Leadership

A Fundamentalist group, though it may not kill anyone, although it may not strike anyone, is violent.  The mental structure of Fundamentalists is violence in the name of God.

-Pope Francis, Interview with La Vanguardia

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is going to get down to business this week.  We're going to argue about some pretty "hot" issues: Israel/Palestine, Marriage Equality and a number of other things that will probably draw headlines.  There are liberal and conservative slants on just about any issue, and sometimes the arguments of people who disagree with you can really ruffle your feathers, and set your teeth on edge.

But honestly, one of the things that I'm most proud of in the peculiar corner of Christian faith that I call home, is that honestly we don't really have any Fundamentalists.  We have some idealogues to be sure, but the last time we had any group that really strongly identified as Fundamentalist (the early-mid 20th century), they meant something rather different by the word Fundamentalist than the sort of thing the Pope is describing above.

Back then, the Fundamentalists, in the Fundamentalist/Modernist controversy, simply wanted to hold on to a few (actually only five) basic tenants of the Christian faith in the face of what they perceived as the creeping relativism of liberal Christianity.  The argument still resonates through many of the debates that will take place in General Assembly even now.

While the movement was actually rather more complicated the "Five Fundamentals" are:

1. The inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture (emphasis mine)

2. The Virgin Birth of Christ

3. The belief that Christ's death was an atonement for sin

4. The bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth

5. The historicity of the miracles of Jesus

Now you will perhaps notice, if you're a Christian of some variety, that most of these points, with perhaps the exception of that rather crucial word "inerrancy," are decidedly non-controversial, even though we have been living for almost a century under the dominance of the liberal-modernist mindset.  Sure, there are those out there that will argue against any of the above and still want to subscribe to a sort of rationalist Christianity that focuses primarily on the ethics of Jesus' teaching, over and above any of the "super-natural" elements of the story, but most Christians believe that the Scripture is indeed inspired.  That Jesus was born of a virgin, that, in some form, his death was an instrument of atonement for sin.  We certainly believe in the resurrection, and at least give a passing nod to the idea that the miracles were real, even if we don't really bank too much on the fact.

During the controversy, there were some heresy trials and a whole lot of really ugly disputation, much of of it entirely opaque to the eyes and ears of laypeople.  In the end though, the death toll was zero.  The number of people tortured in dungeons and broken on the rack: zero.  The number of people imprisoned and publicly beheaded: zero.  The number of bombs dropped, other than some verbal bombs laid down by the likes of Harry Emerson Fosdick: big fat zero.

In a rare historical moment, it seemed that human beings could argue about things, perhaps even things of ultimate importance, without killing each other.

Yes, I agree with Francis, Fundamentalism has an inherent violence to it, but that makes it all the more impressive that, in such a heated moment, the violence was restrained to the world of words.

Outside of Christianity, we have not reached this point as a species.  The situation in the world is such that Fundamentalists are rightly feared, because they are willing to kill and die for their ideals and their theology, and they do not see that it is madness.  Fundamentalism can dominate a situation, even when it's adherents are a distinct minority, because they think they have clarity and that clarity gives them passion and purpose.  Whether it is Al-Quaeda, ISIS or the NRA, Fundamentalists have a fervor that gives them power.

And we have them in the PC(USA), on both sides of most of the issues.

Of all the things that might scare me about GA, of all the things that might frustrate me about the discussions we have and the way we have them, one thing I'm not worried about: we won't be shooting,  hanging or blowing each other up.  Way to go Presbyterians!