Putting the Fun in Fundamentalism
Hi. My name is Elena Kelly and I am a fundamentalist. I have been evangelism-free for twenty-four years. Hi Elena!
I was “saved” for the umpteenth time at a small Baptist church in northern California in 1979. I’d turned my back on Christianity years before, but having run afoul of the drug laws, and coming to realize my responsibility to raise my young son to be a contributing member of society, I decided that the strict rules of this fundamentalist church might just be the answer.
So in 1981 I entered the School of Religion at Bob Jones University as one of the “Preacher Boys.” I went into the very heart of fundamentalist Christianity, graduated without a single demerit in 1986 and was ordained to the ministry by Dr. Bob Jones, Jr. himself. I had become an expert at “winning souls” (a code phrase meaning “to convince someone they are wrong and you are right in understanding the Bible”).
While the arguments may be very convincing, what is actually going on is the suppression of one person’s truth by that of another. The key problem with that is there is no absolute truth. My truth is not necessarily yours, and your truth may, or may not, be a part of mine. It’s no different than multiple eyewitness accounts of a car crash. Some of the accounts contain much of the truth, others contain little, but none could possibly contain it all.
We have been witnessing social fundamentalism at work in France as their Parliament has approved a ban on women wearing a burqa. They believe that they can stop the growth of extremist Islam (read “terrorists”). But if that is their true motivation, why don’t they ban beards and kufis too? Obviously they are going after women because they are an easy target for their form of social fundamentalism. If I lived in France, I think I would work to start a movement of women wearing pink burqas as a sign of solidarity with French women who should be allowed to wear whatever they choose.
Fundamentalism is not just for church people anymore. Many scientists have jumped into the fray by declaring that anything that cannot be proved via the scientific method is not true. The truth as they see it must be able to be proven empirically. But it completely ignores (and often disparages) such things as intuition, creativity, and any consideration of the Divine.
Domestic fundamentalism exists when one member of a family decides everything. The thoughts, desires, and ideas of others are not taken into account with the result that they are marginalized. That domestic unit is a dysfunctional unit, as certainly as the fundamentalist scientist community is, the social fundamentalists are in France, and the religious fundamentalists are in evangelical Christianity. One person or group has a corner on the truth and makes it their mission in life to force their understanding onto others. When others don’t accept it, they are condemned as sinners, ignorant, supporters of terrorism, out of touch with “reality,” and other terms that belittle the truth as others understand it.
I am a transsexual lesbian and a proud member of the LGBT community. It’s hard to be a fundamentalist when you identify as LGBTQ, when you are the one who is constantly told you are perverted, against God and nature, sick, disgusting, and a whole litany of other invectives. But when a child is conceived and the ultrasound reveals it’s sex, the parents decide it’s a boy or a girl. In reality, it is only male or female. How dare we decide in advance what the gender of that person is!
Then there is feminist fundamentalism that tries to negate my womanhood. Places like the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival still maintain that I am not a woman just because I was born in a male body. Who are they to decide who I am? The narrow-mindedness that they display is no less malicious than the Baptists who have already decided I’m going to Hell.
No two people see eye-to-eye on everything and truth is relative to one’s experience and perspective. The truth I understand is as valid as (and no more valid than) anyone else’s. But fundamentalists need to be certain of the truth, and have the mistaken notion that there is only one truth. They deserve our sympathy, not our hate. Imagine how hard it must be to know it all when so few are willing to accept it. Now where is my pink burqa?
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Wonderful piece. Wow!!! So glad you escaped the other insanity!
“winning souls” (a code phrase meaning “to convince someone they are wrong and you are right in understanding the Bible”)
Beautiful reduction!
Good piece, Elena!
That’s a great article, Elena. As you rightly point out, fundamentalist ideologies exist in most areas of society.
Bill Maher, Christopher Hitchens and others regularly engage in atheistic fundamentalism. It’s one thing to say “I don’t believe in God.” It’s quite another to say, “People who believe in a Higher Power are stupid and delusional.”
I disagree with one point. You said, “It’s hard to be a fundamentalist when you identify as LGBTQ.” And yet forms of fundamentalism exist in both the gay and gender variant communities.
I’ve had conversations with transgender fundamentalists who insist there is only one way to be transgender or gender-variant. Such fundies may disparage genderqueer, intersex, or those who choose not to fully transition from one gender to another.
Still, I commend you on this post and for promoting the idea that my truth doesn’t have to be your truth and we can still get along and love and respect each other. Well done, Elena.
I agree with Dharma. Years after transition I have become comfortable with a “soft-butch” gender expression. I rarely wear skirts or dresses. I’ve stopped wearing makeup, and I hate pantyhose. Ironically, once I did this I began “passing” better than I ever had. The only grief I got from my new expression came from other transgender people who espouse a very narrow view of gender roles and expressions, in your words, transgender fundamentalists.
Thanks for the article.
Elena – this is wonderful! You hit some points that people often do not consider. Eloquent and powerful! Brava!
Dharma, it’s not impossible for a member of the LGBT community to be fundamentalist (witness the Michigan WMF) but I think it is much harder to be one, simply because we are a part of “the problem.” It breaks my heart when some members of the community discriminate against others. Don’t we get enough of that from the general public? Sheesh! Thanks so much for your thoughts.
I Love your writing and feel this to be a GREAT article. I believe we all could do well to practice Acceptance fundamentally. Thank you Elena
I agree with your main point, that there are hard nosed “my mind’s made up, don’t confuse me with facts” people in every corner of life. Truly open-minded people who try to make room for other people’s world views are rather rare.
However I must take issue with you on your objection to France’s ban on the burka. It is not a ban on Islam, which is quite robust in France, but rather a ban on concealing identity and applies to men too. There is also a form of burka that has a leather strap that goes over the mouth, to prevent speech. Do you approve of that as well? Unfortunately, the “religious and cultural freedom” defense of women wearing the burka can also be made for female genital mutilation — which is carried out by women against their own daughters as part of their ‘cultural heritage’. Is it your position that this should be allowed in Europe and the US? My point is not rhetorical. In countries where women are ‘completely hidden’ (Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia) they are also terribly abused, forced into cousin marriage at puberty, and isolated in the home. Keeping women competely covered is just the slightly less ugly end of the spectrum. Unfortunately, the ‘hiding’ of women is a slippery slope and the bottom of the slope is a pretty awful place.
As for your own religious background, are you still active in a church? Do you feel welcome? Some churches are very welcoming and some are not. It seems the luck of the draw. I know it isn’t easy finding genuine acceptance, and I wish you all the best.