XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: donnellaf@gmail.com   
      
   Graham Lockwood wrote:   
    > On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 21:38:31 -0500, Andrew F. Donnell wrote   
    > {snip}   
    >   
    >>That brings me to a rant about the word fundamentalism: I don't like the   
    >>word "fundamentalism" because the defining characteristics of a   
    >>fundamentalist are things that go far beyond the fundamentals of   
    >>Christianity.  In so labeling these people, it impugns those of us who   
    >>*do* adhere to the fundamentals of Christianity, namely, to love the   
    >>Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your   
    >>neighbor as yourself, without the baggage that the word "fundamentalist"   
    >>carries.  Perhaps this is a subtlety not worth quibbling over, but I   
    >>think it does cloud people's perceptions, just like racial slurs and   
    >>other prejudicial terms--it makes it easier to dismiss a diverse   
    >>community of people, and to dismiss the fundamentals of Christianity on   
    >>pretexts that really don’t have much to do with the fundamentals of   
    >>Christianity.   
    >   
    > {snip}   
    >   
    > While I mostly agree with this, those labeled as "fundamentalists"   
    > (self-labeled or otherwise) generally do believe that their beliefs stem   
    > directly from the Bible.   
      
   Indeed, but the beliefs that define the fundamentalists (self-labeled or   
   otherwise) are, almost invariably, beliefs that arise from contentious   
   and much-debated interpretations of the Bible, and should not considered   
   the fundamentals of Christianity (and calling them as such gives an   
   undue sense of textual support to those who adhere to them).   
      
      
   Andy   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)