No offense intended but I just do not fully understand what this term is used to mean here.Please give your OWN definition not the book one.
Peace Be WIth You,
Debra
2006-09-05 08:25:08 · 28 answers · asked by Debra M. Wishing Peace To All 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Back in the earlier part of the 20th Century, "Fundamentalist" was simply a label for ultra-conservative evangelical Protestants who believed in a literal interpretation of the Bible. But around the 1970s, it took another meaning as Jerry Falwell and his "Moral Majority" came into power. Then it took on the often negative connotation of people who opposed the separation of church and state, and wanted to turn their local and national governments into theocratic regimes. Today, it's a catch-all phrase for the more aggressive segment of the Protestant religious right...people who wish to not only hold conservative beliefs, but want to enforce legislation ensuring that others are forced to obey these beliefs, as well.
2006-09-05 08:29:57 · answer #1 · answered by solarius 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
It is a person who follows the fundamentals of their religioin, i.e. the basics.
For instance, an orthodox jew who wears the yarmulke and has locks on the side, the veiled Muslim, the Muslim man in long robe and kufi cap, the veiled christian.
So, if a person is called a fundamentalist in a negative way, then this is an attack against the basic principles of the religion, as though the religion is evil or horribly wrong. So, for instance, the term "Islamic fundamentalist" should never be used in a negative term. (And, by the way, the followers of Islam are MUSLIMS, not "Islamics" lol. )
2006-09-06 21:21:45 · answer #2 · answered by Niqabi 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In Christianity, it is to believe that the Bible is literally the words of God.
It has come to be interpreted more and more narrowly, such as only the Scofield interpretation, only in the original languages of Greek and Hebrew and the King James Version, including Zionism, Republicanism, Pro-life, support for whatever the American military happens to do and whatever the President wants and a thousand other increasingly fascist sins.
Many older 'fundamentalists' stand around in shock like Levi before the Golden calf as the crowd follows leaders such as James Dobson and Jerry Falwell into ever more perverse atrocities. But the heart of American fundamentalism is peaceful, reclusive, inoffensive and scholarly, rather like Hasidic Judaism.
I was raised fundamentalist but have come to see it's devotion to elaborate doctrines as counterproductive. I have returned to an older simplicity such as found in John Wesley. Creationism, Predetermination, Literalism, all these don't matter. All these doubtful questions will be answered in Heaven. The point of life is to get there, and in Wesley's words, "Love all whom you can" getting there.
2006-09-05 15:48:38 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The answer is in the term. "Fundamentalism" is the reduction of a complex ideology to it's fundamentals, and then the attempt to execute the ideology exclusively through the simplest interpretation of those fundamentals.
This is attractive to people because all of us at some point get tired of complex answers, complicated solutions, and tough answers that require some kind of balance. Fundamentalism offers a way out by simply ignoring most of the "grey areas" associated with the middle road.
Ultimately, this is a seductive lie, since our world, both in nature and in human society is very complex and there are very few meaningful issues that can be resolved with bi-polar thinking.
It rarely provides any real solace in fact, since the real awnser to almost any question, the solution to peace, the meaning of life, is almost always somewhere in the middle.
2006-09-05 15:39:51 · answer #4 · answered by Jerry 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A Fundamentalist is one who follows the Fundamentals of their religion (no matter what religion that is).
A Fundie, IMO, is a Fanatic. At least, that is how I use it. Fundie = someone who hates abortion, calls it murder, yet blows up the abortion clinic with the doc in it in order to make the point that abortion is murder. THAT is a Fundie.
*Fundamentalist was and is also a movement within Christianity. A "denomination" of sorts.*
Again... this is how I use the words. Others may have a different defintion.
