On fundamentalists

An interview between Jimmy Carter (ex-President USA) and Spiegel (Online)

SPIEGEL: One main points of your book is the rather strange coalition between Christian fundamentalists and the Republican Party. How can such a coalition of the pious lead to moral catastrophes like the Iraqi prison scandal in Abu Ghraib and torture in Guantanamo?

Carter: The fundamentalists believe they have a unique relationship with God, and that they and their ideas are God’s ideas and God’s premises on the particular issue. Therefore, by definition since they are speaking for God anyone who disagrees with them is inherently wrong. And the next step is: Those who disagree with them are inherently inferior, and in extreme cases — as is the case with some fundamentalists around the world — it makes your opponents sub-humans, so that their lives are not significant. Another thing is that a fundamentalist can’t bring himself or herself to negotiate with people who disagree with them because the negotiating process itself is an indication of implied equality. And so this administration, for instance, has a policy of just refusing to talk to someone who is in strong disagreement with them — which is also a radical departure from past history. So these are the kinds of things that cause me concern. And, of course, fundamentalists don’t believe they can make mistakes …....

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/spiegel-interview-with-jimmy-carter-the-us-and-israel-stand-alone-a-431793.html

(our emphasis)

Comment: Sound familiar? Not quite so extreme but you never know – from small beginnings ….. One only has to look at what took place at Midtown (cult group) to see the horrible possibilities! Abuse is abuse after all!

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)