Iqbal Widastomo, London

The number of people who are extreme or fanatical in practicing their religious faith continues to disturb me, on an almost daily basis.

In junior high school I had a classmate who was consistent in his efforts to show that he was diligent in practicing his religion. A compliment or praise in his direction would cause him to brim with pride.

It occurred to me back then that his religious efforts were misplaced and essentially artificial, and it occurs to me now that extremists and fanatics also lack true values.

That boy was maintaining his religion mostly just for show; the true value of religion -- for his spirit, heart and soul -- was missing. The same seems to be true of fanatics. Though, increasingly, Muslims and devout Muslims have to beware of being wrongfully labeled as fanatics, or, worse still, as dangerous extremists.

Devout and attentive Muslims should not be wrongly or abusively categorized as fanatics. The extreme and often offensive positions taken and promoted by fanatics are consistently not those held by devout Muslims, though it is often hard to convince non-Muslims of this.

Devout Muslims do not follow their faith for show as my old schoolmate used to; nor do they seek to impose their faith on others or rob others of their own faith, as fanatics often seem to want to. In truth, the behavior of a fanatic would be seen as unacceptable by a devout Muslim.

A fanatic lives in fear and invites fear in others. Fanaticism leads people to do things that people of faith find abhorrent.

Fanatics will and have accepted this kind of abuse of God's message because they believe that they have total authority when it comes to matters of religion. They believe that they know the path to God and that they can force others down that path -- or drive them down it through force. They have a conviction that is scary and quite dangerous.

It has been said that a person who can admit no doubt is either on the road to madness or has already arrived at madness. Insanity has surely possessed those that consider it acceptable and right to injure or kill people who make choices that differ from their own.

Choice is not part of the world of fanatics. Fanaticism leads people to see God not as their judge, liberator or king but as their jailer. They are prisoners and this closes their minds. Fanaticism leads to the "paralysis" of the mind. Freedom to think is lost, but sadly, for many fanatics, freedom to think has never really been a gift they have enjoyed.

Many observers have noted that fanaticism is at its most virulent and predatory best (or maybe that should be worst) where there is poverty and people have limited education and lack opportunities. All over the world, it is claimed, the poor are most likely to be among the ranks of the fanatics, though this is rather simplistic.

Poor people may be more at risk of becoming victims of fanaticism. However, it cannot be assumed that simply because people are poor they will easily become fanatics. Probably, the world's most famous fanatic at the moment (if we exclude certain presidents), Osama bin Laden, was not from a poor family, yet he must be recognized as holding fanatical viewpoints.

Indeed, many, many poor people achieve the right mix and balance of religiosity in their lives that allows them to live both as peacefully and as constructively as possible. Poverty is a cancer on humanity for sure, but religious fanaticism is a different kind of cancer -- it feeds and breeds on evil and hatred and stimulates and projects anger.

The cancer that is fanaticism can, therefore, grow when ever people feel repressed or persecuted. To kill the cancer of fanaticism we must kill the evils of repression and persecution. Justice for all arrives through equal treatment and respect for all. Truly religious people know that God created us as one and as equals. We must, therefore, treat each other as such.

A religious person does not use, abuse or humiliate others. I fear that Indonesia has suffered too much under the weight of people on a daily basis using, abusing or humiliating others. The concentration of the great wealth of our nation in the hands of so few would seem to confirm this.

Though we may be shocked and appalled by what fanatics do, we must look at ourselves and question whether our actions or even neglect may have contributed to the fanatics' state of mind. Violence and terror may appall us, but we must guard against complicity in sustaining repression and, thus, the hatred that feeds fanaticism.

The writer is a researcher of the Southeast Asian Division of Global Link Business Consultancy.