[geeks] What is a Fundamentalist (was Re: Socialized medicine [was Re: nVidia 8800GT for Apple Mac Pro] )

[der Mouse]

>> Ah - perhaps we have a definitions problem: what is a fundie?
> A kind of ice cream ?

:-)

> I always thought "Fundamentalist" was a christian who believed that
> the bible[0] was the literal word of god.  And nothing but the bible
> reveals the mind of god.

Perhaps.  But, though there is an etymological relationship, fundie
does not quite equal fundamentalist - at least not as I understand/use
the words.

The `fundie "Christian"' (quotes because it really doesn't have much to
do with what Jesus actually taught) mindset I was talking about is the
remarkably inconsistent one that picks and chooses what pieces of "the
Bible" it believes - but is utterly unquestioning of those pieces, is
remarkably ignorant about their context and other such facts, and
exhibits some problematic mindsets that I can perhaps satirize as "my
mind's made up, don't confuse me with facts" and "when I want your
opinion I'll give it to you".  The sort of thinking (if it can be
called that) that leads to things such as the oft-repeated quote from
some politician saying that "if it [English] was good enough for Our
Lord Jesus Christ, it's good enough for them [immigrants]".  The sort
of person who cites Leviticus 18:22 against homosexuality but
completely ignores, eg, the dietary injunctions in Leviticus 11 (I can
see ignoring the Talmudic details of modern Jewish kosher laws, but not
the basic prohibitions in Leviticus).

This has little to do with the true fundamentalist, who generally (a)
really does pay attention to what Jesus taught and (b) is not at all
problematic in any sense relevant here.

>> [...] who votes Republican and believes that abortion is a sin.
> Ah!  But does he believe abortion should be illegal?

I hope not - separation of church and state.  A sin is a _religious_
transgression, and, as such, to enshrine it in secular law, applying it
to those not following that religion, is a conflation of church and
state.

> My fascist granny who is a bit of a fundie herself, believes that
> abortion is a sin

And so it is, then...for her.  Just as being unhospitable to a guest
is, for me.

/~\ The ASCII				der Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
 X  Against HTML	       mouse at rodents.montreal.qc.ca
/ \ Email!	     7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B