Welcome to Question Fundamentalism.
This website is a space for honest conversation. We explore the possible fallacies and dangers of fundamentalism and give fundamentalists a clear voice to argue for, and thoughtfully consider, their belief system.
Common Ground
We have two beliefs that we suspect most people reading this will share.
#1 - There is a glorious creativity at work (at play) in the universe. There was a time when orchids and elephants and emperor penguins didn’t exist and now they (astonishingly) exist! How did that happen?! Whether you refer to that creative energy as “God”, or by the name of a specific deity, or in terms of evolution and laws of physics and biology… there is something going on here that we want to be a part of. We want to consciously resonate with, and participate in, the ongoing creation of the cosmos. We could refer to this cosmic creative energy as “the Creator”.
#2 There is a flow throughout human history, felt more strongly in some times and places than in others, that moves from the realm of the Natural or Base (self-preservation / greed / fear / othering / hate / xenophobia / bigotry, etc) towards the Supernatural or Transcendent (empathy / kindness / peace / harmony / LOVE). We want to go with THAT flow! We want to create that movement. That movement could be called Spirit, but it could have many names. In the midst of turbulence and competing currents, we want to search for, see, feel, listen to, and move with Spirit.
Proposed Dangers of Fundamentalism
Is fundamentalism purely a force of good in the world? Or could there be dangers inherent in fundamentalism (both in the way fundamentalists think and what fundamentalists think) that outweigh its benefits?
The WAY fundamentalists think:
“Being raised in a fundamentalist home and during my thirty+ years in fundamentalist communities (including Taylor University and Wheaton College), I was subtly, yet rigorously, trained to latch onto ideas and leaders and then to meticulously avoid any outside conflicting information. It was seen as a virtue to make promises like: ‘There is absolutely nothing that could ever change my belief or diminish my faith.’ I was taught to only read/watch/listen to church-approved sources and to avoid ‘non-Christian’ sources. I and my peers would endlessly recite verses about shielding ourselves from the influence of ‘the world’ (meaning: any outside influences)”.
If it is a virtue to believe something NO-MATTER-WHAT, how much more virtuous is it to hold onto that belief in the face of mounting evidence against it? Can you see how that trained way of thinking could be problematic in our society?
WHAT fundamentalists think:
Fundamentalist ways of thinking lead to flawed and harmful beliefs. One example is the eschatological belief and hope that our planet will be destroyed very soon. Many Christian fundamentalists pray that these world-burning ‘end times’ would occur during their own lifetimes. Now, if God does really want to destroy this planet and create a “new heavens and a new earth”, then let’s all get on board with that idea and do our part to cooperate. But, if the Bible is actually the poetic product of ancient cultures (and not the infallible words of an omnipotent God), then it most certainly would NOT be wise or loving for us to eagerly usher in the destruction of the world. Let’s give this topic the rigorous debate it deserves and think about how we can move forward together.
Christian Fundamentalism defined:
The essence of Christian fundamentalism is a belief that the collection of ancient texts we now call “the Bible” is the exact, infallible, inherent, words of the Creator of the cosmos. There are hundreds of Christian fundamentalist church denominations in the USA alone (many thousands world-wide). Although they disagree with each other on a wide variety of topics and issues, they all share the common belief that the Bible is the inspired, infallible, inherent words of God.
How important is the doctrine of “divine inspiration”? For fundamentalists, this doctrine is THE foundation for how to think and what to think. Those of us who were fundamentalists (or are still fundamentalists) know the power of the adjective “biblical”. We were immersed in language like “I believe [xyz] because it’s biblical”, “I will do [xyz] because the Bible tells me to”, “I go to [xyz] church because it’s Bible-based”, “Wow, I love his sermons - he really preaches the Bible”, “I support [xyz] organization because they hold a high view of Scripture”…
So, is it true? Is the Bible the inspired infallible words of God? Why do so many people believe that it is? These are some of the questions we will discuss on this website. We will be arguing that the Bible is NOT the infallible words of God. However, we welcome your most cogent counter-arguments. We are open to changing our perspective based on persuasive logic, data, and evidence.
