Fundamentalists
Fundamentalists did this terrible thing. They destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City, crushed a portion of the Pentagon, killed thousands of innocent people and sent a nation into confusion, anger and grief. If we can blame any one thing, it is the fundamentalist understanding of religion, that God directs certain people to do radical things, and all the world is out of control except for a select few. Fundamentalists believe they alone have discovered the truth of their religion; and further, they have the ordained privilege to distribute that truth to only a chosen core. If you want to talk about their social orientation, they are arrogant and blind to reason. They believe God loves them alone and He will protect them in times of danger. They isolate themselves from all other points of view, and if you try to reason with them they will scream and threaten you. Sometimes, as we have now discovered, they will carry out their threats. They have lost sight of the One to be worshiped. Their god is muddled up in their plans for destruction. They worship themselves even at the cost of relationships with other people. Fot them, self becomes the center of the universe and no other goals or plans matter. They believe themselves to be the only people who know the truth, and the only ones who know how to spread it across the earth. Jerry Falwell is the high profile fundamentalist in this country. He leads a large congregation in Virginia, and pontificates from that pulpit every Sunday, sometimes over cable television stations. Recently he and pal Pat Robertson, another fundamentalist, got together on Robertson's television show, The 700 Club. They talked about whom to blame for the atrocities in New York City and Washington, D.C. They wanted to say anyone who doesn't agree with their point of view should be blamed. Instead they hit the usual vulnerable targets: homosexuals, abortionists, and pornographers. They didn't say anything about people who sin every day in major ways: gossips, backstabbers, rumor mongers, overeaters, liars, thieves and blasphemers. No, those kinds of destructive people are apparently not nasty enough to warrant attention from the fundamentalist Christian world. Of course, in the two weeks since those remarks were made over cable television, Robertson has back-pedaled and sort of apologized for remarks that were too "harsh." Falwell has isolated himself and won't come out of his opulent cave long enough for any correspondent to ask him a question. True to form, they hit and then run. It reminds one of Osama bin Laden: hit the target, hide in a cave, then run through the night to another safe haven. Our problem is, we can't touch these people. They are hidden and remote from us, and any letters or telephone calls we might send their way would never reach them. They have isolated themselves from the public and are protected by teams of devoted people who believe that every word uttered by these men is sacred and inviolate. Fundamentalists hurt us in many ways, not just with their schemes of violence and destruction. If you have any fundamentalists in your neighborhood, you know how they twist your world. If you have one in your family, the hurt is even greater. You may spend good portions of your life trying to avoid these people because their judgments almost always damage your soul and your understanding of faith and devotion. Some of you might entertain notions that, using Bible verses and other sacred principles, you could beat a fundamentalist in a good argument . And you may have discovered that arguments don't work, reason does not work, and certainly appeals to human kindness go unheard. There is only one way to deal with fundamentalists in your life, and that is to smile at them as they pitch their message and then let them know their diatribe has no meaning for your life. Pray for them, that someday they might understand that believers become servants, not tyrants. Ask your God to give them a more compassionate slant on life, so they may see people as pilgrims, not sinners. Pray for them to understand that God - not men nor women - will judge. Fundamentalists have taken a huge bite out of our lives in the past few weeks. Now we must be resolute to insure that our faith will not be misunderstood and that no believer will use it to destroy another. Clark D. Morphew
Posted 9-29-01