2006-09-05 16:08:34 · answer #5 · answered by Kithy 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Oh please let's not have a nickname like "fundie", why does everything have to have a cutesy nickname. A fundamentalists, in my cynical opinion, covering all religions, is the sect of folks that take way too literally the teachings and the creed of their group, often while knowing that it conflicts with realistic contemporary society, even in those areas that are the most chaste. The Fundamentalists always want to feel superior, feel they they are making the most daunting sacrifices of any pleasures or freedoms to honor their beliefs.
Many are basically pissed that they see folks running around having fun, boinking every now and then just for the fun of it. You don't have to be a lawless animal, you can have a good family and be a wholesome individual, but it will never be enough, because someone is always going to be jealous of you, and want you to suffer for having the gall to be happy on some level in this life rather than banking everything on the next.
Non religion examples? Vegans are fundamentals as opposed to vegetarians, and certainly more holier than thou than us savages that devour animal carcasses.
2006-09-05 15:38:49 · answer #6 · answered by Andre1998 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Hey! How are you? Well I was brought up for 16 years as a basically religion-less child and then my Mother had a fit of guilt and decided to correct that and sent me to a Christian High School. So I was an unbiased witness to the phenomena of Fundamentalist Christianity.
They believe in instant salvation by accepting Jesus as their Savior, that is He died in their place so they don't have to be punished for their sins. Eternal life comes from this. They take the Bible literally. Every word of it. There is a very very conservative viewpoint of life due to the different rules gotten from the Bible. This makes them anti-abortion, anti-feminist, anti-art, anti-literature and anti-science for the most part. They believe every bit of wisdom worth having comes from the Bible and the Bible only.
The attempt on my Mother's part to get me 'saved' failed. She blames herself to this day. She allowed me to grow up naturally without acquiring any neuroses from religious indoctrination but she thinks she did wrong. She did right. I wish she'd believe that. She feels I am a good person but worries constantly about my 'soul'. She creates sadness for herself where none is necessary. I have always loved the spiritual and have explored every belief system I could find. I have my own beliefs now and I am happy with them. But I don't talk to her much about it, I know she wouldn't understand.
2006-09-05 15:43:00 · answer #7 · answered by a_delphic_oracle 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The people I've encountered that I consider fundamentalists were those who tried to tell me how to think and feel,act,etc.Yet wouldn't tolerate or accept questions,or differing viewpoints.Differences are fine and should be respected on both sides as none of us will ever 100% agree on everything.What gets me,is these very types refuse to accept any simularities and common ground as valid.Blinded by their own vision.Some thing that isn't exclusive to christianity by the way.Attitudes like that make me sad because it drives us all further apart and breeds they very things we all try/strive to avoid.
2006-09-05 16:13:55 · answer #8 · answered by ? 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
IMHO a christian fundamentalist is one who obeys the commands of Jesus spelled out in the New Testament of the Holy Bible, as determined by following the best practices of interpretation.
Its a "the book is authoritative" paradigm. The phrase "christian fundamentalist" is often used out of context to describe wakkos who call themselves fundamentalists, but have serious exegetical fallacies and theopraxy/theology mismatches.
As a fundamentalist christian I am supposed to love & obey God with all my heart, might, mind and strength. I am supposed to love my neighbor, and forgive them. I am required to hate sin, and evil, and have no part in it or in those who are characterized by habitual practices thereof. God wants me to be characterized by love, justice, truth, mercy, hope, peace, and graciousnes. He calls me to live my life adjacent to his best hope for it.
I am not a fundie. Fundie is a term of contempt meant to dishonor and denigrate my religious beliefs. Its like calling every capitalist a pig in the george orwell sense of the word, or calling every doctor a butcher. Its not speaking from understanding, or of the truth. Its attempting to verbally defecate on someones religion.
Grace and Peace be with you too, Debra.
2006-09-05 15:38:55 · answer #9 · answered by Curly 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I my view a fundamentalist is a person how has a view of the world that never changes, no matter what evidence is different. To keep this view they will try to change the views of other people not themselves. Because in their mind they have the truth and others are lost
2006-09-05 15:41:50 · answer #10 · answered by saver_mind 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