I think we are coming to the point in Western life where a real examination must be made of how our modern secularism has come to actually create conflict with the religious beliefs of individuals. It is modernity that is the cause of Biblical literalism and religious fundamentalism. To loosely quote Karen Armstrong, it is a sad thing that we live in a world where something must be scientifically or historically demonstrable in order to be true.
Pre-modern religion was intended to provide human beings with an account of the divine experience and of human nature's spiritual place in the universe. It never stifled debate or quelled policy. In fact, if you know anything about early Christian, Muslim, and Jewish culture, you would find that these texts were in fact the cause of all meaningful debate within a society.
Modern culture can't understand religion. Fundamentalists are a product of this misunderstanding. In an effort to counter scientific rationalism, they have attempted to rationalize their own faiths, which is ridiculous. Equally ridiculous is the standard of the absolute secularists, like atheists and socialists, which is to apply a standard of absolute rationalism to the private beliefs of their fellow citizens.
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