Christian Fundamentalists must explain their beliefs
This will be short, but I need to say something in regard to Barack Obama and James Dobson's comments on the Bible and religion. If you are a Fundamentalist, that means you believe EVERYTHING in the Bible is literal and without error. How is that possible? "An eye for an eye" or "turn the other cheek"? Stoning for adultery or remembering that we are without sin? It's impossible as far as I am concerned. The Bible is a guide on how to treat your neighbor and if we as Christians need to start applying the Bible to our own lives. However, we do not have a right to enforce every Biblical principle on others (I may have said this in previous blogs). And most Christians certainly don't take everything in the Bible literally. It's time for Fundamentalists to explain themselves!
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Would you pay attention if they did?
In my experience, even self-identifying "fundamentalists" are far more nuanced in their view of scriptural inerrancy and authority than you would make it seem. It's always easy to reduce an opposing view to the point of absurdity, but it usually doesn't accomplish anything but to rehash the same old tired stereotypes. The challenge you are raising is based on a bogus caricature of fundamentalism, and I'd be highly surprised if you found anyone who found it worthy of their refutation, because doing so would require them to submit to your notion of what they are supposedly all about. If you really wanted to engage in this discussion, you would have to speak to Dobson directly, instead of waging your campaign via the media (and the media's depiction of Dobson). And your chances of getting a response would be far better if you took him up on a specific point that he himself made, instead of forcing him to address your preconceptions.
thank you for extending grace
Phrantic Phriar,
Welcome to CrossLeft and thank you for your gracious comments.
As a self-identified fundamentalist and evangelical and also a proud supporter of Senator Obama's bid for the presidency, I would have to say that I found Dobson's comments shallow and believe that they evaded the core challenge Barack was setting forth to the status quo of the evangelical political agenda.
To Kristie's comments, I would say that her statement "[fundamentalists] believe EVERYTHING in the Bible is literal and without error" is in part false.
Fundamentalists do not believe that everything in the Bible is literal. We do NOT believe that everything in the Bible is literal. We do try to understand as much as we can in a literal sense, but the Bible is clearly a literary work that utilizes metaphor and poetry and a wide range of literary devises. We believe it is a living text through which God can reveal new things. We also believe that certain things in the Bible are culturally bound while others transcend cultures. The means of discerning these subtle textual aspects is nuanced and can be difficult, but I believe that there is sound reasoning behind it.
Our aim is to discover God's truth so that we can apply it to our lives. I am critical of my fundamentalist kin not for holding to these doctrines, but rather for being unduly prideful thinking that their method of understanding scripture is so well conceived that it justifies their efforts to impose it on others through coercive laws.
David