What makes people turn into fundamentalists?

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

I was reading another thread about someone trying to deal with their fundamentalist friend. Several people talked about perfectly normal people they know turning into fundies. Does anyone have any ideas as to why/how this happens? I haven't known any fundies personally to come be able to answer this question myself.

[lightbulb]

1. Fear. eom.

[SalParadise]

16. 2nd that - it's fear along with the Jesus "brand"

Fear of hell, fear of things not understood, fear of others, etc..

Also - Jesus isn't some kind of spiritual entity to a lot of these people (I live in MS so I've had a lot of experience with them) & the Jesus brand gets them into exclusive clubs (the church with the gym, the racquetball courts, daycares, etc) they can identify others who are members of "Club Jesus" by their license plates, the stickers on their cars, their t-shirts. And they take solace in knowing that the Jesus brand of salvation is the ONLY ticket out of this place, and if anyone says anything contrary to that, they're simply wrong - the Bible says so. They're in the kool-kids klub where every member has a decoder ring, a t-shirt & a bumper sticker.

These people have confused the map for the territory.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

53. Here's another great quote I heard on cultism in Christianity-

"The problem with many Christians is that they keep sucking on the finger instead of going where it's pointed."

[jdj]

64. that is so true, it's a holy-roller mafia, that one.

My sister-in-law is a master at getting my niece "scholarships" to day-care through church, and she'll lie about residence, income or marital status to get any kind of aid, but religious aid is the best.

The risked my niece's welfare by staying in Gulf Breeze FL during Ivan, and although their living room ceiling fell in, she told me on the phone that they did not worry because they were "protected by God" and that everyone else around them was so much worse off, presumably because those people are not fundies. Unbelievable.

[gottaB]

2. a little education n/t

[SemperEadem]

3. unwillingness to take responsibility for their actions

they can blame satan when they do something stupid. I find something curious about fundamentalists--they seem to worship the idea (need?)for satan as much as they worship God.

[lightbulb]

19. Indeed - ever see the movie Hell House?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301235/

Easily one of the most frightening movies ever made. With an objective eye, the director lets the subjects parade and glorify their most secret and twisted passions, supposedly in the name of exalting their God. These people can't quite hide the glee they feel in playing roles such as the unrepentant AIDS patient bound for Hell, or the bleeding teenage victim of a botched abortion attempt. An all around nauseating watch, to be sure.

[LiberalEsto]

4. toilet training

Some theorize that rigid and authoritarian toilet training methods can emotionally scar young children. I've read somewhere that the Germans are particularly harsh at potty training their young.

Heck, I'll buy that.

But another factor is plain old fear. These people are scared shitless of ambiguity, and want rigid codes of conduct. I know two people who grew up in a very rigid Catholic family: one joined the military and the other became an ultra-Orthodox Jew. They went from authoritarian lifestyle to authoritarian lifestyle because that's what they're most comfortable with.

[mopaul]

5. in my brother's case, i gave him a hit of LSD

and he had a bad bad trip and was forever changed after seeing christ at sunrise. you can't make this stuff up. he then dragged my mom and dad into this cult. that was about 35 years ago.

i did the same acid, as did many of my friends, but we all enjoyed ourselves and went on to lead normal lives.

and you often hear the tale of someone who's reached the bottom emotionally, drugs, booze, adultery etc.

[Tafiti]

75. Holy shit, that's weird...

...my cousin became a holy-roller one day in college after he had taken acid! He said his roommate's girlfriend was a demon and she was trying to seduce him in the middle of the night while his roommate was asleep. He's been a Christian (you know, a REAL Christian) ever since. I guess there was some family influence there, too. My dad and two of his brothers, and a brother-in-law were all fundamentalist pastors at one point. As you might guess, it took me some time to shake off that kind of conditioning.

[K-W]

6. Lack of critical thinking skills.

I think that is the largest determining factor. This comes from lack of education or because the person for some reason refuses to practice it.

[murielm99]

15. Lack of education is a big part of it.

Often, there is another critical event that triggers it.

My parents are good examples. They are both high school dropouts.

When my brother was 18, he nearly died in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. Through a series of fortuitous events, he did live. He spent two years in rehab, and has had lasting health problems.

But my parents were sure his survival was an act of God. Never mind that his best friend died at the scene. The pain of Matt's loss had nothing to do with the miracle of my brother's survival.

My brother is 53 now. Our parents' religion has only gotten more firmly fundy over the years. None of us can stand it.

Through massive family effort, and my father's union background, we have kept them voting Democratic. (I think they may have voted for Reagan, though). They are still Democratic election judges, too.

