HINDUISM AND OTHER RELIGIONS

Is There Hindu Fundamentalism?

Fundamentalism in religion generally consists of literally believing in a single religion, prophet or savior, a particular scripture as literally the word of God and the insistence that all human beings accept it. Fundamentalism does not exist in Hinduism the way it can in belief-oriented religions because Hinduism does not insist upon One God, one savior, or one Bible for humanity, nor does it claim that its religion alone has the final or highest truth. There is no exclusivism in Hinduism that can sustain such religious fundamentalism. No true Hindu would say that only the Hindu scripture is true and those of other religions are false. No true Hindu would say that only Hindus can find God and non-Hindus must go to hell.

There are traditional Hindus who want to preserve Hindu values and the Hindu way of life, which is a culture of devotion and meditation. Such traditional Hindu values do not require the assertion of fundamentalism. There are also conservative and socially backward Hindus who may be trying to preserve regressive Hindu social customs like untouchability, which are unjust. This is the closest thing to Hindu fundamentalism, but to associate it with a monolithic religious fundamentalism is misleading. It is a social evil not a uniform fundamentalist belief system.

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