In a terrific, provocative Viewpoint piece on fundamentalism and reliance on rigid literal interpretations of scripture, James Hrynyshyn writes,
[T]he great monotheistic religions all preach love while offering justification for actions without appeal to the concerns of the individual or rationality.
I would like to see… a more skeptical approach by all peoples of faith to the role of scriptures in their lives, an approach that emphasizes the mythic and figurative value of the texts.
This prompts one Tim Trainor of Summerside, PEI to rashly promise:
I will personally give Mr. Hrynyshyn, or anyone else, a cool $2,000.00 if he can find in the Catechism of The Catholic Church “justification for actions without appeal to the concerns of the individual or rationality”.
I world interpret that as an open-ended two grand, per person, per justification, and in the spirit of literal interpretation, so should you. Send Mr. Trainor your favourite examples, and be as comprehensive as you can; this may be the best hourly wage you’ll ever make.
Oh, and don’t worry about me. No finder’s fee is required — although as a nod to the tradition of tithing, it would be nice to promise to give ten per cent of whatever Mr. Trainor gives you to a worthy charity. (Canadians for Equal Marriage and Planned Parenthood do good work, for instance.)
Meanwhile, James draws a close parallel between religious fundamentalism and its more explicitly political cousin. Just as al-Qaeda blithely dismisses passages in the Qu’ran calling for compassion and condemning the murder of innocents, political fundamentalists in the U.S. ignore the first half of the Second Amendment while focussing obsessively on its conclusion.
The failure of Americans to agree on the meaning of a single sentence in a charter of rights makes it clear that the search for a common interpretation of scripture is pointless. What we should be doing instead is challenging the very idea of sacred texts and unquestioning faith. No one ever launched a jihad of doubt.
Sadly, it’s all too easy to think of a stream of bloody contexts where that point applies, from the killing fields of Cambodia to shattered buildings in Oklahoma City and Manhattan.
