RolStoppable said:
An education system like that is the result of religion having a firm grasp on people's lives, so the issue is that they believe in a religion. More specifically, they believe that their religion is the correct one and everything else is wrong/unacceptable. Life is built around this mindset. |
That's not quite it, either.
The problem isn't people following a religion, or believing it to be "the only right one"; the problem is building of a person's identity around the religion.
When a person's identity is built around their religion, then any criticism of their religion becomes a personal slight in their eyes. Any suggestion of an alternative option becomes an attack on the person's identity, rather than just an opportunity for discussion about beliefs.
Education systems are then built in each country according to that country's attitude towards identity.
Extremism is the natural result of a person building their identity around something like religion (or politics, patriotism, or "race", for that matter - see the frequent examples of politically-, nationality-, and racially-motivated violence), rather than being individual. It causes groupthink and an "us vs them" mentality. And it's also why some people think that they can "catch" another religion like a disease by in any way participating in something connected to that religion (because by participating, they're going against their identity) - see the hysteria here in Australia (amongst a small section of society) over halal, for example.
It's not the fault of religion - as I noted above, there are other variants that have the same effect (even membership in a particular gang often becomes an identity - see mob families).
