I have received some feedback which suggets that I might be too harsh on fundamentalists. In thinking on this, I realized that I am not being as clear as possible. My real beef, about which I here blog, is with extreme versions of independent Baptist fundamentalism. While I do not agree 100% with non-extreme independent Baptist fundamentalists, there is much about which we do agree. (You will notice that I link to some fundamentalist blogs and journals, for instance) So in an effort to make myself clear, I have added the following clarification to my “About this Blog” post.

Clarification: I was involved in an extreme version of independent Baptist fundamentalism (in my opinion). It was more controlling than some other forms of fundamentalism, and it held to more beliefs that were not mandated by the Bible (such as KJV-onlyism, and no pants on women). I have reworked this post and some others to try to reflect the fact that I am not against fundamentalism per se. I find much good in the movement. In fact it was not easy to decide to leave fundamentalism totally. But upon consideration of the movement as a whole, I felt it best to leave. To clarify my views on the subject, let me add here excerpts from a comment I made in response to someone asking me to be more gracious to fundamentalists:

Let me clarify, somewhat. I do tend to overstate things, and I fear my criticisms of fundamentalism might be more harsh than I intended. In making my point I tend to overstate it, I fear.

There are many positive things about fundamentalists. I will always be thankful for the seriousness which was imparted to me at Fairhaven [Baptist College]. There is an honest effort to please God among many fundamentalists. And there is a sincere faith in the Bible. These are certainly praiseworthy attributes. My criticisms are more directed toward certain misemphases or missing elements in fundamentalism which have great potential to obscure (in my opinion) certain great and important truths of Christianity.

I feel that certain structures established by fundamentalism lend themselves to creating environments which foster a performance based value system. The way we relate to God is on how well we have performed. The way we relate to others in our camp is by how well we have performed. The way we view our self-worth is by how well we have performed. While it is important to obey and conform to God’s standards of holiness, such obedience and conformity does not constitute our acceptance with Him. Jesus’ blood and righteousness do.
This then leads to an emphasis on conforming and being faithful to a set of do’s and don’t’s–which become taboos and rules of community, which by the way are unquestionable. Success is measured by faithfulness to this man-made list of rules and not to how much one has loved others and loved Christ and been changed by His Word.

The large emphasis fundamentalism puts on authority does much to enforce the list and to squelch any independent questioning/research into the validity of the list. This is a big factor in why so much of fundamentalism is defined by personalities, rather than doctrines. No creeds or confessions join fundamentalists, rather personalities and allegiances do. I have found many exceptions to the rule, but by and large the movement is what it has been.

It is these types of things which I feel obscure the vision of Christ that I want to focus my life on. I grant that there are many problems in other Evangelical circles, but one group’s problems does not negate the other’s. I have found that there are many conservative evangelicals who decry the problems of evangelicalism almost as much as fundamentalists do. And they have as deep a respect for God’s Word and desire for holiness. They also have a great passion for a close relationship with Christ (as many fundamentalists do). They may draw their lines of ecclesiastical separation differently than fundamentalists do, but that does not mean they spurn ecclesiastical separation.

Once again, let me be clear, non-extreme Biblically motivated independent Baptist fundamentalists are not my enemies, they are friends (althought I do not agree with them 100%).

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7