Reverend Cornel West says Right-wing Evangelical Fundamentalism “wants to be fundamental about everything, except ‘love thy neighbor.’” Is that fair? Dale Robbins writes for the fundamentalists saying, liberal society classifies 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 other views which are politically incorrect.” Is that a fair assessment of fundamentalism by “liberal society?” There you have it: the liberal/conservative divide, the orthodox/unorthodox dilemma, the fundamentalist/modernist controversy.
In 1895 Conservative Protestants issued what have become known as the five points of fundamentalism: “The verbal inerrancy of Scripture, the divinity of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, a substitutionary theory of atonement, and the physical resurrection and bodily return of Christ.” The Christian fundamentalists back then were resisting Christian modernists who were attempting to revise traditional Christian beliefs to accommodate the new developments in the natural and social sciences.
The fundamentalist/modernist controversy continues—and some call it simply a religious thing. Is it simply religious? William Stringfellow makes the point that the basic topic of the Bible is politics. “The Bible is about the politics of fallen creation and the politics of redemption; the politics of the nations, institutions, ideologies, and causes of this world and the politics of the Kingdom of God; the politics of Babylon and the politics of Jerusalem; the politics of the Antichrist and the politics of Jesus Christ; the politics of the demonic powers and principalities and the politics of the timely judgement of God as sovereign; the politics of death and the politics of life; apocalyptic politics and eschatological politics.”
Politics is defined as “the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.” Every political issue whether it be immigration, the economy, health care, the environment, war, or the role of women is a religious issue. Not only is it a religious issue, it is a Christian issue. You can bet your life on it! What you believe or don’t believe makes a huge difference. What you believe about the Bible and how you read it makes a huge difference.
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