Fundamentalists

We hear so much about fundamentalist Muslim groups in these days. We see a lot in the news about how they fight for Islam to return to a purer, simpler state. But up until recently, the only fundamentalists I’d ever heard about were…us. The fundamentalist Christians. The ones who hung on to an orthodox faith, a belief in a risen Christ who was born of a virgin and did the miracles his disciples claimed he did. But I keep wondering, why are we called fundamentalists like those others who strap bombs to their chests and throw planes into buildings? How can we share this name? I have to admit, it makes me uneasy. What do I share with fundamentalist Muslims who provoke such hatred in my country? Is it that we are both so confident that what we believe is true? Is it that we would die for our faith? Is it that we struggle to maintain orthodoxy in these modern times? This has been bothering me, and Robert and I have gone round and round.

I have been reading a book that gives some explanation. Let me give you some of its ideas and see what you think. Keep in mind that for me Jesus is IT. Period.

Here goes: According to my book, fundamentalism is not a timeless component of this or that religion but a reaction to a perceived threat. So it’s a modern phenomenon. Up until the modern age, people didn’t question their religions. These just were. The book gives this great example of how a tradition can be so taken for granted at one time.  Two queens, Victoria and Eugenie (Empress of France but not born into aristocracy) were at an opera together. They were both regal in their bearing. When Eugenie went to sit down after accepting people’s applause, she looked behind her to see that the chair was there. Victoria did not. She just knew.

What the author says is that in the Modern Age, we still believe the chair (tradition) of religion should be there, but we can no longer take it for granted in our society. Now we have to make sure. Fundamentalism is an attempt to get that taken-for-grantedness back, an attempt to take society back to that golden era when the “state” chair (religion) was never questioned. Of course this is impossible, but fundamentalists are the ones who keep longing, who keep trying and trying.

To do this, fundamentalists make rules for their constituents. First, fundamentalists must have no significant interaction with outsiders because these might alter their view a shade or shake their certainty. Second, fundamentalists allow no doubt. You have to be sure. You must be absolutely confident you are right and not in any need of insight from people outside your tradition. If you start listening or questioning, it means your tradition can't be that taken-for-granted "chair." You see this in fundamentalist Muslim groups. They are fanatically right, and they don’t care to talk to you about it. You are a threat and should be eliminated. Anyone who doubts or questions is a threat and should be taken care of. Violence is an option. "Shoot them before they shoot us."

We condemn this behavior in Muslim terrorists. But when I watch the news, I sure see the same seeds of hatred and violence being sown in our own soil.  Even among Christians.  Are we afraid Jesus will lose ground? Is he only Lord of the past?

I am utterly committed to Jesus as my risen Lord and Savior. I love his miracles and words. I am a missionary for life wherever I happen to live. But I sure don't want to be counted as a fundamentalist if the fruit is such anger, judgment, violence, deafness, isolation, fear, longing for the past, and the idolatry of trusting my own certainty. Somehow it just doesn’t square. I am ashamed.