Faith As A Foot In The Door

In the wake of recent jihadist atrocities, Theresa May promised to take harder measures against extremism in the UK. Despite being a popular and convenient nod to the xenophobia that helped bring us Brexit, it simply does not tackle Islamic extremism at its root. The fact is, faith based extremism is both a subset of all extremism and the only type of extremism that has wreaked such unthinkable havoc in the form of terrorism in the west. No matter how much digital surveillance of "extremism" Downing Street can wield, unless the core of what makes extremism dangerous is dealt with the stabbings and bombings can't be expected to subside.

I could be an extreme linguist, pianist, or mountain climber, and never pose a threat to the wellbeing of the British public. What the Prime Minister has failed to acknowledge is the distinct species of extremism that makes it so dangerous; that of radical faith. Naturally, the left leaning press immediately pointed out that the greatest terror threat at the end of the 19th Century was that of Anarchism. The bombings in Spainish theatres and other public places produced a very similar atmosphere. The suggestion of the article was that the problem does not lie with religion but merely in extremism. While many people would not recognise Anarchism as a religion, what the author of this specific piece failed to recognise was the similarity between Extreme Islam, and Extreme Anarchism: faith.

Both movements hold what might be best termed A-propositional faith. This means a belief which will hold steady regardless of any evidence presented to weaken it. It is beyond question and beyond doubt. To either the Anarchist or the Islamist, there is no way you could persuade them they are wrong to commit such atrocities. Their beliefs cannot by definition be subject to scrutiny or debate. The seemingly innocuous encouragements of moderate religious preachers to "have faith", and their reliance on "faith" to believe in God despite his lack of evidence, is what permits the ghastly, inhumane beliefs to stick around so long. The life vest of moderate religion is precisely what keeps the dangerously ridiculous, and yes, extreme, views from the submersion that adherence to facts and reason would bring about.

Francisco Goya's dictum, "The sleep of reason produces monsters" has never seemed so appropriate. The belief in any ideal or being without evidence is really the same as a belief in fairies or, in the idea of reincarnation. Of course, a childish belief in the tooth fairy can't be said to have actually caused much damage. However, if teenagers and adults held to this belief in spite of any quality or quantity of evidence, then it achieves an enormous potential danger. In such certainty, it would only seem logical to trade all your teeth with the fairy for a winning lottery ticket. But after the hallucinogenic, or spiritual spell had worn off, this would produce nothing more than an agonising dentist's bill and a shameful failure to enjoy a jackpot.

This story should serve as an allegory of faith's role in the damage of extremism. Had the parents never introduced the idea of the fairy, the surrender of reason, then the real damage would have never come to pass. If authoritative members of the public could stop accepting the clerics and the imams to get their shoe of unreason in the door, the waves of apparently psychopathic cruelty would never enter in. Politicians with a platform should stop blaming the children and start blaming the tooth fairies.