To quote Wilson Mizener: "I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education." Since the time of the ancient Greeks, doubt has always served as a counterbalance to - a check upon - dogmatism and fanaticism. Just think, if only more Nazis had only doubted a little bit what they believed, then maybe some Jews would have been spared. This notion led Bronowski to proclaim at Auschwitz: "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, know that you may be mistaken." When doubt is supressed or banished, that is when atrocities, such as the Holocaust and the pogroms, occur. Doubt is absolutely nescessary for tolerance and peaceful civilization to flourish, or even to exist. There absolutely must be doubt in both the political and religious spheres in order for a society or a civilization to enjoy calm. That is why religious fundamentalism is so dangerous in American society, or any other society. This is becasue both the religious realm and the political realm are areas of society where relative values should reign. By relative values, I mean a realization that various people have differing viewpoints. In my opinion, it is obvious in American society how religious fundamentalism has become a source of confusion in politics, precisely because religious fundamentalism and fanaticism both introduce their warped and intolerant absolutes into the realm of relative values. Religious fundamentalists everywhere are the enemies of democracy and civilization. A rational civilization can only be based on doubt - a hesitation in one's convictions that allows for tolerance and prevents a person from imposing his/her beliefs on others by means of violence.
