Martyrs, Virgins and Grapes

If new interpretations of religious texts by scholars - backed by
by archeological and other finds - would move people away from
fundamentalism, then we wouldn´t have literally hundreds of millions
of Christians whose basic religious beliefs are fundamentalistic.
Some of them are quite harmless, some of them are not.

One should understand that the violent strain of fundamentalism in
Muslim countries has it´s roots more in the problems of modern world
and not in Quran. Like from the Bible, also from the Quran pretty much
everybody can find backing for their personal beliefs, whatever they may
be - that´s why they are still being read. In our time, as political movements
have lost much of their appeal, religion attracts now people that would have
fought, killed and died under different flags thirty or fifty years ago.

Fundamentalism has always been with humanity, since the birth of religion,
and as long as we have religions, it will be with us. It depends on the
circumstances in societies whether it can flourish or whether it withers.