Reply #122: But that's not what fundamentalism is in this country [View All]

[markus]

I did read the article before my initial reply. It's a lovely statement of faith that would not be out of place in my former (Catholic) church. However, it ignores that the overwhelming majority of Xian fundamentalists believe (rightly or wrongly) in a literal application of the Old Testmanent and the non-Gospel portions of the New Testament as the only basis for a socieity. (I was going to say a civil society, but I would argue they don't want or believe in one, as much as they demand "majority rule" on their agneda).

If you are suggesting that because someone is what I will instead call an Xian originalist I would be unable to speak with them, that's ridiculous. That description of fundamentalism basically describes all of the faithful Xians I know, not the commonly accepted definition of fumdamentalists.

It's all very nice to write an article about how the terms are all wrong. Of course they are. But if fundamentalism and evangelicalism are conventient sticks with which to beat the enemies of our country--foreign and domesstic--then I'm going to take it up and use it.

I've had the same basic discussion about the term "evangelical", with people who get upset that I would like to see it equated with "bigot" and "hate". Yes, I don't think your average member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America walking around Fargo is a hateful bigot. But the situation we have is that Dr. Dobson and Rev. Falwell et al command the public's attention, not good Democrats in the ELCA who might well be Xian "fundamentalists".

There argument (and yours) is not with me. It's with your church and the larger community of Xians. Tossing the Pharisees out of your temple is your business, and I understand it is part of the charge you accept as a Xian.

Until you succeed, I will continue to attack the fundamentally unAmerican views of the self-styled fundamentalists and evangelicals who can command space in the MSM. I am sorry if it offends you, but it can't be helped until the Falwels and Dobson's are driven back under the rocks from whence they came.