of certain groups within all religions and is not peculiar to any one faith.
Some fundamentalist and extremist groups go so far as to justify their positions, and their violent attacks on those who do not share their faith, by appealing to their Sacred Scriptures. Yet, any scriptural statement or interpretation that fosters violence, intolerance, and the destruction of human life cannot be regarded as divine revelation. A so-called “god” of violence and extremism is nothing more than a human construct, created to sanctify inhuman acts as if they were the commands of the divine.
Religious leaders and communities must take responsibility for educating their members toward interfaith or inter-hope, collaboration for the well-being of all, regardless of religious affiliation. Any dehumanization in the name of God must be condemned as ungodly and irreligious. Humanizing faith must be deepened, and all forms of fundamentalism and extremism must be prophetically rejected. Fundamentalism always divides; all genuine efforts to build communion bear witness to faith in the God of Communion.
Religious extremism and terrorism are not confined to a particular religion or geographic region. However, certain socio-political contexts provide fertile ground for their growth and expression in the lived realities of communities. India offers a telling example. Historically, the subcontinent has been the birthplace of many of the world’s religions. Its soil of tolerance and its philosophy of “unity in diversity” fostered the flourishing of a vast array of beliefs and ideologies. For centuries, religious tolerance and harmony formed the backbone of Indian society. Yet, in recent decades, this tradition has faced radical disruption. Political agendas, ideologically charged propaganda, and false allegations against other religions have been disguised as the defence of cultural traditions and “true nationalism.” In reality, such rhetoric has emboldened religious extremism and the terrorism of fringe elements.
This raises a crucial question: Is religious extremism, or religious fundamentalism, compatible with any religion, particularly with Christianity, which professes to embody and live out the gospel values of love, justice, fellowship, peace, equality, and reconciliation?
The Rise of Religious Fundamentalism
Religious fundamentalism arises whenever and wherever a religion asserts that what it believes and teaches is the only truth, that it is the sole possessor of truth, and that all other religions or belief systems are false. The three great Semitic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, have all, at points in their histories, displayed such exclusivist tendencies. There were periods when these religions held that their own beliefs were the only valid ones, and in the name of their religion and their understanding of God, they were willing to persecute or even exterminate others.
Fundamentalism tends to absolutize all religious interpretations without regard for the historical and cultural contexts of doctrines and laws, placing them above love, compassion, and respect for human dignity. It prioritizes ritual purity over moral integrity, and strict adherence to religious law over mercy and compassion. The incarnation, God becoming human in Jesus Christ, was meant to liberate humanity from such distortions. The God whom Jesus experienced as his Abba was not a theocentric, distant deity but an anthropocentric, human-centred God. This God, revealed by Jesus, desires that all human beings live fully and unfold their authentic humanity. The Sabbath, the Temple, and the established order exist for human beings, not the other way around.
Over time, both Judaism and Christianity have largely abandoned such pernicious convictions, recognizing that a God who commands the destruction of human beings cannot be the true God. Unfortunately, some groups within Islam have yet to fully embrace this evolution in understanding.
Even Hinduism, long regarded as one of the world’s most tolerant religions and celebrated for its cosmic worldview, has not been immune to this trend. In recent decades, certain Hindutva groups have reinterpreted Hinduism to serve political ambitions, portraying themselves as protectors of the faith against alleged threats of conversion, particularly to Christianity and Islam. This “semitization” of Hinduism has created new narratives, such as the elevation of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya into a central sacred site comparable to Jerusalem for Jews, Rome for Christians, or Mecca for Muslims.
The Politicization of Religion
Fundamentalist political parties manipulate religious sentiments to gain and consolidate political power, often by polarizing communities along religious lines. They patronize extremist groups that spread falsehoods about perceived threats to their religion and justify violence against minorities and dissenters. Hatred begets hatred, and violence breeds fear and disharmony.
