I’ve known some fundagelicals who walked the walk and talked the talk. They had very high and specific moral standards that they applied even to their own lives. They were judgmental, but also loving and forgiving. They also understand that the purpose of the government is NOT to legislate their personal morality on others.
Unfortunately, they are in the minority. By far most of the fundamentalists I’ve known were judgmental of others while failing to see fault in themselves. You see, God would forgive them but not those who they saw as true transgressors. They are the worst cherry pickers of their version of the Bible, quick to condemn all who don’t agree. People who don’t understand that God can see behind closed doors. Self-righteous as opposed to being righteous.
I can deal with some fundagelicals but the hypocrites I just can’t find much sympathy for although I do try.

When one compares the litany of hatred the anti-gay marriage faction pours out here, at crunchycon (which celebrates racists, too) and elsewhere with the reasoned, concerned tones of the “merely” conservative Christians who truly don’t understand that homosexuals and transgendered are the way we are because God made us so and found it good then it is not hard to see where the conflict comes from.
Eventually, the conservative Christians who are open to God’s love realize that not everything they fail to understand is necessarily bad. The fundagelicals just pour on another later of hatred.
I understand that some people are incapable of faith. I understand too well that there are many who prey on them to realize their own goals. These are the truly evil ones. The fundagelical Fussvolk may be out beating us up and denying us rights. It is their leaders who are perverting God’s will and who will have to answer for it to God.

Thanks Rob the Rev. for telling us about your past and what you have learned from it. So much of the Orthodox has hurt so many from the beginning of time. Also thanks Newage Cowboy.

I was a fundagelical in my teenage years. University provided a corrective by challenging me to look at the world through a less restrictive set of lenses.
I remember going back to my mid-size rural community, (Peterborough, Ontario, Canada), during Christmas break in 1982 and trying to discuss the film “Sophie’s Choice” with some of my fundagelical friends. The response I got was, “That’s not a Christian film, I would not go and see it.” You know it is funny where tipping points occur, and this made it so very clear that I was no longer part of their community or way of thinking. So ended my old belief-set. It has taken the better part of 27 additional years to come to a place in my spiritual and intellectual life where I am happy. Today, I carry no label, will go where I am welcome, and do my best to be open to the wonder that is life regardless of what label is or is not worn. I still have issues with closed-mindedness, but am much more accommodating, provided a person does not attempt to impose their theological frame upon me. If your path fulfills you and leads you to do good, I could care less about the theological trappings. In that regard, who you become and what you do through your beliefs is what I see as important. For me, the beauty and wonder of life is always close at hand, provided I am in a state to appreciate it.
Thank God I escaped and found my own way home. My fundagelical friends did not know it at the time, but they gave me the very push I needed to move forward. For that I am grateful.

I really appreciated Steven Waldman’s defense of “fundagelicals,” because most of them are “good” people. They are good citizens, good workers, volunteer, take care of their kids, etc. And a lot of them do a pretty good job of surrounding themselves with people exactly like themselves, so they don’t have to face the people who might challenge their beliefs.
But main difference I see between “moderate evangelicals” (as I consider myself) and “fundamentalists” is the difference between hope and fear. Those who operate out of fear can easily become associated with nationalistic, nativist, homophobic, even racist views. But this fear also permeates their theology, which is why they so cling to every last tenet of their doctrine. They can’t compromise on ANYTHING, because that slippery path leads straight to hell. And when your faith is dominated by the fear of losing your place among God’s elect, you are paralyzed.
On the other hand, for those of us whose faith is deeply intertwined with hope–who actually believe that God brings good out of all things, and has called us to Christian faith for a greater reason than just fire insurance, we are free to trust that God will take care of us, will forgive us when we make mistakes, and jump head first into the world to engage people not like ourselves and demonstrate the love of Christ to them.
I know plenty of “fundagelicals” in both categories. So non-fundagelicals should not be quick to judge. And realize that more of us than you think may be open to new positions, but it always takes a while for people to change long held views.

Emily,
That is a valid point.
I suspect a large number of gay Christians see things as I do: These are our avowed, sworn enemies and there is not possible truce or peace of any sort with them. We must defeat them and throw them out of the arena of secular government.
It probably makes people like you just as uncomfortable to listen to me and others like me as it troubles you to encounter the fundamentalists’ substitution of hatred towards others for our faith in God’s will.
Tough issue to resolve.
Of course, the cynic in me asks why it is only now that moderate conservative Christians are finally speaking up. Through eight dark years of torture, through a period when the number of gays and transgendered raped or beaten or murdered reached three a week in the US, we only got to hear from the most hateful ones.
Scorched earth policies are bad for many reasons, not least the collateral damage they cause. If we look at how few churches are open to non-white members in my social class in the US, I suspect it will be at least that long before gay married couples like my husband and I will feel at home in any Christian grouping to the “right” of the Quakers or so.

My biggest problem with fundagelicals isn’t their belief system. If you want to believe that Catholics aren’t real Christians, that all gays are evil, Jews are going to hell, etc., that’s your business.
What have a big problem with is the ability of fundagelicals to have their doctrine legislated over others. We are a country ruled first by the US Constitution and when that is in conflict with your version of the Bible, as far as the government is concerned, the Constitution trumps.

I found this wonderful website this morning with quotations from one of my favourite books, Aldous Huxley’s “Island”.
The particular quotes I am including here are from Notes on “Notes on What’s What”.
St. John was right. In a blessedly speechless universe, the Word was not only with God; it was God. As a something to be believed in. God is a projected symbol, a reified name. God = “God.”
Faith is something very different from belief. Belief is the systematic taking of unanalyzed words much too seriously. Paul’s words, Mohammed’s words, Marx’s words, Hitler’s words—people take them too seriously, and what happens? What happens is the senseless ambivalence of history—sadism versus duty, or (incomparably worse) sadism as duty; devotion counterbalanced by organized paranoia; sisters of charity selflessly tending the victims of their own church’s inquisitors and crusaders. Faith, on the contrary, can never be taken too seriously. For Faith is the empirically justified confidence in our capacity to know who in fact we are, to forget the belief-intoxicated Manichee in Good Being. Give us this day our daily Faith, but deliver us, dear God, from Belief.
When I reflect back upon my fundagelist days, I wish I could have known and shared these ideas. It wasn’t until about 5 years after leaving that I found “Island” sitting on a bookshelf, and was totally blown away.
By the way, here is the website in case anyone is interested:
http://island.org/huxley/whatswhat.html

Errata: The Huxley quote was two paragraphs in length. The full quote should have been italicized. My commentary following the quote begins: “When I reflect …” I do not want anyone thinking the quote is actually my words, (not that I would not love to be able to write as well as Huxley.)

If we can’t reconcile what are the facts in this world and what are the facts in the spiritual world, then rest assured that we won’t get as many followers as we would want to.
That’s why even as a member of a moderately conservative evangelical church, I don’t wanna use hyperbolic language. Kindness, empathy and understanding are always better for one’s soul and also others in the long run.
I mean God is the One who judges, not us. We bring in followers, but eventually it is not us who judge ‘em; its God. While God will judge ‘em, we hope to continue to engage with not just followers, but also with the world, with non-believers and believers of other faiths in sincerity and with gladness, and with no intention to discriminate.