I think my father is the worst of the two. My mother seems to go along with a lot of it, to keep the peace and protect her husband's peace of mind. But it is hell on the rest of the family.

My uncles have spoken up about it a few times. They all still attend a fairly traditional, not fundy, church. I understand that my father has been asked a few times, by the pastor, to curb his enthusiasm.

My parents are also quite elderly. They need certainty in an uncertain world. They need definite answers, not ambiguity. Fundamentalism makes them feel safe.

Fundy pastors have figured out the same thing that the Bushes have -- fear of the unknown keeps people in line.

[leftofthedial]

7. it's the fundamental wiring of the primate brain

as a species we have only incompletely begun to evolve past this.

it's pure tribal instinct. once the "tribe" is imprinted on someone's brain, the alpha monkey pulls the strings.

[mandyky]

8. fundies are to xtianity as 5%ers are to Islam,

what marines are to the military.

They think they are the elite, and that they are better than others of their kind. I was a Bible Baptist for awhile and when they told me other sects of xtianity were not really xtian, is when they started losing me. If these folks would concentrate less on hell and damnation and putting down others, and butt out of others business, they'd be tolerable. I see them as dangerous as the Taliban, and I refer to fundies as American Talibans.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. From people I know, I'd say that some of them grew up in

chaotic or dysfunctional or emotionally cold or shallow consumerist families, and they're looking for order, stability, predictability, a sense of belonging, and a sense of meaning.

Along come the fundamentalists, offering stability, predictability, a sense of belonging (as long as you toe the line), and ready-made explanations for everything.

[barb162]

44. there's a lot to what you write

and it is the easy explanations too. Whereas before, they might have thought why am I here, what is everything about, now they have a preacher telling them they are there to serve God, to follow Jesus, that there will be eternal life, blah, blah, blah. And if people are going through something difficult, like a divorce or something, I think this kind of thinking/easy explanations, offers a lot of comfort

[knitter4democracy]

73. That's been my experience

When my mom went evangelical (and I did too after a couple of years), it was very much because they gave her a family and support structure she needed as a single mom. I needed that too, as a messed up teenager, and even went to the church's college (Mount Vernon Nazarene College in Ohio). While going through all kinds of emotional and mental abuse at my dad's house, that faith and church support were comforting.

It was at college, where I saw the logical extension of the belief and social structure, when I turned away from it and went to Eastern Orthodoxy (a version of Christianity that emphasizes mystery and prayer--yes, there's a fundie element, but that's pretty easy to avoid). It's not that most fundies, evangelicals, and Pentecostals are stupid (some are), it's more that they need to have a strong family and faith structure to survive their lives. I met more messed up people at college than I ever thought possible, and they were all clinging to their faith as the only thing that could keep them going.

The problem is, it's a feedback loop: you feel crappy about your life, you go to church where people make you feel a part of something important and bigger than your problems, and then the preacher starts making you feel crappy about your life. So you go to the prayer rail, get surrounded by your church family to "help" you pray through the guilt or whatever, feel a bit better and not so alone, go home to your regular problems, and then it starts all over. Those people never get better, never find a way through the mess, just stay stuck in the pain and muck--but they have good friends at the church and do feel good sometimes after revivals or whatever, so they stay there. It's only after you leave it all behind that you start seeing it for what it is.

[KlatooBNikto]

10. If you look at the DU listing of topics just now the posting just under

yours says " Hard Work!". Is that coincidence? Or does Hard Work a la
George turn you into a fundamentalist? Or is it the nose candy? Or is it Rove's pestering? Or Karen Dominatrix? Who knows? Who cares?

[napi21]

11. I've only known one close enough to answer you.

My friend was a pretty worldly lady when we were close friends. We both smoked, drank, partied, and bitched about our husbands together. She got a new job, and her boss was a fundie...big time! I suppose part of it wwas spending 40 hours a week with this guy, who I'm sure spoke of the fundie beliefs almost the whole time. I don't know what he said, but she changed to someone who wouldn't enter a restaurant that served liquor (den of the devile ya know), only listened to fundie tapes (the kind where the preacher screams all the time), quit smoking, and prayed all the time.

Needless to say, our friendship fell apart, and her marriage almost did too.

This was about 18 years ago. I went back to that area to visit about 5 years ago and met with her and her hubby. She is still different than me, but I asked her hubby if she was still a religious radical. He said, naw, she's over that shit.

At least in this case, it was totally dependant on who she spent time with. The boss was very influential, and she was very easily swayed.

[patricia92243]

12. I'm a fundamentalist, but I DO NOT believe in mixing religion and politics

Fundamentalism is not the problem. The problem is trying to mix church and state - no matter what the religion.

