don@allegra.UUCP (10/15/83)
I don't think there is an immediate danger of Fundamentalists taking over. Still, rational people must be on the lookout. Historically, very bad things have happened when orthodox religions dominated cultures. Christians in the third century brought about a thousand years of darkness by destroying the technical underpinnings of their civilization (burning libraries, assassinating scientists, artists, and philosophers). The same things occurred in the Middle East around 1000 AD when the ultra-conservative Asharite movement "cleansed" Islam. Up until then, Islamic scholars had preserved the knowledge of the ancient world, but from then until this day, progressive thought has been suppressed. Oddly enough, Fundamentalists often blame the fall of civilization in Rome and Greece on their "unchristian morals". All I can say is that those people flourished for a thousand years with those morals. Perhaps civilization can survive perverts better than preachers!