Mgr Gabriel Saliby

This article examines the phenomenon of contemporary religious fundamentalism in light of the world's great spiritual traditions. Written in the form of a paper delivered on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Assisi meeting, the text by Archbishop Gabriel Saliby, representative of the Patriarch of Antioch in Western Europe, offers a socio-theological analysis of fundamentalism. The author argues that this phenomenon results primarily from the brutal shock of Western modernity on traditional civilizations, giving rise to uprootedness, identity anxiety and ideological withdrawal. His central thesis is that fundamentalism paradoxically constitutes a secularized form of religion, reproducing the totalitarian mechanisms it claims to combat. In response, the article proposes distinguishing between fundamentalism and authentic spirituality, promoting global economic justice, and drawing on the mystical core of each religious tradition in order to establish an interreligious dialogue that transcends both fundamentalism and syncretism.