I think you have me pegged correctly. And because I'm so Orthodox, it's why I feel at home on the Traditionalist board, but can't stand the Lord's Table (even though I love my fellow Catholics). I am DEFINITELY not a fundamentalist, and I am irritated when I am mislabeled as such, but at the same time, I don't feel the same kind of animosity towards fundamentalism that the Pope does. I think fundamentalists have a part to play in the Body. They call us to piety and devotion.
I grew up in a fundamentalist Protestant home, and I came away with a feel for the "aura" of fundamentalism, and I think I can nail down a few of the specifics that create that aura. Before I begin with my description of Fundamentalism, let me say that Fundamentalists are not the people-bashers that they are often made out to be. My family was ultra loving, and I'm very lucky for such parents. Personally, I feel much more at home with Fundamentalists than Liberals, because Fundamentalists take their religion seriously.
Note: If only a few of these things in this list are true about you, then you are NOT a fundamentalist. Also,
if you ARE a fundamentalist, you are most likely a devout and wonderful person, just on the structured, literal side of the spectrum (the yin to the progressive yang).
- Fundamentalists tend to go the extra mile, obeying rules that are far beyond conventional. In my family that meant things like no drinking, smoking, wearing makeup, playing cards (gambling), wearing jewelry, braiding hair... In Catholicism this might be something like going to daily Mass, believing that playing dungeons and dragons is a sin, no wearing dragon jewelry, or believing that burying a statue of St. Joseph in your yard will literally help your house to sell.
- It also means that they look down on others of their faith who don't similarly go that extra mile. For example, if YOU PEOPLE don't also pray the Rosary daily, you aren't much of a Catholic. In my family, if you drank and smoked, you weren't a "real Christian."
- Fundamentalists tend to take religious texts literally, even when they aren't meant that way. For example, they tend to be six 24 hour day young earth creationists. The plagues in Revelation are literal plagues. The see their religious text as God's "word for word" writing, dictated to the men who recorded it, rather than simply inspired.
- Fundamentalists are HIGHLY concerned with who are the innies and outies. THESE are the saved and those aren't. These are the Catholics following the true teachings of the Church, and THOSE people are the so-called Catholics leading the Church into hell, in an extreme sense. (Think SSPX)
- Fundamentalists similarly see other religions as NOTHING BUT evil. They cannot see the things in other religions that are also found in their own, or things in other religions that are neutral or healthy. They therefore demonize the good things in other religions simply because those things come from other religions (such as eschewing acupuncture simply because it comes from Taoism).
- Fundamentalists have a strong sense of right and wrong (not a bad thing) but lack the empathy needed to understand WHY people sin, and therefore less able to council people out of sin. They tend to be condemning. A fundamentalist priest in the confessional tends to do more blaming than forgiving.
- Fundamentalists tend to eschew modernism. They don't trust things like TV, the internet, etc. (The very fact that you are online reading this means you don't check this box!)
- Fundamentalists are anti-scholarship. They do not trust high level education. They believe in learning just enough to get by in society -- reading, writing, and arithmetic. But going to college means (to them) nothing but learning evolution, that the their religious text isn't really written by God, that "sin is in" i.e. that fornication and homosexuality are things to be explored and men and women are the same. They don't care if clergy went to seminary -- they are more concerned that he be "inspired" to teach the basics, which even an 18 year old called by God can do.
- Fundamentalists see themselves as "chosen" with a "special mission." They are "marked" for a superior destiny because they are better than anyone else in some way. Of course all Christians believe this is true. Remember that being a fundamentalist is a conglomeration of these traits, not just having a few true about you. Plus, fundamentalists are the "chosen within the chosen. " LOL
- In most fundamentalism (though not all), female sexuality is a concern and must be controlled. The differences between men and women must be enforced.
- Fundamentalists tend to be very aggressive in defending their faith. This can range from isolationists who engage in apologetics to jihadists who believe war is the only way to defend Islam against the onslaught of modernism.
So how did you do?
Is there anything I forgot?
