Tuesday, February 17, 2015
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Bridges to Autonomy; Paradoxes in Teaching and Learning, by Matt Silliman and David Kenneth Johnson (click on book for more information)
Plato's Dialogues
Welcome to Matt Silliman's Skeptiblog
Though all posts are open to all visitors, this semester's posts will mostly pertain to my Plato's Dialogues course.
my most recent book
Bridges to Autonomy; Paradoxes in Teaching and Learning, by Matt Silliman and David Kenneth Johnson (click on book for more information)
5 comments:
This reminds me of a question I wanted to ask in class today. I wondered how far tolerance goes, even with such an inclusive religion as Hinduism, when some new ideology or doctrine threatens a fundamental belief....perhaps something like this is the reason we see a fundamentalist Hindu movement now?
Can you give an example of the sort of fundamental belief you have in mind?
I think Hindu fundamentalism arose in response to other fundamentalist movements. Interestingly, the BJP, RSS, and more locally the Shiv Sena (a basically fascist party in Bombay) deliberately created their own version of absolutist monotheism by elevating Rama from A god to THE God. It seems you need just one god to foster real fanaticism.
I don't really have an example of a fundamental belief in the context of Hinduism. I don't feel I know enough about the religion to pin point one. However, I think you may have answered my question by suggesting that the fundamentalist Hindu movement spawned out of reaction to other fundamentalist movements. I suppose when fanatics arrive on ones doorstep, that's where that persons tolerance might end. Also, yeah, it makes perfect sense that having only one god can lead to fundamentalism much easier.
I would not suggest that Hindu fundamentalism was justified, or even triggered, by any significant extremist threat. I think rather that demagogues within Hinduism, who rather missed the memo on toleration, saw the traction religious fundamentalists were getting globally, and decided to get in on the game, using xenophobic organizing tactics borrowed from the Nazis.
That's an interesting take on the rise of Hindu fundamentalism Matt. I'm inclined to agree with your assessment. Certainly, if certain interests within the Hindu world didn't want to be eclipsed and wiped out by fundamental extremism on the part of other religions, then they would have to fight fire with fire. This is especially true for Hinduism concerning Islam, when we consider the close proximity that Hindus and Muslims live in.
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