Fundamentalist Assumptions

Andrew McFarland > Blog > Fundamentalist Assumptions

July 31, 2007

The other day someone asked me about Christian fundamentalism.

This kind of surprised me - because I'm not a Christian fundamentalist.

When I was a student, I noticed that all the student rooms had beige walls. This meant that each student could personalise his or her room with posters, pictures, duvet colours and such, and you could be confident that the colours wouldn't clash with the walls. About the same time, I realised that I have a beige wall personality. Just as beige walls will look OK with posters of any hue, my personality doesn't seem to clash with assumptions of any type, so when people make assumptions about me, they tend to stick.

I don't currently belong to any organised church, but the denomination I used to belong to, the Christadelphians, did attract a large proportion of fundamentalist-types. A lot of what I have written on this site is fairly academic, like my article on long hair and the Bible. These two facts, coupled with my beige wall personality, could make me come across as a fundamentalist-type.

A couple of other beige-compatible assumptions that people have made about me:

I never mind when people make assumptions about me - and a few minutes later the guy who thought I was a Christian fundamentalist paid me the greatest compliment I have ever had. Occasionally I do feel the urge to clarify who I am though. So, here goes: I'm definitely not an orthodox Jew (which should be obvious, but, hey, who knows), any other body modifications are my own business (you'll have to keep assuming about that one), and I'm not a Christian fundamentalist.

Christian fundamentalism, with its unquestioning acceptance of literal readings of parts of the Bible (often literal readings of translations rather than the originals themselves) is something I find quite scary, and certainly very boring. I love to think. I love to question assumptions. I love to question beliefs and ideas, be they religious, scientific, technological, or any other category. Although we can't question every belief, idea, or assumption, I'm not happy holding any idea that cannot be questioned, assuming I had the time to question it. When I did my degree (in physics) I learned the importance of being aware of your assumptions, and questioning them even if they lead to to correctly predict the results of experiments.

I believe that questioning beliefs is more important in religion than it is in science, because people's religious beliefs have a much greater impact on the people around them than their scientific beliefs do.

I do have well-defined beliefs about what the Bible teaches, and much to the consternation of the Mike Kragmans of the world, those beliefs are still compatible with me being Christadelphian. But I love to investigate those beliefs, find their weak points, try to destroy them, find better, more sound beliefs to replace them. I don't believe I have all the answers; I'm not even sure I have all the questions. In my mind at least, this makes me the very opposite of a fundamentalist Christian.

Comments

Posted by: David Perkins on September 15, 2007 06:37 PM

I stumbled upon your website looking for comments about the healing at the Bethesda pool. I'm so glad I did. You and I believe and think very much alike. And here I thought I was somewhat alone in my way of thinking and believing about Jesus Christ.
Love
David
(In Fort Worth, Texas, USA, by the way. Where are you in the UK?)

Posted by: Andy on September 21, 2007 03:16 PM

It seems that you are a Necker cube. Sometimes it looks like you are above looking down, other times that you are below, looking up. The brain is only able to hold one perception at a time, but each view is equally valid and equally false.

We are all prejudice, so to avoid making errors of judgement we are required to constantly evaluate our assumptions. Unlike yourself, many people do not realise this and with the best of intentions label themselves as "Not racist" or "Not sexist" etc But by denying this part of themselves, that is exactly what they become. For if "I am not racist" then how could what I say be racist?

To me the problem lies with the fact that we are taught from a young age what we "should do" or "should be" without an understanding of the underlying forces - we are not taught "how to do" or "how to be".

Know that you are not alone and that I, like everyone, has been misjudged and will continue to be misjudged. This is because in our daily lives we encounter many people who we know little about, but still we have to make decisions about how to interact with them. Perhaps a strange analogy, but imagine if we were to give a Lion the benefit of the doubt instead of assuming that it was going to eat us and running away. We'd all end up as food, even if 9/10 times the Lion just wanted to say hello!

Posted by: TONY MANSFIELD on October 2, 2007 01:48 PM

HI. I ENJOYED A QUICK SCAN OF YOUR TOPICS I FIND IT FUNNY THAT THE AUTHOR AND PIONEER OF OUR FAITH THE LORD JESUS ETC IS SO LITTLE MENTIONED IN MY CHD CIRCLES & AS WE OUGHT TO GIVE THE MORE EARNEST HEED TO HIM (HEB1) LEAST WE LET THEM SLIP(HIS APPLICATION TO THE DISADVANTAGED) . SO LITTLE IS MENTIONED ABOUT THE PRACTICAL OUT WORKING OF HIM IN OUR LIFE( SORT OF HOME BRAND JESUS) WHICH WAS MENTIONED IN YOUR ARTICLE ON SODOM. ARROGANCE FORGETTING THE POOR ETC . "I AM THE WAY THE TRUTH & THE LIFE" I AM THE TRUTH HE SAID WHICH IS A PRACTICAL OUTWORKING OF THE KNOWLEDGE NOT THE KNOWLEDGE. A WORKMAN , ALL DENOMINATIONS ARE SO MIDDLE CLASS. IT IS HARD TO GET OUT THERE WHERE THE RUBBER HITS THE ROAD . SOME OVER HERE IN QLD HAVE BEEN DOING ACTIVE WORK WITH THE DRUG EFFECTED COMMUNITY & LOTS HAVE NOW UNDERSTOOD THE DARKNESS OF INFLICTED 'DEPRESSION" ERA TEACHING WHO CONTINUE TO SAY THE OLD DAYS ARE BETTER THAN THESE ARE HAVE BEGUN TO FIND JOY AND RELEASE THAT IS AVAILABLE IN ABIDING IN OUR SAVIOUR . DOING LOVING WORKS COS WE HAVE BEEN SAVED , NOT THE DEMANDS BANDYED IN ORDER TO BE SAVED .TODAY IS THE DAY OF SALVATION IF WE HEAR HIS VOICE. IN HIM IS NO SIN .OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS AS FILTHY RAGS , NOT OUR SINS , OUR RIGHTEOUNESS IT IS ALL ABOUT JESUS. BLESS YOU.

Posted by: Matt on December 12, 2007 03:37 PM

I appreciate the sentiment behind this statement you wrote.-------

'I believe that questioning beliefs is more important in religion than it is in science, because people's religious beliefs have a much greater impact on the people around them than their scientific beliefs do.'-------

Our church holds a community event called Grab A Brew Share Your View (www.grababrew.com) at a local bar each month. It attracts the gamut of religious and non-religious; in fact we co-host it with a "Freethinkers" group from the local college, many of whom are Atheist. We have discovered that most of the non-religious are really pissed off that Fundamentalist Christians do not tolerate the questioning of their beliefs. The event has been a wonderful stepping stone for connecting the church back to the culture.