I wrote the following as an introduction
to a book I am working on. I decided to not use it, since it has a very
negative tone. But I believe it is true and I will post it here for you to look
over briefly if you wish.
The term fundamentalist was first used
in the 1920s in a series of books, The
Fundamentals, published in the United States, which clearly outlined the
beliefs that a Christian was supposed to have, based upon a “literal” reading
of the Bible. All around these authors, the world was changing rapidly, and
they had to figure out which of their beliefs were fundamental, and which could
be surrendered. The authors were reacting against a tide of loose morality that
they believed was sweeping the country during what we still call “The Roaring
Twenties.” The Roaring Twenties came to an end not so much because fundamentalism
triumphed but because the Great Depression brought an end to exuberant and
spendthrift living.
But “fundamentalist” has come to mean
something very different today. It no longer means someone who simply believes
the Bible to be literally true. It has come to represent a person who almost
treats a Bible as a talisman that makes them superior to other
humans—spiritually superior, as if it makes Satan flee from them in terror, and
mentally superior, as it makes their minds capable of understanding all eternal
truths. It also serves as a badge of membership in an elite society of God’s
very, very special Elect. It no longer represents a person who humbly accepts
the Word of God; it has come to represent a person who considers himself or
herself to be personally inerrant and
commanded to be ready for action in
God’s name. They may not literally make these claims about themselves, but if
you listen to what they say and look at what they do, this is the conclusion
that you will have to reach. I used to be a Christian fundamentalist and I did
not literally make these claims about myself. I was hesitant and quiet about
asserting myself to be superior to non-Christians, and even to
non-fundamentalist Christians, in this way. But I knew plenty of other
fundamentalists who were neither hesitant nor quiet. Eventually my level of
discomfort was so great that I left fundamentalism. I was quite aware of my own
imperfections, and finally decided I could no longer place myself in a superior
position of authority over other people.
First, consider the unspoken
fundamentalist belief in personal
inerrancy. They hold their Bibles in the air, and believe that they know
the answer to every question about the history of the universe, the story of
mankind, and the meaning of life. They know the single correct answer to every
political question. They don’t even have
to read that Bible. They would be hard-pressed to tell you very many things
that are, in fact, in that bible. Ask one of them what the prophets Joel or
Amos or Obadiah said. Most of them have never read the entire Bible, or even
very much of it, which is strange since they say that a Christian has to live
by all of those words. But just
having it in their hands gives them the power to know everything, at least
everything that matters.
I used to admire my fellow fundamentalists
whose Bibles looked well-worn with study. Then I saw one of them, after church,
talking with others. He held his soft-leather-bound Bible in his hands and bent
it back and forth in a harmless and meaningless manner. So that’s why it looks
well worn! Not because he reads it, but because he bends it back and forth
whenever he talks to people after church! My Bible looked unstudied, because I
kept it in the blue box in which it had originally been given to me and took it
out only to use it. My badge of distinction was, of course, the deep stains
from the oil on my fingers on the box. This Bible, by the way, was a gift from
the other fundamentalists. They were tired of me using my Revised Standard
Version. They insisted, quietly since they could not prove it, that the only
version of the Bible that was really valid was the English translation that was made in 1611 under the oversight of a
king, King James (who was a closet homosexual and had a lover’s-tunnel built
between his room and that of his male partner.)
Second, consider their unspoken belief
that God has commanded them to be ready
for action. They are legislators, or vote for legislators, who want to
enshrine a special status for fundamentalism, even if not by name, in state
laws. And not just for fundamentalism, but for a whole bushel full of
conservative laws that have no direct and clear connection with fundamentalism.
Take, for example, gun rights. Nearly all fundamentalists believe that
Americans should have nearly unlimited access to firearms. Where did they get
this idea? They cannot show it to you in the Bible. Jesus even told his
disciple Peter to put his sword away because “those who live by the sword shall
die by the sword.” This was clearly meant by Jesus as disapproval of weapons.
At the moment, most fundamentalists
believe that all of their actions should be within the law of the land. But I
would like to point out how tenuous this belief is. It is based upon only a few
scriptures, each of which can be interpreted differently than what fundamentalists
currently believe. Jesus said to render under to Caesar what is Caesar’s, so
they pay their taxes. The Apostle Paul told them to be subject to the
government authorities, so they obey the law. But they all know that there are
limits to this authority. Jesus testified during his trial before Pontius
Pilate that “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, then my servants
would take up arms.” Nevertheless, when the Roman government or its local
subsidiaries commanded Christians to worship Caesar or local gods, they
refused. At some point, a line is crossed.
And it is a moving line. Sometimes the
line moves back. Fundamentalists find themselves spending less and less time
opposing things that they used to consider utterly fundamental, such as racial
segregation in the past and gay rights at the present time. Sometimes, as with
racial segregation, they will even admit that they have learned some things and
that fundamentalists in the past had been wrong. In other cases, as with gay
rights, they still believe the same things they did before but are now
unwilling to make such a big deal about it—so long as gay people stay out of
their churches and don’t teach school and don’t run for public office.
But the line can, under the right
circumstances, move forward. Fundamentalists have immense numbers of firearms
which they claim they will never use against any human who simply disagrees
with them. They want their assault weapons only to play with them, and their
handguns only for self-defense. But they are ready. All that is needed is for
the religious leaders whose commands they follow to say, “The time has come for
us to use those guns.” You think it can never happen, and I hope it can never
happen. But there is nothing to prevent it from happening during a time of
social disruption, when the government that they claim to respect in God’s name
appears to not be functioning in a manner they consider viable. They are ready,
at least many of them are.
Many fundamentalists consider themselves
commanded to be ready for action because
they believe themselves to be personally inerrant. If and when the time comes,
they will not have time to consult a Bible for answers about what to do. Should
they support Texas secession from the Union, as hundreds of thousands of them
now do, or not? Should they oppose government-mandated or even
government-encouraged measures for energy efficiency, or should they continue
to insist that God wants us to burn up all the oil and coal we can, right now,
as millions of them believe? Should they join a militia, as thousands of them
have, or not? And should such a militia take up arms against the government, as
claimed by one local elected official in Texas, or not? The Bible, which they
haven’t read anyway, has no clear answers spelled out to such questions. They
have to use their own judgment which they believe is inerrant, so long as they
hold that Bible up over their heads.
