Friday is for quotes: Seth Godin on fundamentalism
“A fundamentalist is a person who considers whether a fact is acceptable to his religion before he explores it. As opposed to a curious person who explores first and then considers whether or not he wants to accept the ramifications. A curious person embraces the tension between his religion and something new, wrestles with it and through i, and then decides whether to embrace the new idea or reject it. Curious is the key word. [It has] nothing to do with organized religion. It has to do with a desire to understand, a desire to try, a desire to push whatever envelope is interesting. [...] What we’re seeing is that fundamentalism really has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with an outlook regardless what your religion is.” — Seth Godin in Tribes, pg. 63-64
Really, really interesting. Thoughts?
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I think this is an excellent point. Most often, the vagaries of religious extremism have very little or nothing to do with the particular religion in question. It's a good response to those who discriminate against one religion or another based on the actions of radicals (or even moderates) who refuse to hear opinions other than their own.
Andrew_M
13 Feb 09 at 6:51 pm
It makes me realize I'm curious.
jonathanbrink
15 Feb 09 at 5:32 pm
[...] Friday is For Quotes: Seth Godin on Fundamentalism [...]
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22 Feb 09 at 7:13 pm