Forward
Fundamentalism (American Heritage Dictionary.)"1. A usually religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism.
2.
1. often Fundamentalism An organized, militant Evangelical movement originating in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century in opposition to Protestant Liberalism and secularism, insisting on the inerrancy of Scripture.
2. Adherence to the theology of this movement."
This book serves as a warning, a memorial, and a morality tale about the perils of the fundamentalist culture with regards to the development of children.
From the age of six onward I was exposed to the most rigid and total Evangelical Christian thinking of the era. I spent my mornings singing Christian songs, my textbooks were laced with Christian propaganda, and my transcripts were influenced by my ability to recite verses from the King James version of the bible.
When you read these tales and observations, understand that not all of my experiences were negative. There were many positive aspects to growing up in a culture with such rigid ideals and values. This book will be an excercise in portraying evenly the positive and the negative without dwelling solely on what went wrong.
I have struggled, these past few years, to find a reason and a means to express these ideas and experiences, and I believe my stories can be defended with this in mind: we now live in an era when religious fundamentalism violently threatens each and every person in the world. Ideologies and theologies are now adhered to so strictly, that deviation from dogmatic precepts is seen to necessitate martial retribution. In an age where religion, fundamentalism, and politics are so fully intertwined, an understanding of what fundamentalism does to children and how that will affect society has great value.
Finally, a word on the format of this book:
In the Shadow of Fundamentalism is published in an online format. The reason for my choice of format comes from the fact that it will allow the small band of friends I have from those days to interract and participate in the creation of the manuscript. Stage by stage, as this text is written, more voices than my own can be heard. By speaking in chorus each of us can tell give our unique experiences and observations, and by working together I believe we can make the world understand more about the dangers of violent fundamentalist application.
Please read what follows with an open mind, and with the understanding that not all men who have faith wish to be among the Faithful. Not all of us with beliefs can hate those who do not believe in unison. Faith and Religion are two very different animals, our stories prove this to be true.
posted by NY Monk @ 2:32 PM
5 Comments:
Nice, yet another blog from Mr. Ballie. Make up your damn mind sir.
I smell big big trouble. I'll just stand by and lauph and mock.
Sweet. I was just thinking of the Old Man this morning. I hadn’t really thought about him in a while. I think it's important to note that our brand of Fundamentalism was "Charismatic" that is, based in the culture that arose from adherence to "The Fundamentals" but as it was interpreted by a single “charismatic authority” who derived his authority from the inaudible speaking of the “Charisma” – “Spirit” of God. We were Charismatic twice over. Hallelujah, raise your hands. We didn’t call ourselves “fundamentalists,” we were “Spirit Led.” Remember that? And yet, for the most part, the Spirit toed the line with the Fundamentals. Wee-owd. Let’s follow the loop: how did you know if something was right or wrong? – The Spirit told you. How did you know if it was the Spirit? – You submitted it to the Authority and the Authority would pronounce it right or wrong. How did you know that the Authority was correct? – The Spirit told you. How did you know it was the Spirit? – You submitted it to the Authority… (of course, if you got that far down the chain, you probably were "meant for another place of worship") Our Authority was given as the Bible and the Spirit. They never admitted to a single “charismatic authority” that was a fallible human, but isn’t it amazing how something as complex as the Bible and ineffable as the Spirit always followed the dictates of the Old Man. – Hey, where’s Elder Joe?
Okay. Here's a really long one that I just spent, like, five hours on, hoping to corral That Thing which is the Church of Our Youth into something comprehensable. Time for beer.
The Nature of the Church of Our Youth:
1. Spiritual – this indicates a belief in the supernatural, as opposed to a materialist who believes that what we experience is the sum total of existence, or an agnostic who believes that whether or not the supernatural exists, it is beyond our powers of knowing
2. Christian – this indicates a belief that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the only begotten Son of the only God, who created all that exists
3. Nicene – this indicates a belief that Jesus was both God and man, as opposed to a Gnostic who believes that Jesus was only God or a Humanist who believes that Jesus was only man
4. Protestant – this indicates the that one is Christian but not accepting the authority of the Roman Catholic or Orthodox Churches
5. Evangelical – this indicates that one becomes a Christian by an act of free will as opposed to the Reformed who believes that this is predetermined by God (note: this is a very controversial interpretation of the word, but it does have previous precident)
6. Fundamentalist – this indicates that there are certain beliefs that one must hold in order to be “saved” or a “true Christian,” among (but certainly not limited to) these are the “Five Fundamentals:”
1. The inerrancy of Scripture
2. The virgin birth and deity of Jesus
3. The doctrine of substitution atonement through God’s grace (which basically holds that the reason Jesus died was to fulfill the requirements of a supernatural contract that stipulated that if you did what you were told, you would go to heaven, but if you didn’t you would go to hell and the result of Jesus’ death was that instead of “doing” to be saved, you now only had to “believe” to be saved)
4. The bodily resurrection of Jesus
5. The Authenticity of Christ’s Miracles
7. Charismatic – this indicates a belief that an individual can have direct contact with the Christian divinity and that the proof of this contact are the “gifts” or “charis” of the Holy Spirit: glossolalia (speaking in tongues), healing, visions, prophecy, and other miracles of supposed supernatural origin.
8. Non-denominational – this indicates that while certain “fundamentals” may always remain the same, one must remain flexible to the “movings of the Spirit” e.g. – one week it may not be right to own or watch a TV, but, if the Spirit wills, it may be right, perhaps even required, the next week
9. Pastoral Church – this indicates that the “movings of the Spirit” are to be divined and regulated by a single person, as opposed to a congregational church where dogma is decided by a vote of members, or a church council where it is decided by a group of elders
Damnit. I just realized that both "Spiritual" and "Nicene" were implied by "Fundamentalist." Scratch them from the list.
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