Fundamentalism tends to absolutize all religious interpretations without regard for the historical and cultural contexts of doctrines and laws, placing them above love, compassion, and respect for human dignity. It prioritizes ritual purity over moral integrity, and strict adherence to religious law over mercy and compassion. The incarnation, God becoming human in Jesus Christ, was meant to liberate humanity from such distortions. The God whom Jesus experienced as his Abba was not a theocentric, distant deity but an anthropocentric, human-centred God. This God, revealed by Jesus, desires that all human beings live fully and unfold their authentic humanity. The Sabbath, the Temple, and the established order exist for human beings, not the other way around.
Acts such as lynching, communal riots, and hate speeches are often defended as necessary to “preserve the purity” of religion and culture. Yet any religion that condones extremism and terrorism forfeits its claim to be a true religion. Members of any faith who embrace such ideologies and use them to justify cruelty toward others not only betray the core moral and spiritual principles of religion, but also bring dishonour upon the very God they profess to serve.
Fundamentals in Religion and Fundamentalism
The identity of any religion is rooted in its belief system, which emerges from the originary experience of the divine by an individual or a group of individuals. This foundational experience is expressed in a creed, lived out in a community that worships God in accordance with that creed, and organizes life according to a moral code consistent with it. The fundamental tenets of a religion’s creed cannot be compromised without eroding the very identity of that religion.
However, when the adherents of a religion become intolerant toward those who do not share their beliefs by excluding them, discriminating against them, or even seeking to eliminate them in the name of their own faith, religious fundamentalism takes root. Such fundamentalism undermines and ultimately destroys whatever is true, noble, and humanizing in the doctrines of any religion. Violence and destruction inflicted on human beings in the name of religion or ideology is an assault on their fundamental human rights to life, dignity, and property. Whether religious or ideological, fundamentalism dehumanizes the very people it claims to defend. When religious leaders embrace fundamentalism and incite their followers to commit acts of violence against those outside their belief system, they inflict the gravest dishonour upon their own religion.
Acts such as lynching, communal riots, and hate speeches are often defended as necessary to “preserve the purity” of religion and culture. Yet any religion that condones extremism and terrorism forfeits its claim to be a true religion. Members of any faith who embrace such ideologies and use them to justify cruelty toward others not only betray the core moral and spiritual principles of religion, but also bring dishonour upon the very God they profess to serve.
In our time, the forces of globalization have created deep challenges to identity across societies. Every culture and religion, every nation and people, seeks to assert its uniqueness in an interconnected world. Yet globalization penetrates nearly every sphere of modern life, and dominant cultural values often overpower smaller, regional, and sectarian traditions, eroding the distinct identities that once shaped them. In this climate, fundamentalism often emerges as a reactionary force, claiming to safeguard the cherished values of one’s culture and religion, especially in contexts where culture and religious practice are deeply intertwined.
Fundamentalism: Incompatible with Christianity
While Christians cannot abandon their doctrines, creedal confessions, or compromise on their fundamental faith affirmations, they equally cannot embrace any form of fundamentalism that excludes, discriminates against, or disrespects those who do not share their beliefs. The God revealed in Christian experience is not a God who delights in the destruction of sinners, but one who desires their conversion to truth and their restoration to authentic humanity. This God shows no partiality but includes everyone—the righteous and the unrighteous alike:
“I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt 5:45).
It is a core Christian conviction that God became human so that humanity might fully realize its potential and live in right relationship with God, with one another, and with creation. The Gospel of John affirms this truth through the words of Jesus: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Any principle, policy, or practice that undermines life, dignity, and human flourishing stands in direct opposition to the gospel. For this reason, religious fundamentalism and extremism, with their narrow exclusivity and potential for violence, are irreconcilable with the Christian understanding of God in Jesus Christ.
For centuries, religious tolerance and harmony formed the backbone of Indian society. Yet, in recent decades, this tradition has faced radical disruption. Political agendas, ideologically charged propaganda, and false allegations against other religions have been disguised as the defence of cultural traditions and “true nationalism.” In reality, such rhetoric has emboldened religious extremism and the terrorism of fringe elements.
Christians, if they are to be faithful to their name, cannot adopt a posture other than that of Jesus and his gospel. Some may argue for a more hard-line or fundamentalist stance, insisting that if they do not meet the fundamentalism of others with equal force, particularly when Christians are targeted as a vulnerable group for religious or political purposes, they will be overwhelmed, marginalized, or even annihilated. Such reasoning, however, forgets that Christianity’s very foundation rests on the experience of a victim who was unjustly condemned, brutally executed, and yet triumphed through resurrection.
