Why I am No Longer Fundamental, Part 3

What does it even mean to be a fundamentalist? What is fundamentalism? What on Earth have I even been ranting about for the last two weeks?

These are all excellent questions, and the way I answer them will greatly alter the outcome of this little adventure I've been having.

You see, there are fundamentalist factions in every religion on earth, though sometimes they’re called by different names. You might call them extremists, like the Muslim extremists we hear about so often on the news. You might see fundamentalism in the goings-on of the folks at the Westboro Baptist Church. You might see it in polygamist colonies. Fundamentalism is seen and lived out in various societies and in different degrees all over the world.

Here though, on this blog, and in my life, I have and am addressing Christian Fundamentalism.

Webster’s defines Fundamentalism as “A movement or attitude stressing strict and literal adherence to a set of basic principles.” In its definition Webster’s also addresses a literal interpretation of the Bible, and how this literal interpretation is fundamental to Christian life and teaching.

But what exactly does that even mean? What does it look like? Why do I even care, beyond the effects that it has had on me?

What it means is that there’s no room to let people be people. It means there’s no way to have any dissension or differing ideas. It means that people who are fundamentalists get to sit in judgment day in and day out on people who are not, people who have different ideas, people who might view their Bibles a little bit differently.

And how do you ever even know what you truly believe if you never are allowed to question anything?

This may sound like a harsh summarization, and maybe it is.

But do you know what else is harsh? Hearing that you are rebellious simply because you have different ideas. Hearing about all the different reasons you are going to hell. Harshness is not knowing that there are other ways to be Christian that have nothing to do with interpreting your Bible literally and itemizing all they ways people who are Christian but not Fundamentalist are wrong about all their beliefs that don’t fall directly in line with what you believe.

Harshness is deciding you are Christian but not Fundamentalist, making that statement publicly, and having people try to save your soul as a result.

Fundamentalism is by its very nature one of the things Jesus fought against during his time here on earth. Maybe not everybody has read those stories the same way though. In the Bible, the fundamentalists were called Pharisees.

Pharisees got their kicks from being self-righteous and following the Jews around to make sure they were all staying in line. There were literally hundreds of rules (both from their scriptures and from their traditions) that the Jews were supposed to follow (on pain of making bloody sacrifices to save their souls), and you can bet that if some wayward Jew were to break a rule (accidentally or otherwise), there would be a Pharisee nearby to kindly tell them exactly what they did wrong and how many goats or lambs or pigeons (or whatever) would need to be killed to atone for this infraction. The Pharisees lived their lives to the letter of the literal law and expected everyone else to do the same.

They hated Jesus.

Jesus had unkind words for them.

Sound familiar?

There are lists and lists of fundamentalist beliefs that have been drawn from a literal interpretation of the Bible, and from what are believed to be orthodox. (For an awesome in-depth discussion of perceived orthodoxy, check out this blog). But the simple fact is that there are many, many ways to view the subjects that so often cause divisions amongst us, subjects that a fundamentalist teaching leaves no room for discussion on. These topics, which I will address in a later blog, include modesty, creation, homosexuality, the rapture/end times, birth control, and on and on and on.

I am not the only person who has been hurt by Fundamentalism. I believe it is at least partially responsible for the mass exodus of millennials from the church. The church, as a result of Fundamentalism, has largely come to be equated with hate, and people don’t respond well to hate. Being harsh and unyielding towards the lost and hurting hardly lends itself to the love that Jesus called us to display towards others. Love is what will bring others back to the church. Love is how I have decided to live out the rest of my Christian life. I’m not talking about compromise or easy Christianity, as some may fear, but I will get more into that next week.