I keep trying to write something a little controversial, in an attempt to stir up some sort of reaction. Alas, more and more people are unable to formulate their own opinions and arguments. This title is my last, last-ditch effort…
Having been raised in Britain I know well that the term “Christian fundamentalist” over there causes walls to immediately appear from nowhere, and calls to men in white coats to be made. The BBC and other media companies have the monopoly on disinformation, and when the term “fundamentalist” is used by them, its done in such a way as to arouse immediate disgust and fear. The feeling isn’t much different here in the United States. What’s the problem?
The problem, apart from being spiritual, is one of disinformation, suspicion, and lies. Most Brits (and most American leftists) have never met one single Christian fundamentalist-they just know that they hate and distrust them. They’ve been fed all the lies, and here are some of them:
Christian fundamentalists, according to those who hate us, hate everybody. We love guns and want to shoot everyone and then start a nuclear war. We never have any fun. We’re all white Nazi capitalists who hate coloured people, and who are bigoted racists. We have a large streak of insanity which causes us to believe in things we have absolutely no evidence for, and we want to force the world to believe the same way.
Well: what about it-are the suspicions well founded?
In answer, I have to first admit that as in every other corner of humanity, there are some people who give everyone else a bad name, and therefore some professed fundamentalists no doubt do that for the rest of us. But that doesn’t make us all worthy of suspicion and spite.
I don’t hate anyone, because my God tells me to love and to forgive. I do have my own sense of how the world should be and of what is right and what is wrong-but doesn’t everyone? I have no intention of forcing anyone to believe anything. I would, in contrast, love to be able to share what I’ve learned about my God, with anyone who really has an open mind and who isn’t just claiming to have one. I regularly offer on this blog a reasoned defence of my faith, but I have no wish to impose it on anyone, or on any other part of the world. You’re free to read or to not read.
Adolph Hitler’s party was a socialist party-not capitalist. It was the German Democratic Socialist Workers Party, which wanted to closely control all business without actually owning it. Does that sound familiar?
I didn’t have a gun for over thirty years of living in the United States, but after seeing the spread of violent crime against ordinary citizens over the last few years, I decided it was time to be able to defend my family if I really have to. I’ve never shot anyone and I pray that I never will. Brits lost the right to defend themselves a long time ago, and the police just show up to clean up the mess after it’s all happened. That’s how some people want the United States to be.
I’m not a “good” person, but I’m working on it.
I don’t hate people of colour: I love them as much as I love anyone. They’re all my equals. I’m no better than anyone else who lives in any part of the world. Half of the world’s Christians are not white. Christianity isn’t a “white man’s religion”, and Jesus Christ and his disciples were probably middle-brown. Being Jewish, they were hardly likely to be Nazis, were they.
Yes, I believe in borders. My complaint is that our current government allows literally millions of illegal aliens to enter the West and then gives them everything for free-that is, out of the taxes I work hard for. I had to wait for over five years in Britain to obtain a green card, and then I had to sign a form saying that I would not make claims on the social security system of the US. I had to submit to health checks and to background checks.
I have fun at every opportunity. Some of it I could write about…and some of it I should probably keep to myself.
According to Oxford Reference*, fundamentalism, as it relates to Christianity, is defined thus:
A form of Protestant Christianity which upholds belief in the strict and literal interpretation of the Bible, including its narratives, doctrines, prophecies, and moral laws.
Being a fundamentalist means that you believe what you claim to believe: not a bad thing to my mind. I’m very proud to consider myself a fundamentalist. Whereas I once had no convictions or beliefs, I now do. My life has meaning, purpose, reason, direction, stability, a level of integrity, an eternal future, and an anchor for my soul.
Fuel for Faith 