Here at Truth Wins Out, we are non-sectarian. If you are a believer, you are welcome here. If you are not a believer, you are welcome here. However, we’ve been talking lately about the dangers of fundamentalist religion (any fundamentalist religion) in society, whether it’s fundamentalist political parties taking control in nations around the world, or special interest groups attempting to impose their fundamentalist belief systems on society at large. Along those lines, I came across a brilliant TED talk this weekend from Lesley Hazleton, who recently completed a biography on Mohammed. In this talk, she discusses (as an agnostic Jew) how doubt is the very essence of faith, whether it’s religious faith or the type of secular faith that helps us all get through life on a day-to-day basis. She argues that that the fundamentalists, who want to impose their brand of belief on everyone else, are indeed the most faithless of them all, because they believe they have all the answers — on religion, on human rights, on sexuality, and everything else — and that their version of a rulebook is the end all and be all for all people. Regardless of where you fall on the subject of religious faith, I believe the argument, that this world would be a whole lot better if fundamentalist religion was removed from seats of power, is getting stronger every day.
Seriously, brilliant video. Take ten minutes:
