Christian Fundamentalism
Definition
Christian Fundamentalism is defined as “a form of Protestant Christianity which upholds belief in the strict and literal interpretation of the Bible, including its narratives, doctrines, prophecies, and moral laws” It is also described as "a religious way of being that manifests itself in a strategy by which beleaguered believers attempt to preserve their distinctive identity as a people or group in the face of modernity and secularization”.
Historical Background
Christian Fundamentalism arose in the U.S. from mostly white northern Protestants who joined together against theological liberalism, which promoted secular society ideas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fundamentalist Christians are an extremist group that separated from Evangelicalism in the early twentieth century when humanism, which is defined as “a philosophy that usually rejects supernaturalism and stresses an individual's dignity and worth and capacity for self-realization through reason”, began creeping into Protestantism.
The rise of Christian Fundamentalism ideology was due to several factors, including the spread of Karl Barth’s “new orthodoxy”, non-biblical theories of human origins (Darwinism), as well as political developments such as democratic socialism. In order to resist these ideologies, Christian fundamentalists began publishing a series of books such as the “A Testimony to the Truth (1910-1915)”, advocating for traditional biblical beliefs and rejected other ideals that they deemed as incompatible with their beliefs.
Various Christians believed that Protestant denominations were under threat by questioning traditional Christian beliefs and concepts. Some Evangelical Christians produced "The Fundamentals", which aimed to address a different theological concern and reinforce traditional Protestant beliefs.
Christian fundamentalism spread across several Protestant denominations, which resulted in the formation of new denominations, including the Baptist Bible Union (1923) and the Bible Presbyterian Church (1937). By the year 1940, a separatist evangelicals group identified itself as “fundamentalist”. The fundamentalist group aimed to isolate themselves from the public space, establishing their own educational institutions.
At the end of 1960 in the U.S., Christian Fundamentalism was seen as a genuine religious, theological, and even intellectual movement in its own right. Nevertheless, it also was defined as “militantly anti-modernist Protestant evangelicalism", with the term "militant" not signifying any form of violent behaviour, but rather, to be "aggressively active in a cause." George Marsden, the author of Fundamentalism and American Culture, argued that Christian Fundamentalism arose from pre-existing evangelical movements in response to the growing challenges such as theological modernism and cultural changes. However, the difference between "fundamentalists" and "evangelicals" is that fundamentalists are more militant and hesitant to collaborate with modernist groups. Evangelicals were separated from Fundamentalists in the 1940s, and considered themselves as less militant. Although, Roger Olson, the author of Pocket History of Evangelical Theology, stated that “Postfundamentalist” is the most moderated function, he also added "most Postfundamentalist Evangelicals do not wish to be called Fundamentalists, even though their basic theological orientation is not very different."
Modern History
In the 1970’s and 80’s, fundamentalism begun playing an active role in the U.S. political space. Fundamentalists fought against secular humanism, evolution, “loose” personal morals, sexual “perversion,” including homosexuality and battled against any changes to gender roles. In foreign policy, fundamentalists became the most ardent anti-communists, and also became America’s most unapologetic Zionists - believing that the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 signalled the coming of Jesus and the end times. In 1980, the Moral Majority, led by the Reverend Jerry Falwell, gathered four million people to help elect morally conservative politicians in local, state, and national elections. In 1989, the Christian Coalition, a slightly more eclectic organization, was named ”pro-family citizen action” group, with membership of more than 1.7 million.Its aim was sending its members ”voter information” reports detailing congressional votes on issues deemed to be relevant to Christian morality.
Since the 1980s, the movement has progressed to a higher level of complexity. Focus on the Family and Concerned Women of America, both Christian Right organizations, advocate for policies that reflect fundamentalist beliefs on everything from abortion to sexuality.
In 1993, David Koresh, an American cult leader, led a 51-day sit-in against the government in Waco, Texas. This confrontation dubbed the "apocalypse in Waco" ended in the fiery deaths of over eighty Branch Davidians and many FBI officers. Although the Branch Davidians adhered to Seventh-Day Adventist beliefs, they are often mistaken for theologically fundamentalist Christians.
The Christian Right allied with the Republican Party, which was more aligned with its members' core values than the Democrats. On the other hand, the Moral Majority organization, led by the Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell Sr, aimed to re-Christianize America by choosing people who were pro-family, pro-life, and pro-Bible. After the death of Falwell in 2007, the Christian Right had risen to become the Republican Party's most powerful constituency. It played an important role in Donald Trump's election in 2016.
These organizations have also supported 'armies' of ultra-conservative attorneys and political activists, as well as anti-LGBTQ+ policies, anti-sex education, and anti-abortion "family values" campaigns. American Christian fundamentalists have also begun cultivating strong transnational ties with European far-right organizations, particularly in the last decade.
Ties to Hate Speech
Protests were fuelled by social developments in the early twentieth century. Fundamentalists, mostly drawn from the ranks of "old stock whites," felt displaced by the influx of non-Protestant immigrants from southern and eastern Europe into America's cities. They thought that American leaders had deceived them by leading the country into an unwinnable war with Germany. They opposed the teaching of evolution in public schools, which they paid with their taxes, and disliked the elitism of professional educators, who seemed to dismiss the values of traditional Christian families. An important facet of Christian fundamentalist beliefs in the U.S. was that the end times would also be signalled by “oppressive governments” clamping down on Christian rights.
Fundamentalist Protestants played a significant role in lobbying textbook selection committees as well as state and municipal governments in order to influence school curriculum on origin theories and to promote a positive image of religion in history textbooks.
On the other hand, Christian Fundamentalism is often regarded as the most powerful predictor of anti-gay, anti-Jewish, and anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States and Western Europe, and so is not necessarily a liberal social force.
Christian Fundamentalists and Evangelical Christians
Fundamentalists and evangelicals share many beliefs, worship practices, and behaviors. They are both committed to the faith's Spirit and truth because they aspired to be like “Christ”. As a result of the redefinitions, they have strayed from their Biblical roots. This is demonstrated by people who profess to be fundamentalists acting cruelly and demeaningly against those who are less "conservative" than themselves. Billy Graham, arguably the world’s most famous evangelical preacher maintained fundamenalist views on a variety of topics, including reiterating the second coming of Christ, and tying current events with biblical prophecies. Graham also became one of Israel's strongest supporters and maintained a strong anti-government ideology, and fought consistently to prevent American leaders ceding any power to international organizations. On the social front, Graham strongly defended evangelical positions on gender roles and family. Billy Graham is the father of the Christian fundamenalist Franklin Graham, who is profiled on the EMAN Network.
After 9/11, leaders and priests of Christian Fundamentalist groups, such as the Southern Baptists, which is the Protestantism's largest, realized that any misunderstanding between extreme Muslim fundamentalists and Christian fundamentalists was a concern. Fundamentalism was discarded in favor of Evangelicalism, which was seen as less threatening to the culture and more socially acceptable. However, not all evangelicals are fundamentalists, and not all fundamentalists are evangelicals.
With respect to opposing abortion - which remains one of a key rallying cries of Christian fundamentalists-, many evangelicals are pro-choice, whereas fundamentalists are pro-life. Although most Fundamentalists oppose homosexual marriage, not all fundamentalists do. Most evangelicals accept Darwin and retain an open mind, whereas fundamentalists believe in creationism. Fundamentalists regularly vote Republican, despite the fact that not all Christians do, because they oppose abortion and homosexual rights, the two topics that dominate their political agenda.
The degree of separation that fundamentalists and evangelicals practice differentiates them. Conservative Christians, according to both fundamentalists and evangelicals, should distance themselves from the world in a number of ways. Fundamentalists, on the other hand, adhere to a far stronger separation, which they would apply to religion as well.
Educational Organizations
Fundamentalism is considered as a belief in the inerrancy of one's own scriptures combined with a millenarian idea that God will take command and destroy infidels. They aim to exclude other groups, as each group claims that theirs is the only path to redemption. A variety of themes established by Woodrow Wilson and William Jennings Bryan have supported the growth of fundamentalist churches, created a cacophony of aggressive media, and influenced the current generation of politicians and Pentagon officials that rule the United States.
Fundamentalism has increased their pressure on public education in the United States to adhere only to their own philosophy and vision of education and culture. Fundamentalism had an impact on such issues as censorship, textbook content, Creationism versus Evolution, the family and education, school prayer, and the state regulation of Christian schools. Christian fundamentalists established organisations in order to promote the fundamentalism ideology. Its foundations began to emerge in 1927, when Bob Jones Sr founded Bob Jones College in College Point, Florida. Later, in 1971, Liberty University, founded by Falwell in Lynchburg, Virginia. In addition, the televangelist Pat Robertson founded Regent University in 1978, which was the movement’s main intellectual centre.