Afghanistan is our example of when the state dictates religious values.

Christianity is of the heart - not of politics.

[K-W]

14. But that is not a consistant view.

You are compartmentalizing. I'm not trying to convince you to stop doing so, but just point it out. Unless you compartmentalize there is no reason for fundementalists to not mix politics and religion.

[atreides1]

17. Fundamentalism

A usually religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism.

If this describes you then you are a fundamentalist, if this description isn't you, then you're not a fundamentalist. You may be a Christian, but not a fundamentalist Christian.

And if you are a fundamentalist, then perhaps you're not at the right site.:)

[K-W]

18. Yah fundementlism is defined by the exclusion of anything else.

Including government.

[patricia92243]

21. Thank you for the invitation not to come here. I decine.

[atreides1]

24. All I said

Was perhaps you're not at the right site, I didn't say for you to go.

You're more then welcome to stay, but if you claim to be a fundamentalist at least stick to what that term means, unless of course you're really not a full fundamentalist.

But being half a fundamentalist is kind of like being half pregnant,
isn't it?

[salin]

54. Aok with me!

:thumbsup: Have known some very thoughtful fundamentalists... ala willing to wrestle with various issues with this liberal Christian... focusing on the teachings of Jesus. Cool as all get out, imo, as long as it is real. Have,sadly run into more &more folks these days who claim the religion but only seem to view Jesus as a card to salvation and thus believe that the actual teachings of Jesus are incidental and ignorable. Sadly I think these folks have taken the most visible roles (esp through media) and have come to represent 'fundamentalism' to much of the public.

[DemBones DemBones]

37. You have no right to tell someone s/he isn't at the right site.

Why are you trying to drive someone away? The Democratic Party does not tell its members what religion to practice, nor does DU.

I'm not a fundamentalist but I've known enough to know that not all fundamentalists are fanatics who want to interfere in others' lives.

[ulysses]

13. fear, yeah - but.

I'd add a kind of moral/intellectual laziness, too.

Some, though, are just lost. I knew a girl from first grade through high school - quite brilliant mathematically and open-minded, but she started searching for herself spiritually our senior year. Graduated with an actuarial degree and worked in the field for a few years, but I got a couple of emails from her a while back, and she's now a stay-at-home mom (not that there's anything inherently wrong with that), deeply conservative and fundie.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

25. Why would your friend become intellectually lazy?

You say that she was a good math student and very open minded, so what made her change? Your post is kind of freaky because I'm a stay at home mom, very open minded, and have always been good at math. Bizarre.

[ulysses]

28. no, I meant that she's among

those I consider just lost - which really doesn't have much to do with her having been a math whiz or now being a mom. I worded that poorly. I'm certainly not suggesting that you're a fundie aborning because you're a stay-at-home mom and good at math. :)

I just think that spirituality is a sort of demanding thing, but one that a lot of people approach without much of an idea about what the search might entail. It's easy to get sucked into the first thing that comes along that promises results, even for the relatively intelligent.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

31. I didn't think you were suggesting that at all.

I just thought it was rather strange coincidence. I understand that you mean intellectually lazy in terms of religion now. Thanks for clarifying.

[kwolf68]

20. Brain cleansing

There is not a more monolithic group of people in the nation today.

[slackmaster]

22. Fear, guilt, or nitrates added to food

:tinfoilhat:

[sweetheart]

23. I won't repeat, but from that other discussion...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2449043&mesg_id=2449141

In a sentence:
Fundamentalism is a pathological result of systematic abuse and
the lack of love and goodwill.

[Deja Q]

26. Fundamentalists for the opposing point of view.

n/t

[NeoConsSuck]

27. Laziness.

They don't want to take responsibility for their lives. So if their economic situation is dismal, it's because all their money goes to welfare slime and government 'programs' for the welfare.

The world hates us because of our freedoms. Not because we do anything wrong. Dissent is treasonous. Either wave the flag or get the fuck out.

Now quit asking me these librul questions. Just pass me a beer, Fear Factor is ready to start.

[LisaLynne]

29. Some people tend to fear ambiguity ...

I think fundamentalism offers them something unchanging and solid. They can't deal with the differing opinions and the mysteries of the world. Let's face it, none of us can know everything and there's always more to learn, which does tend to open one to other perspectives and ideas, which then must be considered against pre-existing beliefs. It's hard work and depending upon how serious the topic is, pretty disconcerting. For a lot of people, it's easier and more comfortable to just retreat into fundamentalism.

[Lexingtonian]

30. Inability to cope with the Modern world

Mentally/philosophically, that is, not technologically.

