On Fundamentalists.

Fundamentalism is much in the news. At the mintue the focus is on Islamic fundamentalists. But it's important to be clear what we're talking about - not all fundamentalism is the same. Consider the following contrast. Recently it was revealed that Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the head of the Muslim Council of Britain, was being investigated for 'homophobic' comments made on the Today programme. I heard the interview in question. Nothing he said could possibly come as a surprise to anyone. His comments were made in a very moderate and reasonable tone. He made clear that he was expressing a mainstream muslim view, which was his right in democracy. He accepted that his views (which as he fairly pointed out were shared by many Christians and Jews) were held within the context of a society at odds with them. But he was seeking to make them known none-the-less.

I suppose Sir Iqbal would be seen by many as a fundametalist. He holds to the fundamentals of his faith as expressed in the Koran. But there is night and day between Sir Iqbal and another fundamentalist whose views are receiving media coverage currently - Abu Hamza. No need to repeat here the sort of things he preached as recorded in tapes and videos. The language is violent, the tone is violent, the result may well have been intended to be violoent, that's what the jury has to decide. Both are muslims, both are fundamentalists. The police should be spending there time on the latter not the former. One is exercising a basic right in a democracy. He is seeking to debate and communicate. The other apparently has no time for such niceties. Sir Iqbal should certainly be heard. I of course will innevitably disagree with much he has to say. But I don't expect the State to suppress it.

Mind you, if I were a Christian fundametalist in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia or Indonesia, I wonder if I would find it as straightforward to communicate my views? I pose this as a genuine question. I have never visited any of those countries. I have certainly never stayed in a "muslim" country for any length of time. So I don't know what the answer is.

All of which raises the issue of what a Christian fundamentalist is. I know that there is a technical answer to this in that there have been scholarly studies shich have noted the claims made against this title. But I must say I had always considered myself a Christian fundamentalist. I have never considered this incompatible with rationality or debate. I have never considered it incompatible with dialogue with other faiths, particularly with fundamentalist muslims (at least here in the UK). When I was a warden in a student house, I well remember a graduate from Iran, who was a fundamentalist muslim. In fact we had more in common with each other, more common ground from which to begin a dialogue, than I found I had with the non-beleiving westerners in the house.

We need to fundamentally distinguish between fundamentalists. Or as someone else said, "lets put the fun back into fundamentalism!".