Fundamentalism, be it religious or political, is hazardous to your health.

Pasadena California assistant prosecutor Michael Dowd is such a fundamentalist, and enemy of the church of Jesus Christ.

A fundamentalist is a person who can only operate within the most narrow of boundries for fear of losing everything that is important to them.

The 2020 flu epidemic has exposed the fundamentalists among us in both church and state. But there is a problem with fundamentalism. 

When a person builds a seamless shell around himself, and insists on imposing it on others, human freedom and tolerance vanish. When that happens people resort to their basest instints and earth becomes a reflection of fiery hell. Now the good gifts that God gives his children so that they can live a peaceful life in this world are in jeopardy.

The danger of fundamentalism is captured nicely for us in the Leonard Cohen song that says:

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything 
That's how the light gets in…

Without that crack, without allowing for the possibility of another view, no light gets in and people pine away in the darkness of death.

Fundamentalism is not the same as conviction. A person who has convictions can discuss them, articulate them, and defend them with logic that is shared by all. They can also learn, and even change. A fundamentalist can do none of these things. And that is what makes fundamentalists hazardous to the health of everyone.