The Modern world is defined by theism being in failure. The theist's kind of God is a Nature/creator deity: but physical science has in this century kind of defined Him out of the world where He can be experienced, and if He's merely in some kind of retreat He is not exactly showing up much anymore where people most wish/demand of Him to- the concentration camps and such, most notably. This is also known as the 'Death of God' idea.

There are two responses. One is more or less identical with fundamentalism- pretend that the present is an aberration and the certainties people used to trust in are still intact. This is not a bad idea per se, but it has two defects. For one thing, it leads to a 'culture clash' with people who don't accept the interpretation, and while that's generally a minority or easy to ignore in numbers it's all the people who are genuinely intelligent, wise, functional, and most successful in Society. Secondly, the Old Religion tends to have plenty of internal defects and corruptions and contradictions in its authorities. Creationism would be the most pertinent (and bizarre) example of how far these people are willing to go to cocoon themselves from the Modern.

The second response is Modern life. It's hard to attain in pure or complete form because the world is still pretty full of the Old Religion and the people who have internalized parts of it and rejected others, with lots of transition phases as parts are tossed out and others retained (or, reembraced)- rationalism, atheism, agnosticism, scientism, 'liberal' sectarianism, etc (and lots of far less respectable ones). But when Modern life is attained, it tends to be non-theist or post-theist, more easily identified by a variety of ways of living/thinking generally categorizeable as 'humanism'. (The semantics of it all are pretty ambiguous.) The amusing part is that fundies consider it corrupt- but, ironically, the corruptions tend to be taken from the remnants of the Old Religion still knocking about.

Why people do choose the fundie way over the Modern is pretty clear- certainty in a complicated world. That it's an nonpermanent solution- the Modern is inescapable in the long run- is pretty clear too. In two or three generations the average American response to the survey question "Do you believe in God?" is going to be "That depends on what you mean by the word 'God'."

[Ezlivin]

32. For me it was a broken back

In 1980 I was run off the road by a car in military housing. I had just rotated off a mission off the coast of the Soviet Union (submarine). I was living in Hawaii, loving it and enjoying the flawless weather on my bicycle.

Boom. My life changed.

A sonarman on my boat gave me a book that dealt with The End Times. I ate it up. It had all sorts of stuff about the end times and the Book of Revelation. Almost like science fiction but, supposedly, all true and predicted in the Bible.

Lying in the most depressing room at Tripler Army Medical hospital for weeks "tuned" my mind to grasp for any hope at all. (The doctor had told me "You are never going to walk again.")

A few months later I'm at the Memphis VAMC, down the road from Bellevue Baptist Church, helmed by the fundamentalist Adrian Rogers. He was preaching on the End Times. I fell for it all.

Then seminary, a Master's degree in divinity, serving as a Pastor to Singles.

Now: A freethinker unencumbered by biblical rhetoric.

It's easier to explain how I became a fundamentalist than it is to explain how I "lost my salvation" and became a freethinker. Especially to ex-fellow church members.

[barb162]

41. well I would like to hear it if you feel able to talk about it

[Tafiti]

78. There's a good book on this topic...

...called Losing Faith in Faith by Dan Barker. He was a fundamentalist pastor, singer/songwriter (many songs he wrote he still receives royalties from) who is now an atheist. If you're interested in gaining insights to these types of people, this is a good book.

[Ladyhawk]

59. There was a moment when I almost went back to fundyism.

I had to go under general anesthesia 7 times in two weeks. I was terrified every time. When I woke up after the sixth time, I had a panic attack, wondering if I'd go to hell if I didn't wake up the next time.

Fear...plain and simple. Also, I was emotionally vulnerable.

The same religion that saves you, damns you.

[Iceburg]

33. Drug/Alcohol abuse ... I have yet to meet a fundamentalist

that didn't have a previous addiction problem.

[doc03]

39. I'll second that, most that I know hit rock bottom from drugs or booze.

[Iceburg]

47. And if the addiction hits them early ...

i.e. early teens and twenties -- the critical "education" years then the prospects of developing any substantial analytical skills are very dim.

[LanternWaste]

34. As for me, it was reflection, thought, observation and study

The honest definition refers to a Christian who holds five particular fundamental tenets of Christianity to be true and absolute. If that's what you're referring to, I've been a fundamentalist for fifteen years and still am.

Actually, nothing "made" me "turn" into one. It was a decision I came to after years of reflection, thought, observation and study.

If you're referring to the trendy, political definition (i.e, an "extremist"), I really can't answer as I would assume that is an extremely personal and deep decision people make, denying simple answers or empirical cause-effect ratios.

