Fear and Fundamentalism

I was reading about the fall of the Roman empire yesterday and came upon an interesting tidbit. Apparently some folks in St. Augustine's time were blaming the attack on Rome by the Visigoths on the abandonment of traditional pagan religions in favor of Christianity ("Augustine on the Fall of America, uh, Rome", The God Project. Net, March 17, 2011).  I found that intriguing because so many among the Tea Party/Religious Right in the United States blame the "Fall of America" on straying from Christian values. It seems that in both cases the religion(s) of  the traditional majority blamed the decay of empire on straying from religion. The pagans in the time of the Fall of Rome blamed the Christians and now the "Christians" in this era blame heathens. The more things change the more they stay the same.

There is, however, another comparison. The Religious Right (Tea Party) is similar in many ways to another radical and extremist group:

"I am going to ask a series of statements. See if you can determine which group each statement applies to.
1). This group wants to dominate women and tell them how to act. Taliban? Or Religious Right?
2). This group wants there to be a national religion, barring other religions from the country. Taliban? Or Religious Right?
3). This group wants prayer to be a prominent part of education. Taliban? Or Religious Right?
4). This group wants to dictate their morals to the rest of the population, with severe penalties for non-compliance. Taliban? Or Religious Right?
5). This group is not interested in freedom of speech. Taliban? Or Religious Right?
6). This group is not interested in freedom of religion. Taliban? Or Religious Right?
7). This group wants their “law” to be the law of the land, regardless of what the people might want. Taliban? Or Religious Right?
8). This group wants to convert the entire world into their way of thinking. Taliban? Or Religious Right?
9). This group thinks homosexuality is an abomination and should be eradicated from the face of the Earth. Taliban? Or Religious Right?
If you answered both to every one of these statements, then you are correct. As you can see, other than the country they are operating in, there is little, if any, difference between the two groups" (by outofstepper, "Taliban or Religious Right?" in The Daily Kos, September 21, 2010).

It is no accident that the comparison can be made. There are psychological reasons both groups exist. At their core, both the Religious Right and the Taliban are afraid of and therefore hate the ambiguities and uncertainties  of contemporary existence (Walter A. Davis, "The Psychology of Christian Fundamentalism" in Counterpunch, January 8-10, 2005). That fear based hatred seems to express itself everywhere, from the fear of women which expresses itself in attacks on contraception and abortion to the fear of those who are different, as in Muslims. The Taliban exhibit the same fear and hatred. The irony and danger, of course, lies in letting the two forms of extremism interact with one another. Fear and hatred on both sides leads to war and worse, to holy war. We are in our current predicament with fear of being attacked by terrorists precisely because of  xenophobia and the only way out of the mess that has been created is to let go of fear. When the other is feared nothing can be seen or heard clearly. The only way out is to go through the process of really listening and seeing. The question remains as to whether that is even possible.