Fanatic

Wall Street Journal editorials often sound as if they were written by Malory describing Camelot. “Once upon a time the United States was happy and bright, bound by the shining morality of Protestant christianity.” The latest piece proclaims that “see, everyone is less religious, things are still awful, you can’t blame religion for anything in the past.” Okay. 

Actually what I blame for most evil (not caused by the universe and nature itself) is fanaticism. Any fanatic with any weird cause _ religious, nationalistic, economic, utopian, or just plain kookiness _ is a menace to what most of us consider normal civilized life.

Because, when you get right down to it, civilization is mostly happy and bright because people get along. That involves extremely complicated tribal and intertribal adjustments, a mix of tolerance, rules, support and tension that somehow are never logically complete but which work to allow societies to function.

What kills any civilization is the ascendance of fanatics with sharp simple views of the cosmos. Barbarians from outside looking only for wealth or mass murder. Charismatic leaders from inside seeking to kill or change anyone who doesn’t believe as they do.

The glorious times nostalgically referenced by the WSJ were times not so long ago when fanaticism itself was regarded as the worst sin.