Religious fanaticism

Religious fanaticism (or the prefix ultra- being used with a religious term (such as ultra-Orthodox Judaism), or (especially when violence is involved) religious extremism) is a pejorative designation used to indicate uncritical zeal or obsessive enthusiasm that is related to one's own, or one's group's, devotion to a religion – a form of human fanaticism that could otherwise be expressed in one's other involvements and participation, including employment, role, and partisan affinities. In psychiatry, the term hyperreligiosity is used. Historically, the term was applied in Christian antiquity to denigrate non-Christian religions, and subsequently acquired its current usage with the Age of Enlightenment.[1]

  1. ^ Bernhardt, Reinhold (2007). "Fanaticism". In von Stuckrad, Kocku (ed.). The Brill Dictionary of Religion. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/1872-5287_bdr_SIM_00024. ISBN 9789004124332. S2CID 247529383.