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Religious Fanatic

nPeace

Veteran Member
Religious fanatic, or rational human being?
This girl was only fourteen. What do you think of her?
Do you consider her to be a religious brainwashed fanatic, or a rational thinking person?
Her experience.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
May the OP elaborate a bit about those two choices? Perhaps present a few more?

As it stands, the text is sort of odd.
 

Rival

Si m'ait Dieus
Staff member
Premium Member
Is there anything inherently wrong with being a religious fanatic?
 

Rival

Si m'ait Dieus
Staff member
Premium Member
Happy Birthday, and yes, there definitely is.

We all are responsible for the effects of our beliefs in the well-being of ourselves and others.
Thanks.

Who is saying religious fanatics necessarily hurt others, though?

Then again, I suppose the term 'religious fanatic' is kind of vague.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
Thanks.

Who is saying religious fanatics necessarily hurt others, though?

Then again, I suppose the term 'religious fanatic' is kind of vague.
I guess I am sort of strict on this matter.

I more or less don't believe that it is possible for anyone not to cause damage out of lack of wisdom.
 

RabbiO

הרב יונה בן זכריה
Is there anything inherently wrong with being a religious fanatic?
I'd sing Happy Birthday in Hebrew, but I'm going to spare you. My Hebrew's fine, but my voice....... There are reasons why I am a rabbi and not a chazzan.
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
@nPeace - after reading the story, I don't understand your characterization of it. It's the story of a young girl who stuck to her convictions and found a doctor willing to accommodate them. Successfully, I might add. Why are you framing this as being fanaticism versus rationality? The behavior of the girl and her family in the story doesn't strike me as fanatical at all anyway. We're not talking a story of a girl who decides to bomb a blood donation center.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Is there anything inherently wrong with being a religious fanatic?

I think any kind of fanaticism is wrong to some extent. At the very least, it is just as boring as implied in Churchill's statement that a fanatic is "One who can't change his mind, and won't change the subject."

In this day and age, I sometimes think being willfully boring is among the last remaining genuine sins.

But more seriously, fanatics in general run roughshod over others, often ignoring their humanity when giving it its just due would conflict with their idealism. I regard them as usually a species of evil.
 

Rival

Si m'ait Dieus
Staff member
Premium Member
Depends. Is said fanatic simply annoying, or are they potentially dangerous?
What if it just means someone who is fanatical about his faith and isn't bothering anyone at all? Someone who prays a lot, whose language is peppered with religious thinking, observes everything as faithfully as he can and so on?
 

David1967

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
What if it just means someone who is fanatical about his faith and isn't bothering anyone at all? Someone who prays a lot, whose language is peppered with religious thinking, observes everything as faithfully as he can and so on?

No problem at all.
 

icehorse

......unaffiliated...... anti-dogmatist
Premium Member
Thanks.

Who is saying religious fanatics necessarily hurt others, though?

Then again, I suppose the term 'religious fanatic' is kind of vague.

I would say that if you hold not hurting others (or yourself), as a higher value than your particular flavor of fanaticism then you should be ok. But I agree, this girl was gambling with her own life for very dubious reasons.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
What if it just means someone who is fanatical about his faith and isn't bothering anyone at all? Someone who prays a lot, whose language is peppered with religious thinking, observes everything as faithfully as he can and so on?

I think you might be confusing devout with fanatical. All fanatics are devout, but not all devout people are fanatics, so far as I can see.
 

Rival

Si m'ait Dieus
Staff member
Premium Member
I think you might be confusing devout with fanatical. All fanatics are devout, but not all devout people are fanatics, so far as I can see.
Whenever the word fanatic is used in other contexts though, it doesn't carry the meaning of 'insane' as it seems to here. One doesn't think of a book fanatic or a film fanatic as someone who goes on rampages against people who don't like to read books or watch movies. I took 'religious fanatic' to mean 'fanatic about one's religion'.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
Admittedly, the word has been widened in usage in recent decades, and I sort of favor the traditional meaning.
 
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sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
I think any kind of fanaticism is wrong to some extent. ..

But more seriously, fanatics in general run roughshod over others, often ignoring their humanity when giving it its just due would conflict with their idealism. I regard them as usually a species of evil.

The fundamental distinction to me between fanatic and obsessed is that a fanatic wants to impose his beliefs on everyone.
 
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