Beyond Secularism and Fundamentalism: Reinventing Global Citizenship

The author presented a version of this article at the Sixth Buddhist-Christian Colloquium of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, November 13–16, 2017, in Taiwan. The topic of that dialogue was “Buddhists and Christians Walking Together on the Path of Nonviolence.” The author begins by tracing the origin of the term “Fundamentalism” to the South of the United States; it called for a “battle royal” for conservative Christianity against other religions and points of view. It was tied to the first American Christian terrorist group, the Ku Klux Klan. He then quotes Pope Benedict’s rejection of all forms of Fundamentalism. Next the author traces the origin of “secularism” to England and explains its theory concerning the need to push religion out of social institutions and political decision-making. He quotes Paul Carus’ rejection of secularism. Finally, he explores both Buddhist and Christian scriptural sources and the words of modern religious scholars and leaders calling for transcendence of both Fundamentalism and secularism in order to reach a deeper spiritual foundation supporting global citizenship for the good of all humanity