History bears witness to the cost of discipleship in the face of fundamentalist violence. The martyrs of Kandhamal, murdered by Hindu extremists; the atrocities committed by ISIS in the Nineveh Province of Northern Iraq in 2014, where Christians faced crucifixion, beheading, or forced conversion to Islam; the ongoing persecutions in Mosul; the brutal beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya in 2015, these are but a few harrowing examples of religious fundamentalism at its most violent expressions. Even the recent attacks on nuns and priests in secular India by Hindu fundamentalist groups can tempt Christians to seek retaliation. Yet, the principle of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” belongs to an earlier stage of moral evolution reflected in the Old Testament, not to the ethic of the gospel.
The Christian faith rejects retaliation as a legitimate path. While it affirms the pursuit of justice, it insists that justice be sought through lawful, peaceful, and truth-centred means. Retaliation feeds the same destructive cycle it seeks to resist, whereas the way of Christ breaks that cycle through redemptive love. To abandon this calling is to forsake the very heart of the gospel.
Faith without Fundamentalism or Fanaticism
Fundamentalism in religion is neither an expression of loyalty nor of genuine religious devotion. In fact, any form of fundamentalist practice that fails to respect people of other faiths, and especially those that lead to violence, betrays the sublime truths of any authentic religion. When religion is used as one’s primary identity marker, particularly in situations where social, political, or existential identities are uncertain, clinging to one’s religious identity in a fundamentalist manner creates a false and dangerous sense of self. True faith, expressed in beliefs and lived out within a community of believers, must be inclusive. At the very least, in thought and attitude, it must embrace everyone, including those who neither recognize nor accept the faith, and even those who oppose it.
Martin Buber, the great Jewish philosopher, once said, “Faith of Jesus unites us, and faith in Jesus divides us.” In reality, true and authentic faith in Jesus, as the all-embracing revelation of God can never divide people; it can only unite them as brothers and sisters. Only a sectarian interpretation of Jesus can divide and foster Christian fundamentalism. Real faith in Jesus leads to love and universality.
A so-called “god” of violence and extremism is nothing more than a human construct, created to sanctify inhuman acts as if they were the commands of the divine.
Fundamentalism tends to absolutize all religious interpretations without regard for the historical and cultural contexts of doctrines and laws, placing them above love, compassion, and respect for human dignity. It prioritizes ritual purity over moral integrity, and strict adherence to religious law over mercy and compassion. The incarnation, God becoming human in Jesus Christ, was meant to liberate humanity from such distortions. The God whom Jesus experienced as his Abba was not a theocentric, distant deity but an anthropocentric, human-centred God. This God, revealed by Jesus, desires that all human beings live fully and unfold their authentic humanity. The Sabbath, the Temple, and the established order exist for human beings, not the other way around.
Christianity’s fundamental truths, its understanding of God as love, its vision of salvation as the wholeness of both individuals and society, here on earth and beyond, are not meant to stand in opposition to the affirmations of other faiths. Rather, they are to be understood and interpreted in dialogue with them, in openness to the Spirit of God who leads to all truth (John 16:16). The Christian response to fundamentalism must be both prophetic and pastoral. It should expose the dangers of fundamentalism and extremism, which dehumanize people in the name of God and religion. When faith affirmations are reduced to ideologies for political or military control of the weak and vulnerable, they must be prophetically challenged. The Church’s prophetic voice must be raised against such distortions of faith and the misuse of doctrine to dominate or subjugate others. When faith is manipulated to divide, exclude, or discriminate, it stands in opposition to the God of love and communion.
Religious leaders and communities must take responsibility for educating their members toward interfaith or inter-hope, collaboration for the well-being of all, regardless of religious affiliation. Any dehumanization in the name of God must be condemned as ungodly and irreligious. Humanizing faith must be deepened, and all forms of fundamentalism and extremism must be prophetically rejected. Fundamentalism always divides; all genuine efforts to build communion bear witness to faith in the God of Communion.
