There’s one thing worse than a fundamentalist, and that’s a religious fundamentalist. God preserve us from them…
The fundamentalist is dangerous.
Very dangerous.
He, or she,
Combines a narrow-minded world view
With an all pervasive arrogance,
Producing a neurotic intensity.
A toxic combination for sure.
Add another ingredient into the mix:
Religion,
And you have an unstable,
And potentially deadly farce force.
When arrogance is aligned
With a presumed divine mandate,
Then reason and consensus,
Are considered at best ridiculous,
At worst anti-god,
And loudly shouted down.
In that febrile environment
Lynch law can easily hold sway.
They may not commit murder,
But murder is in their heart.
Whatever else the fundamentalist does,
He, or she, doesn’t listen.
They don’t listen to reason.
They don’t listen to differing voices.
And they certainly don’t listen to God.
For their ‘god’ is an idea, a slogan, a sham;
Ultimately a vile caricature.
Their religion, likewise, a convenient trumpet for their rage,
And a cloak for their thuggery.
Their scriptures are read selectively,
And their prayer is self-indulgent navel-praising.
The true fruits of God’s Spirit:
Among which, kindness, gentleness, self-control;
These are alien to the fundamentalist,
Whose righteousness is rigid,
And whose spirit is chauvinistic.
Pity is contemptible to them.
Pity indeed.
The fundamentalist has no need for healing,
Nor have they need for forgiveness,
Because they are already ‘whole-ly’.
Scarily confident in their salvation,
They are already ‘saved’,
And hold priority tickets for paradise.
They may fool others,
They may well fool themselves,
But they will never fool the living God.
And because they claim to see,
A judgment awaits them.
They may well have priority tickets…
I am not a fundamentalist,
But are there areas of my heart
Where intolerance reigns?
Where I choose not to listen?
Where God is more concept than reality?
Lord, I pray for humility,
Which is not weakness,
But the true stance of the fallible,
And the sure antidote to fanaticism.
For I do not know everything,
Nor understand all Your ways.
Neither do I fully know myself.
Jesus says:
“Enter by the narrow gate”:
The path to wisdom is through humble discernment.
A stumbling gait, as it were.
A holy hesitancy.
Being open to other traditions and insights,
Celebrating diversity,
And constantly open to change.
For the Spirit,
He blows where He wills.