What Has Become of American Fundamentalism?

voicecrying

voicecrying

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I found this article interesting.
modernreformation.org

What Has Become of American Fundamentalism? - Modern Reformation

The answer to this question depends—not surprisingly—on what we mean by “fundamentalism.” As a religious designation, the term is just over a century old. Yet it never had just one meaning, and over the decades, these principal meanings have changed. So, to avoid confusion, we need to stay alert to…
modernreformation.org modernreformation.org
 
Yes, that was a very good read. I have a few things in mind to comment on, but I'd like your thoughts first. Anything noteworthy stand out to you?
 
ALAYMAN said:
Yes, that was a very good read. I have a few things in mind to comment on, but I'd like your thoughts first. Anything noteworthy stand out to you?
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I laughed a little at the comment that the IFB are one of the few that still keep the name. Other than that, I just found the history interesting. I hated history class in school, but after God saved me, history became interesting.
 
voicecrying said:
I laughed a little at the comment that the IFB are one of the few that still keep the name. Other than that, I just found the history interesting. I hated history class in school, but after God saved me, history became interesting.
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I've never been enamored with a labeling system.... nothing hardly that I hated more than nomenclature in my Organic Chemisty class :LOL:, so the name or lack thereof doesn't really phase me. Matter of fact, I have long held to the truth that I am a Christian first, baptist second, and IFB comes down the line somewhere after that, but people should see Christ, not my pedigree. Having said that, and noting that he was very insightful as he described briefly a history of American Fundamentalism aptly on the whole, one of several notable things he said raised a metaphorical eyebrow...


Evangelical religion has also put down deep roots in such areas, so the conflation of Christianity and these cultural attitudes is not surprising. Perhaps the clearest example is ardent opposition to most limitations on gun ownership, including even assault weapons. Such attitudes would seem difficult to justify from Scripture. Yet the motto of “God and guns” remains compelling and helps solidify political stances that would generally minimize government regulations. A recent example has been opposition to mask-wearing and vaccinations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Two simple objections.

He doesn't support his claim with any Scriptural evidence that gun-rights are antithetical to Christianity (and I realize that he had to truncate his article approriate to fit the centrality of his historicity claims else it would have been another War and Peace), but his tone on this section of the article struck me a bit snobbishly academic.

Secondly, I think his perspective, though much more scholarly and detailed, is similar to the recent video about "an Uncivil War" where a hodgepodge of "evangelicals" were lumped generally into one big basket for the purposes of distorting the political views of them all. It appears to me that he over-generalizes about the impact of (the current state of American Republican) politics on theology. I would say that there is an element of truth to the claim, after all, often times that's how persuasive a mistake or lie can lure people to believe it. But many "fundamentalists" vote the way they do, and participate in the political realm due to their understanding of basic Biblical principles and theological mandates of being "salt and light". We understand that process to occur primarily and most importantly via the spread of the gospel in individual's hearts, but also that the morality of a nation is also within the pale of God's ministry of civically (Romans 13) restraining evil. So my "rugged American individualism" and cultural baggage that may influence my thinking ultimately is subsumed under the authority and Lordship of Christ and His commands. This means that issues of gender (lgbtq+), dignity of life (abortion, euthanasia, "social justice"), and a host of other legislative realities all are important enough for me to not disengage my God-given constitutional rights to impact the culture for the general good of the culture surrounding me.

I find much more in that interesting article to discuss, and hope others read it and join in, but that's enough for starters.:giggle:
 
It's basically a good article. I have the first volume of Martin Marty's "Fundamentalism Project" which Marsden mentioned - it's called "Fundamentalisms Observed," and it makes it clear that there are extremists and loonies and "fundies" in all religious movements - Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Shintoists, etc. The human tendency to go to extremes on religious belief is by no means a monopoly of conservative Protestants.

Marsden seems to question the way Protestant fundamentalists have aligned themselves so closely with Trump. I voted for Trump, but personally I think it is unwise for us as fundies to identify too closely with him. I am concerned that if we make the upcoming November 2022 elections a referendum on allegiance to Trump, rather than on basic conservative principles, we may make it harder for conservative candidates to win.

Slight correction. In 2017, the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International changed its name to Foundations Baptist Fellowship International, not Baptist Fellowship International as stated by Marsden. However, "Frontline," the official FBFI publication, still uses the old name Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International, which is a bit confusing.

