No human condition is more threatening to civilization than fanaticism. It reflects a terrible flaw in the human makeup and most of the mass oppressions, civil disturbances and collectivist ideologies which plague mankind can be traced to it. (Curiously, as to the causes of war and riots, the second most threatening condition is probably boredom, which in a way is almost the opposite of fanaticism).
Fanaticism should not be confused with principled advocacy. You can champion any cause with intensity without without becoming a fanatic. Fanaticism is extreme intolerance of dissenting views, an intention to supress them if possible, and the refusal to engage in rational debate. Reason never matters. The fanatic demands that everyone he controls or seeks to control --- frequently the entire human race --- adhere strictly and without question to a party line. Absolute conformity to ideological orthodoxy, which is the hallmark of fanaticism, is endemic to all collectivism, be it Naziism, Communism, Islamic extremism or radical-left American liberalism. Some socially conservative positions which are meritorious in and of themselves have been embraced by dangerous fanatics on the right. The fanatic of left or right insists that devient individualists be converted or actually destroyed with avalanches of propoganda or violence if nothing else works, and in many cases even when the cause or movement which the fanatic seeks to protect and advance is not seriously threatened. A despicable example of attempts at personal destruction is the left's campaign to destroy Sarah Palin. Though she has at present not announced her candidacy for President or any other office, the Left is engaged in a massive effort, costing their high priests millions of dollars, to find something, anything, suggestive of some wrongdoing even though there is no reason to suspect that there has been any. Also, if one believes in a benign existence in the after-life he will tolerate political ideologies and religions he does not like or share because he believes that the imbalances of life will be rectified in the end. But if this life is all their is, or if some putative god of the fanatic's invention or imagination so directs, two consequences follow: First, all departure from the fanatic's idea of perfection must be supressed now. We cannot wait, because the poor, the downtrodden or the spiritually deprived will die without hope except in compliance with the fanatic's self-made 'religion'. In other words unless the fanatic comes to the rescue with his coercion, rioting mobs and violence their lives will have been wasted. Second, we are told that we must live under some Command --- the inflexible directions of some book, some ayatolla, some dictator or code of conduct to which absolute obedience will be due. The fanatic always looks for a source of authority which cannot be questioned but can only be "interpreted" --- interpreted by him of course --- and that results in his refusal to entertain thoughts of alternatives. "So it is written, so it shall be done", said an Attila-like character in a movie. Once anyone begins to question the orthodoxy of the fanatic's movement or his heroes, and is allowed to continue doing so, the fabric of lock-step orthodoxy and obedience starts to unravel and the manifest nonsense and immorality of the movement begins to be apparent.
Thus some book, god or charismatic leader is substituted for universal principles of honor, decency, kindness, fairness and justice, except as defined and decreed by Command. The key is innerancy, the denial of any possible or permissable questioning of a Supreme Authority.
Corruptions, not real understanding, of the central messages of Christianity and Judaeism lead fanatics into the command-and-obey mentality. Judeao-Christianity properly understood and practiced requires the faithful to use their God-given intelligence. General principles are affirmed, of course, those which have always been recognized by decent people at all times --- rejection of theft, murder and adultery for example, or honoring ones parents, but the application of those principles in particular circumstances requires the application of reason and logic, and that is incompatible with fanaticism on any level. The New Testament does not record a single word spoken by Jesus which applies more than incidentally to the masses or to any collective, governmental or otherwise. All of His admonitions relate to actions and attitudes of individuals --- and ultimately to their salvation one by one. No group, race, tribe, nation or movement is "saved". Only individuals.
A church in Kansas produced a bunch of fanatics who went about obstructing the funerals of our men and women in uniform. Let us pray that this is not a forerunner of things to come. This is not the Christianity which any understanding Christian will recognize as the Gospel preached by Christ.
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