I’m surprised to hear that. I’ll have to find that article and read it, because Harris is one atheist who has in the past been particularly outspoken in his lack of respect for moderates of any religion.

yeah, me too. that’s my main beef with him

Sam Harris talked about it in an interesting piece called Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks. He said that instead of being afraid of offending fundamentalists, we must support moderates who condemn radicals, particularly within Islam.

I’m surprised to hear that. I’ll have to find that article and read it, because Harris is one atheist who has in the past been particularly outspoken in his lack of respect for moderates of any religion.

The problem, as I see it: There are many good-intentioned (”not-mean”) fundamentalist Christians who believe that “obeying Scripture” means substituting “the foolishness of man” (their own best, humane instincts) for “God’s wisdom” (Christian doctrine, which is “mean”). In doing this, they become complicit in the meanness; the assault on the rights of gay people, for example, wouldn’t be successful without the participation of many not-mean Christians, casting mean votes at the ballot box, donating lots of money to “pro-family” organizations, like Focus on the Family, AFA, etc.

Just my take.

Actually, that’s not true. They will probably insist that they are going back to what the early church — before Catholicism — was like, taking examples from the book of Acts. But between then and the 19th or 20th century, true Christianity was wiped out by the Catholic church (Orthodoxy) and its been a slow journey back to the real truth ever since the reformation.

Exactly. That’s what we were taught in the fundamentalist churches I attended. We were the “true” Christians, a return to the churches of Acts, and ready to be raptured at any moment.

Also, most fundamentalists have no clue about the history of their own movement. They simply assume that all true Christians have believed as they do forever. Heck, they will start off by denying that they are fundamentalists, because they don’t even know what the word means. All they know is that it has a negative association in today’s culture.

The good part of all this political pastor nonsense (starting with Rev. Wright) is that the most extreme beliefs and nutty viewpoints of religious leaders are getting wider attention than they ever have before. In my mind, that’s a great thing. Seeing Rod Parsley and John Hagee ranting on the national news is bound to send more average Joe Americans away from religion.

But they’ll just insist that the things they believe are what most Christians have believed for most of the past two millennia.

Actually, that’s not true. They will probably insist that they are going back to what the early church — before Catholicism — was like, taking examples from the book of Acts. But between then and the 19th or 20th century, true Christianity was wiped out by the Catholic church (Orthodoxy) and its been a slow journey back to the real truth ever since the reformation.

When most people talk about fundamentalists, they’re usually not referring to specific beliefs, but the degree of assholishness with which they’re held.

My cousin used to use the word, “assholic”.

If you want to screw with those left behind nuts just tell them that they fall outside the Christian tradition because their theology was unknown until the 1800’s.

But they’ll just insist that the things they believe are what most Christians have believed for most of the past two millennia.

If you want to screw with those left behind nuts just tell them that they fall outside the Christian tradition because their theology was unknown until the 1800’s.