Sabbath Soliloquy

I think I’m beginning to better understand the appeal of fundamentalism. Mary and I seem to be going through our documentary phase of DVD viewing, this weekend having watched The Future of Food, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, and Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without a Pause (may I have an amen for Netflix?). There are so many things in today’s world that are in urgent need of reform, and when that’s combined with the inverse relationship of the individual’s power to change anything to an ever-growing global population you have the recipe for despair. I don’t feel that I have a great deal of control over genetic engineering, capitalism run amok, political corruption, and so on. An infinite number of variables and vagaries create an incredibly strong desire for anything that I can perceive as absolute. Voila! Enter the concrete black-and-white security of fundamentalism.

Fundamentalism—to my great relief!—doesn’t require me to accept responsibility for an active role in the unfolding of the universe. Instead, it offers a divine plan that is already set in motion that I merely need to accept. Born-again Christianity, for example, requires of me only my belief in the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible (and its subsequent orthodox interpretation) and the rest is automatically taken care of. Therefore, global warming is simply God’s will that is preordained to perfect resolution. The conflict in the Middle East is simply God’s will that is preordained to perfect resolution. Christian fundamentalism offers the promise of premise, the assurance that when I give my life to Christ (i.e. surrender personal responsibility) I become the beneficiary of preordained blessing rather than the damnation that awaits nonbelievers. This example is, of course, set in the context of the Christianity which is most compatible with my worldview, but the promise of premise seems to apply to any ideology to which fundamentalism is applied.

The incongruity of fundamentalism seems to me the activist concern over such issues as abortion, gun control, homosexuality and stem cell research. Is God’s divine plan not all-inclusive? Aren’t these issues just as preordained to God’s prefect resolution as is, say, the eschatological fulfillment of the second coming at Armageddon? Now I’m confused. What parts of the divine plan are to just be accepted, and which parts require my active involvement? Is God in charge of everything or just some things? How do I go about finding out? I’m regressing back to variables and ambiguities. Perhaps that’s the mistake: I’m thinking again! This is what destroys the tranquil security of fundamentalism (or anything else for that matter). Stop thinking. Accept. Believe. Thank you, God, for making life such a simple thing…but why did you send Jesus?