"Religious fundamentalism seeks to take power for political ends, at times using violence, over the individual conscience and over religion," [Pope Benedict XVI] said. "All religious leaders in the Middle East [should] endeavour, by their example and their teaching, to do everything possible to uproot this threat, which indiscriminately and fatally affects believers."
A couple years ago, the Pope visited Lebanon to meet with various religious leaders to speak about the conflict in Syria. The above quote as well as this visit is in the following article on the BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-19594442. During the Pope's 3-day visit, he called Christians, Jews, and Muslims all to stop fundamentalist ideals and to instead, live together in religious harmony. More specifically, there is a large population, 40% to be exact, of Christians located in Lebanon, and there is a constant conflict in that region between the quarreling religions. Additionally, right before the Pope's visit, a film mocking Islam was released, which caused many violent protests to erupt in Tripoli and across Syria. This was only fuel to the Sunni-Shiite conflict that has been consistently burning across the middle each.
In the field of sociology, studies and research have shown that religion gives communities stability, a set of values and morals, and social order, as well as answers to life's big questions. Historically, religion has had a large impact on various cultures, regions, and has also led to great conflicts, divisions, and wars. The pope's visit to Lebanon ties together many conflicts, new and old, and is a step in the right direction of bringing each of these groups together. The problem lies in that each of these groups, fundamentalist or not, believe their religion is the correct choice of beliefs, values, morals, rules, and want that religion to govern that community, offer stability, and create social order within the confines of their own system.
Ideally, religion would offer such stability and positivity, and it does in fact contribute great things to various communities, but it can also be incredibly dangerous and lead to great conflict within regions and across the world, as seen in Syria. Pope Benedict XVI understands this and seeks to find harmony within the religions by "uprooting" religious fundamentalism across Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. So two years later, after the Pope's visit and continuing conflict between the Shiites and Sunnis in Syria, what have we seen? Togetherness? Acceptance? Harmony? Well, no. We've seen continued conflict, continued loss of life and freedom, and the dangerous, fundamentalist side of religion continuing to destroy a region. Is there any hope in putting out the hundreds of years of fundamentalist religious conflict? I would like to think so, but if the Pope has not made a difference in the continuing issue, I do not know who could.
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