From the book, “What People Ask About The Church,” by Dale A. Robbins — 21 — In recent times, the term "fundamentalist" has become
commonly used by the news media to refer to any religious group whom they consider to hold
radical views. We may recall frequent references to the mid-east Islamic fundamentalists
who have been viewed as fanatics, and often responsible for acts of terrorism. Similarly, liberal society uses the term fundamentalist to identify
any Christian whom they consider to be an extremist. Generally, they classify a Christian
as a radical fundamentalist if they merely believe in the literal interpretation of the
Bible, if they hold views against sexual permissiveness, homosexuality, abortion on
demand, or any views which are politically incorrect. From the Christian perspective, fundamentalist has traditionally
referred to any follower of Christ who believes that the Bible is the inspired Word of God
and who believes in its literal interpretation and fundamental teachings. The fundamental
Christian believes in the experience of the "new birth" which occurs when faith
is placed in Christ as Savior and Lord. To the world this may be viewed as radical, but is
very basic to the Christian faith. The idea of Christian Fundamentalism first emerged as a movement in
the 19th century within various Protestant bodies, who reacted against the rising tide of
evolutionary theories and modernist Biblical criticism. From a Bible conference of
Conservative Protestants meeting in Niagara in 1895, a statement was issued containing
what came to be known as the five points of fundamentalism: The verbal inerrancy of
Scripture, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, a substitutionary theory of the
atonement, and the physical resurrection and bodily return of Christ.¹ In the first half
of the 20th century, most Protestant churches in the U.S. were divided into either
Fundamentalist or Modernist groups. The term has generally been applied to all those who
adhere to strict, conservative (Protestant) orthodoxy in the matter of Biblical
inspiration. In the broad sense, fundamentalism may be used to describe
Christians who are uncompromising, conservative and who take their beliefs to the maximum
— exactly how every believer should live. But because of recent, increased activism
by those identified as fundamentalists, who have promoted unethical actions such as
bringing violence against abortion clinics, doctors etc., some academic circles believe
that fundamentalism has been redefined by our society. They believe that the philosophy of
fundamentalism (at least in the world's eyes) has evolved into a legitimate form of
extremism, with views too radical for the balanced, evangelical Christian. For this
reason, fundamentalism may no longer be a term which accurately conveys what orthodox
Christians really believe. ¹ The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church This article is copyrighted © by Dale A. Robbins, 1995, and is a publication of Victorious Publications, Grass Valley, CA 95949. Unless otherwise stated, all scripture references were taken from The New King James Bible, © Thomas Nelson Inc., 1982.You may download for personal use as long as you retain credit to the author. Obtain permission before reproducing copies for any reason, by filling out our simple permission form. For media reproduction rights, or to obtain published quantities of this title, . |
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