My Experience as a Christian Fundamentalist

When I was in the 5th grade, coinciding with my commitment to Jesus, I became a fundamentalist.  Soon after my conversion my family left a church with a nearly non-existent emphasis on major parts of the gospel. We joined a Baptist church steeped in a fervent brand of fundamentalism. And I loved it.
The fact that I loved it surprises my adult children when they hear of all the rules I was expected to obey, rules against women wearing slacks, men having hair over their ears, listening to popular music, playing cards (unless it was a game called Rook), drinking, dancing, thinking about sex, and strangely, singing while holding a microphone (it just plain looked worldly).

It was culture brimming with rules, a sense that we had a corner on truth, shame, and judgment.  But it was also a culture where I was deeply loved by a network of adults who would have done anything for me, men like Ron Beardsley, Frank Watkins, and Lloyd Reuther invested in me deeply and later rallied around my family when we faced a crisis brought on by my father’s mental illness. They drove my mom back and forth to the psychiatric hospitals where my father was being treated for an especially severe case of depression, or paid for hotel rooms so that my mom could stay near the hospital while my dad received electroshock therapy.  It was a dark time and I couldn’t have gotten through it without them, thinking of the sacrifices they made for me brings back tears forty-five years later.

It was also a culture that placed a great emphasis on studying scripture, sharing the gospel, and personal piety, all values that continue to shape and bless me.  It wasn’t until high school that I began to notice fundamentalism’s inconsistencies, a propensity for following the Pharisee’s example of coming up with increasingly long lists of new sins, a tendency to worship Jesus but listen only to Paul, and a practice of preaching a gospel of salvation but ignoring the gospel of justice. It was a culture that allowed us to talk about the love of Jesus and also mock people who were different from us in any number of ways.

For better or worse, I wouldn’t be who I am without religious fundamentalism. The strengths of fundamentalism were its level of commitment, its emphasis on scripture, and evangelism. Its weaknesses were its fear of the other, its self-righteousness and judgmentalism, and its lack of concern for social justice.
I think the history of Christianity is a long story of getting it wrong, veering off course in one direction or the other. It’s sobering to know that thirty or forty years from now my own blind spots and spiritual failures may be glaringly obvious to a new generation of Christians. But the history of Christianity is also filled with shining moments where the church gave the world a taste of heaven, caring for the sick during the plagues, defending children and bringing about an end to inhumane child-labor practices, and finally calling for an end to slavery (though parts of the church actively promoted and defended it).

The key to bringing out the best in Christianity is constant recalibration centered on the person and example of Jesus Christ. True Christianity isn’t just the defense of a set of theological doctrines, and it's not just the avoidance of evil. It is the active practice, day in and day out of trying follow the teachings if Jesus, forgiving those who have hurt us, loving those who are different than us, and doing for others as we would have them do unto us.