ExFundie

Alright. We've laid out the world view of Christian fundamentalists, and seen how logically everything flows from their initial premises. We can see, from this, how they don't find anything contradictory in their belief system, because given their initial premises, it holds together very well and provides explanations for almost everything they see around them. And provides hope, and an ultimate solution to all the world's long-standing woes.

But now that we understand their philosophical foundations, we need to examine just how fundamentalist principles are acted out in the world. Someone might respond, "Look all around you! We already know how they act in the world. Isn't it obvious??"

In one sense, it is. But I still maintain that their actions in the world do not stem primarily from "sheer orneriness" or "sheer hatred." It is very handy for us to attribute their actions to things like that; it makes our work so much easier, and makes it easier for us to judge them and, in fact, to dismiss them. (And doesn't that sound exactly like what they do to non-fundamentalists, by lumping us all together, dismissively, with a few handy, all-encompassing terms like "sinners" or "traitors"??)

But the truth is far more complex than that. From my own experience as a fundamentalist for 31 years, I know that most of them are trying to do their best, to sort out the complexities of society. They are operating from a belief system they genuinely believe to be true, and they truly believe that if this belief system is spread in the world, it will heal the world and ultimately make it better. Their world view seems so "obvious" as the solution to everything, because it FITS what they see. Beginning with the premises they start with, they do find answers. And therefore, as a corollary, if the answer as they see it is so "obvious," then anyone who opposes that answer must be doing it deliberately, with very bad intentions indeed for the world.

Therefore it is absolutely necessary to understand the logic behind how they act. Even if we could forbid all their actions, they would still adhere to that internal logic, and would find some other way to act it out. But if we can begin to chip away at those underlying principles themselves, demonstrating that the truths about the world are vastly different from what they've been taught, I am convinced that that's the only way we have a hope of changing the actions that flow from their underlying beliefs.

So, let us begin the next stage of our inquiry. How are these people going to act in the world, starting with the premises they do?

Let's start with the fundamentalist as your next door neighbour, and move outward from there.

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