Question:
Dear Greg,
I
have read the Jan-Feb 2002 issue of the Plain Truth and found the article
entitled “Fundamentalism: Breeding Ground for Fanaticism?” very unsettling
and more than a little unfair to those who call themselves Fundamental
Christians. From what I gathered
from the article, it seemed like the article was comparing the Taliban to the
Independent Bible Fundamentalists that are in our country.
I understand that you did not write the article, but I am wondering how
the two can be compared when they are totally different?
It seems like the writer of the article does not know what a true Bible
Fundamentalist believes. With that
in mind, that will create confusion to those who don’t know.
I will not get into everything, but on the last page of the article he
equates David Koresh and Jim Jones with Bible Fundamentalists.
These men were not, in any way, representatives of a true Bible
Fundamentalist. A Fundamentalist,
by definition, is one who believes in “The Fundamentals”, which are:
1.
The Virgin Birth
2.
Substitutionary Atonement of Christ
3.
Deity of Christ
4.
Inerrancy of the Scriptures, etc.
This
article would tend to make anyone who reads it think that all people who call
What
do you think about this article and subject?
Thank you for your time in discussing this subject and for reading my
E-mail.
Mike
Answer: Dear Mike,
To
be fair, it seems that you have not read the article carefully.
The writer did not talk about “Bible Fundamentalists” but about
fundamentalism and about violent and fanatical extremes of fundamentalism.
He wrote, and we printed, a sidebar on page 13 of the issue in question
which details the “Origin of Christian Fundamentalism.”
The
article did not address, not did it disagree with the tenets of fundamentalism,
commonly listed in the book, first published in 1917, titled “The
Fundamentals” (for more details see the sidebar).
I am familiar with this book, as is the author.
I studied the book and its articles in graduate school.
The
article instead addressed a political/philosophical movement that is often
compounded by religion—whether we are speaking of Jews, Christians, Muslims,
Hindus, etc. All religions have
extremes of fundamentalism—often crossing the boundaries of that religion and
changing the direction and intent of that religion.
One does not need to be religious, on the other hand, to be a
fundamentalist (in the political/philosophical sense that the article
addressed)—but the fact is that many are.
And,
the author effectively pointed out that Muslim extremists are not the only ones
who become unbalanced and do some silly, crazy and illegal things.
The
fundamental truths of Christianity are another subject.
In fact, the fundamental, historically orthodox truths of Christianity
are consistently taught, reinforced and supported in the many media outreaches
of PTM.
In
Christ,
Greg
Albrecht