Definition of Fundamentalism
by Edward T. Babinski
MICHAEL: "What is YOUR definition of 'fundamentalism' as related to Christianity?"
ED: You will find "Christian fundamentalism" defined in the first two chapters of my book Leaving the Fold, but here's some additional observations:
FUNDAMENTALISTS
To a lot of fundamentalists, God's love just isn't any fun unless you can find somebody else to deny it to.
- Bruce Bawer, Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity
Nowadays the "universalistic" Buddhists and "universalistic" Christians and "universalistic" Moslems feel closer to one another than they feel to the fundamentalists within their own religious traditions. And the fundamentalists of each tradition can't even get along with the other fundamentalists of that same tradition.
- Brother Steindal-Rast, "The Monk is a Radical," The Laughing Man, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1981
When the apostle Paul departed for Palestine his Christian brethren "all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him" (Acts 20:37), obeying a sacred command found in the New Testament:
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
- 1 Corinthians 16:20 & 2 Corinthians 13:12
Salute one another with a holy kiss.
- Romans 16:16
Greet one another with a kiss of charity.
- 1 Peter 5:14
Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:26
So why isn't there a "Church of the Holy Kiss?" There's "Foot Washing Baptists" and even "Snake Handling Baptists," who take their cue from more obscure and less well attested Biblical commands. But there are no "Holy Kissing Baptists?" I guess fundamentalists won't follow certain commands even if God tells them to.
- E.T.B.
YOU MIGHT BE A FUNDAMENTALIST IF?
?you belong to a Christian weight-lifting team.
?you think the Bhagavad Gita is an Italian sports car.
?you believe the ancient Israelites were great scientists.
- Neal Kelsey ( http://www.religion4now.com )
Most fundamentalists wish to serve God, but only in an advisory capacity.
- E. T. B.
Eternal rewards can't possibly make up for a lifetime spent conforming to Southern Baptist rules.
- Jayelle Lukash
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