Foundations Baptist Fellowship International | Contending for the Faith Once Delivered (fbfi.org)
 
illinoisguy said:
It's basically a good article. I have the first volume of Martin Marty's "Fundamentalism Project" which Marsden mentioned - it's called "Fundamentalisms Observed," and it makes it clear that there are extremists and loonies and "fundies" in all religious movements - Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Shintoists, etc. The human tendency to go to extremes on religious belief is by no means a monopoly of conservative Protestants.

Marsden seems to question the way Protestant fundamentalists have aligned themselves so closely with Trump. I voted for Trump, but personally I think it is unwise for us as fundies to identify too closely with him. I am concerned that if we make the upcoming November 2022 elections a referendum on allegiance to Trump, rather than on basic conservative principles, we may make it harder for conservative candidates to win.

Slight correction. In 2017, the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International changed its name to Foundations Baptist Fellowship International, not Baptist Fellowship International as stated by Marsden. However, "Frontline," the official FBFI publication, still uses the old name Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International, which is a bit confusing.

Foundations Baptist Fellowship International | Contending for the Faith Once Delivered (fbfi.org)
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As the saying goes, "I held my nose and punched the card" for Trump. My vote is not for a pastor, but a president, and all things considered, the reasons that evangelicals often vote for conservatives is based on moral values and at the top of that is abortion. In that regard, Trump did exactly what he said he would and appointed conservative judges to the Supreme Court, and the tide against abortion has obviously taken a huge turn in favor of the sanctity of life. Religious liberty is another value that Trump secured during his tenure, and those liberties are now once again under assault. These are but a few reasons why evangelicals/fundamentalists align their politics with those that usually run under the Republican ticket. That doesn't mean that we ignore the other elements of a candidate's unsavory character, but rather that we ultimately choose a candidate of the lesser of two evils, and in that respect there's no comparison as to what the other side of the aisle will do morally to this country.
 
ALAYMAN said:
As the saying goes, "I held my nose and punched the card" for Trump. My vote is not for a pastor, but a president, and all things considered, the reasons that evangelicals often vote for conservatives is based on moral values and at the top of that is abortion. In that regard, Trump did exactly what he said he would and appointed conservative judges to the Supreme Court, and the tide against abortion has obviously taken a huge turn in favor of the sanctity of life. Religious liberty is another value that Trump secured during his tenure, and those liberties are now once again under assault. These are but a few reasons why evangelicals/fundamentalists align their politics with those that usually run under the Republican ticket. That doesn't mean that we ignore the other elements of a candidate's unsavory character, but rather that we ultimately choose a candidate of the lesser of two evils, and in that respect there's no comparison as to what the other side of the aisle will do morally to this country.
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in my experience it hasn;t been much different when choosing a pastor.. or a church with a pastor
i trust more than i would another one.... than it has been with choosing a president or some other
politician.... in both cases it came down to choosing the one who appeared less likely to be in it
for themselves or to be following some radical agenda or false ideology.... i ended up choosing a
church that had dug up a cemetery and stored the bones in the sanctuary basement over one that
had decided to begin performing gay weddings in their sanctuary because while one causes me
personally some discomfort the other is an abomination to God... ....... and it was the same
when i voted for donald trump... ..he said a lot of things that made me uncomfortable. but
the other choices were far greater evils...... or weevils.... as it were...



the lesser of two weevils..... .

 
aleshanee said:
in my experience it hasn;t been much different when choosing a pastor.. or a church with a pastor
i trust more than i would another one.... than it has been with choosing a president or some other
politician.... in both cases it came down to choosing the one who appeared less likely to be in it
for themselves or to be following some radical agenda or false ideology.... i ended up choosing a
church that had dug up a cemetery and stored the bones in the sanctuary basement over one that
had decided to begin performing gay weddings in their sanctuary because while one causes me
personally some discomfort the other is an abomination to God... ....... and it was the same
when i voted for donald trump... ..he said a lot of things that made me uncomfortable. but
the other choices were far greater evils...... or weevils.... as it were...



the lesser of two weevils..... .

Click to expand...
People often have to compromise some of their belief structures in whatever worship sphere they operate in, but it is the degree to which you have to compromise that is often the backbreaker. I still remember reading that John Gill, the great calvinist icon, could not get along with anybody regarding his obsessive view of his own beliefs in calvinism, so much so that he spent the end of his years not worshiping with anybody in a corporate sense. Each person has to determine for themselves the level of their own ecumenical compromise and/or toleration.
 
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