Blog: Religious Extremism - 2010-02-20
Religious Extremism February 20, 2010,
Robert F. Kennedy wrote: "What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."
The evil acts that many people associate with religion are in fact the work of religious extremists, not the work of mainline or moderate religious people. Whether we are talking about the Spanish Inquisition or 9/11, it is the extremists who insist that the end justifies the means, and that end includes the destruction of those who do not believe as they do.
There is nothing wrong with religious faith. There is nothing wrong with holding strongly to one's beliefs. There is nothing wrong with having the conviction that one is on the right spiritual path.