{"id":28633,"date":"2017-06-29T05:45:40","date_gmt":"2017-06-29T09:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=28633"},"modified":"2017-06-28T20:37:18","modified_gmt":"2017-06-29T00:37:18","slug":"leftist-fundamentalism-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/06\/leftist-fundamentalism-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Leftist fundamentalism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"-Freedom_go_to_hell-\"<\/a><\/p>\n

David Gushee is a religion journalist, on the liberal side of things, who has long criticized \u201cfundamentalists.\u201d \u00a0That\u2019s mainly a derogatory term for religious conservatives, with additional connotations of legalism, narrow-mindedness, and extremism. \u00a0It\u2019s usually not a fair term to use, though it originally simply meant adherence to certain \u201cfundamental\u201d Christian doctrines <\/a>and is a name embraced by a certain faction of Baptists.<\/a>\u00a0 It is also used for other religions, as in \u201cMuslim fundamentalists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

But now Mr. Gushee is worried about \u201cleft-wing fundamentalism,\u201d a kind of rigidly doctrinaire progressivism that is also legalistic, narrow-minded, and extremist.<\/p>\n

He discusses the ball park Congressional shooting, the gay pride event that kicked out gay jews, the celebrities fantasizing about killing the president, the behavior of leftwing social media, and the totalitarian thought-police on college campuses. \u00a0Then he says why this leftist fundamentalism is so harmful. \u00a0For one thing, it hurts the image of Democrats! \u00a0See his other reasons\u00a0after the jump.<\/p>\n

I would just add that the hard-left always\u00a0<\/em>polices people\u2019s words and thoughts, to the point of violence and suppression. \u00a0Just look at the record of left-wing regimes\u2013see the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, East Germany, the other Iron Curtain governments. \u00a0 Such tactics follow logically from Marxist and post-Marxist ideology and should be expected in people who hold to those beliefs. \u00a0A true believer will consider freedom, human rights, individualism, and the rule of law to be bourgeois values that the revolution must suppress.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s a healthy development in the language that the word \u201cfundamentalism\u201d can\u00a0now be applied to the left.<\/p>\n

From David Gushee, It\u2019s time to worry about leftist fundamentalism, too | Religion News Service<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

A number of recent campus incidents <\/a>around the country also suggest that a kind of left-wing fundamentalism is on the rise. Sometimes these incidents are egged on by the presence or words of outside\u00a0provocateurs, but other times it is simply professors who are perceived as crossing liberal orthodoxy boundaries and then facing the rage of their students and some of their colleagues.<\/p>\n

Why is all of this disastrous for liberals?<\/p>\n

It is disastrous culturally, because it widens the gulf between our warring tribes, which degrades the environment all of us live in.<\/p>\n

It is disastrous politically, because left-wing fundamentalism hurts the image of the Democratic Party and liberals in general and is a sure loser in state and national races in most of the country.<\/p>\n

It is disastrous intellectually, because it shuts down intelligent reflection on difficult issues and leaves dissenters or potential dissenters afraid to express themselves.<\/p>\n

There is plenty wrong on the right. But there is plenty wrong on the left, too. Each side needs to get its act together.\u00a0If there is a sensible, grown-up center to American public life, it\u2019s about time it showed up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Gushee is a religion journalist, on the liberal side of things, who has long criticized \u201cfundamentalists.\u201d \u00a0That\u2019s mainly a derogatory term for religious conservatives, with additional connotations of legalism, narrow-mindedness, and extremism. \u00a0It\u2019s usually not a fair term to use, though it originally simply meant adherence to certain \u201cfundamental\u201d Christian doctrines and is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":28641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,35,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","category-philosophy-2","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nLeftist fundamentalism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A critic of "right-wing" fundamentalists now warns against "left-wing fundamentalists."\" 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