We LOVE fundamentalists
We, the founders of Question Fundamentalism, were all fundamentalists ourselves. We believe that the vast majority of fundamentalists are deeply good, kind, and loving people. They, like ourselves, were first drawn to fundamentalism by a desire for truth, beauty, and loving community.
We know that this website is provocative - it’s meant to be. (We want to stir up conversation so that we can all move toward what is true, good, and beautiful…even if that means our eventual return to fundamentalism). But underneath all the provocation is a deep love and respect for our fundamentalist neighbors, friends, and family.
Inspiration of the Bible
For the record, we love the way many theologians view the Bible as human (fallible) stories about spiritual evolution and expanding experiences of God. In that context, even the most gruesome biblical passages can often be seen as part of a beautiful forward progression. Much wisdom can be gleaned and the flow of Spirit can be felt. But when we view the Bible as the exact and infallible words of God, we perfectly train our brains to accept / follow / worship an idea or leader unquestioningly and NO MATTER WHAT.
When someone joins a fundamentalist group, they are first introduced to the beautiful and wise biblical passages about loving others as ourselves and passages that declare God IS Love. Later, when they discover the “difficult” passages or the “hard” teachings of the Bible, they are told to dismiss any questions that arise in their hearts and to pacify themselves with mantras like “God’s ways are higher than our own” or “These are the words of the infinite God and sometimes our finite minds can’t fully understand them”.
We, here at Question Fundamentalism, take a different stance. When the Bible says that “God” commands
genocide,
rape,
slavery,
misogyny,
and forced abortion,
we do not think it is a sign of moral deficiency when you wonder, “Wait a minute, did the Creator of galaxies, atoms, and eyelashes really just command those men to rape all those young girls?” In fact, we encourage you, PLEASE glean wisdom from any passage (in any book) that promotes compassion, harmony, and love and reject any teaching (in any book) that promotes terror, selfishness, and elitism.
When the Bible says that God commands genocide, rape, slavery, misogyny, forced abortion, and a host of other evils, you can either say to yourself “That’s difficult to understand, but the Bible says it, so it must be true” or you can declare: “THAT passage (maybe that whole book) is a hideous slander against the Creator of the universe. A wise God who is Love obviously did NOT command that, so that passage clearly was not inspired by God.” Please, read these ancient texts with curiosity about what we can learn from history, read them for their beautiful poetry and classic stories… but don’t read them as words from an eternal, omniscient God.
We’re not advocating for Atheism
We are absolutely not asking you to give up your belief in God or in a Higher Power. We are not even asking you to give up Christianity (We believe there is great power in prayer. We believe that it is profoundly healthy to engage in a regular spiritual practice of connecting with the Divine). We are merely asking you to honestly question the true authorship and nature of the Bible. That could be the first step in exercising deeper Spiritual muscles and dropping the crutches of fundamentalism.
The life-cycle of Fundamentalism
The cycle usually goes something like this:
1. Conversion - A person converts to fundamentalism, drawn in by the loving embrace of a friend or community, and is comforted by the “God is love” passages in the Bible.
2. Honeymoon stage - In a euphoric enjoyment of their new "knowledge", they zealously live by the fundamentalist handbook, possibly marry another fundamentalist and raise zealous children, and evangelize, evangelize, evangelize…
3. Deconstruction - At some point they will finally read (honestly read) the “difficult” passages of the Bible and be forced to reconsider their fundamentalist beliefs.
The time between Conversion and Deconstruction can be many years and often the cycle doesn’t complete in one person’s lifetime. Our goal at Question Fundamentalism is to speed up the cycle. Let’s skip ahead and start talking about the “difficult passages” RIGHT NOW.