Can’t but second your concern about the dangers of ideological ( religious included) fundamentalism. That is: of course there is nothing wrong with individuals contemplating and probing the essentials and roots of their more or less coherent set of convictions and let them conclude that the words and ideas of the founding fathers (mothers) should be reinstalled. The problem arises when fundamentalists try to impose their usually slightly outdated “truths” upon others.

Actually this is exactly what seem to have happened in some cases- at the cost of an open and tolerant society. Though I’m not quite sure that “fundamentalism is growing steadily in Indonesia”. From a distance it rather looks like the growth has by and large stopped in it’s tracks (though some recent political decisions would suggest the opposite).

As for the cause you mention (
“fundamentalism is the result of a morally undereducated individual embracing religion as the way to satisfy his or her spiritual needs because of the lack of his or hers physical needs”.) you probably hit the nail on the head. Yet I guess there must be more to it. Evangelical fundamentalists in the US usually don’t suffer from “physical needs”, but are in many ways comparable with their Muslim counterparts who do.

The general remedy you advise, to me seems a wise one – a lot of effort should be put into raising responsible, informed and tolerant citizens in a real civil society. Something which may take quite some time – one generation, maybe more.

gue juga suka bertanya2.. kenapa sih orang islam bgini bgitu bgini bgituu. banyak batasan dan aturan bgt.. gue sih bukan underestimate pemikiran mereka dan kepercayaan, tapi yaa gimana ya.. aneh aja.
lucky me, nyak babe gue milihin agama lain buat gue..

yeaaa well, whatever..keep thingking ben!