America's Christianist Problem, One In A Series

 Martin Longman explores why fundamentalist parents censoring school materials is bad. If your worldview cannot survive contact with information freedom, that is not a problem with information freedom. It's a problem that your worldview can only exist in a hothouse environment, sheltered from contrary viewpoints and even basic facts.

Fundamentalism is deeply corrosive to a democratic state, in my opinion, precisely because it it rarely interested in open discourse or critical thinking. In fact, one definition of fundamentalism is the belief in the literal truth of ancient religious texts. There is not even an allowable debate on this issue. In a "liberal" political environment, we have to be free to question everything within the limits of reason. Otherwise, the whole thing falls apart...which it currently is doing.

The other definition of fundamentalism is the use of religion as a political ideology. This is seen most clearly in Islamism, which argues that Islam should be the political ideology establishing the political norms of a country. There has historically not been any separation between mosque and state in Islam, so this is easy. Religious pluralism has its deepest roots in the United States, which is one reason why America remains an unusually religiously observant country for a developed economy. Religious pluralism has been a net positive for American religion.

But Christianism, as a fundamentalist ideology to define the workings of the state, rejects religious pluralism. It seeks to create a hothouse environment in which its tenets are immune to challenge. If Leviticus is the revealed word of God and a proper way to organize society, you'd think it would be more robust. Instead, we get the closing of the American Mind in exactly the opposite way that Allan Bloom suggested. (Allan Bloom was a crank.)

I have drifted in and out of faith and religion in my life. There is real wisdom in many religions, but none hold a monopoly on wisdom. Fundamentalism, in both meanings of the word, argues that in fact there is only one valid practice of faith and that should rule our society. And because this is an article of faith, there is no argument than can be advanced to challenge it.

All of this should help inform the ongoing GOP war against public education. It's not about CRT or SEL or specific works in the library. It's about the very project of public education and critical thinking.