Since you don't know any, my suggestion would be to find and meet one (you might find one or two at a nearby church...) and ask him what causes were present that persuaded him to make that choice.

I would think that the causes are as deep and personal (maybe even more so, as it was in my case) as those that "make" a person a democrat or a republican, a libertarian or a socialist.

[DemBones DemBones]

43. What are the five fundamental truths you refer to?

I'm going to try to guess them, from some sermons I've heard. (I'm a Catholic, raised a mainstream Presbyterian, with the usual excursions into atheism and Buddhism.)

1. Belief that Jesus is the Son of God
2. Belief in the Virgin Birth.
3. Belief in the Resurrection.
4. Belief in the Trinity.
5. Believe in the Last Judgement (both a personal and a general judgement)

How'd I do?

[LanternWaste]

46. Pretty good, Bones.

Pretty good, Bones! :)

Biblical Inerrancy (plenary-verbal inspiration)
Crucifixtion and Resurrection of Christ
Virgin Birth
Substitutionary Death
Christ's Return

Pretty good, indeed! I have no prizes to give out, but if you ever come to Cancun, I'll tell you the really fun places to go... not the usual tourist nonsense :)

[DemBones DemBones]

62. Well, it figures that I left out Biblical inerrancy,

since I don't believe in it. Naw, I should have known that one on top of any other, it's the thing most associated with fundamentalism, IMO. (Maybe not, in yours.)

:spank: <smacking self for stupidity>

Maybe you can explain to me why fundamentalists (and Protestants in general) don't consider Mary the Mother of God, given that they're cool with the Virgin Birth tenet. To my knowledge, all Protestants believe in the Trinity. So if Jesus IS God, in the Trinitarian sense, and Jesus was "conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary" then Mary gave birth to God by giving birth to Jesus. Which makes her the Mother of God, doesn't it? I mean, where's the problem with that? It seems to follow quite logically from the Virgin Birth and the Trinity. Is it just that (some) Protestants mistrust anything if it's a "Catholic idea"? I know I was often presented with anti-Catholic propaganda in Protestant circles. Which just led me to check out Catholicism for myself, to see why it's such a threat to many Protestants.

:shrug:


I've never been to Mexico at all, alas. How do you like living in Cancun? Have you been there long?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

66. "Mother of God"

Protestants dislike that term because they misunderstand it as meaning "Mother of God the Father," i.e. more important than God.

Actually, observing the way some naive Catholics practice their religion, you'd infer that for them, Mary is more important than God.

[DemBones DemBones]

70. But if God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit

are God in three persons, blessed Trinity, than Mary gave birth to God the Son/the Holy Trinity -- but only after being impregnated by God the Holy Spirit/ the Holy Trinity. Mary was chosen to play this role in salvation history by God the Father/ the Holy Trinity, who evidently believed that it was essential to be born of a woman, and not just any woman, in order to be fully human and fully divine at the same time. It's all a mystery of faith, a tenet to be accepted (or not.)

O8)


Observing the way some naive Protestants practice their religion, you'd infer that for them, the Bible is more important than God.

O8)

Catholics believe that when Jesus, on the cross, told St. John "Behold your mother," indicating Mary, that He meant for all people to look on her as their mother, the mother of the church, as well as as his mother. Her role didn't end at Bethlehem.

[murielm99]

71. When I refer to someone as a fundy wingnut,

I am talking about the current movement that has arisen since the television evangelists rose to prominence.

After names like Robertson and Falwell became household words, those people began to sense their power. They formed political action committees. Robertson ran for president. Ralph Reed's role became blurred into a hybrid of politician and Christian.

They took over the large portions of the Republican party, adding their theology to the party platform.

I think it is probably much more correct to call them Christian extremists than it is to call them fundamentalists.

C.S. Lewis was a fundamentalist. He became a Christian through study and reading. His Christianity was an intellectual decision.

One of the best Christians I have ever known was a fundamentalist.

After I graduated from college, my first job was as a library cataloger for a school district. The library administrator I worked for was a Baptist. She was a fundamentalist who had come up through the ranks after attending a two year Bible college. She married at nineteen, and continued going to college while her husband became a pastor, acquired a PhD, and taught at a seminary. She lived her faith. She could explain almost any theological and Biblical point of view. But she and her husband both were very open minded about others' lifestyles and religious points of view. She had a divorced daughter. She accepted homosexuals. She was a Democrat, largely because Democrats represent working people and the poor.

She was not above proselytizing, in a gentle way. But it was because she wanted to share her joy in her faith.

I think the difference between her and the Christian extremists we see now is the politicization of Christianity, and the zealotry they display in trying to force everyone to to accept their rigid definition of of faith, and all the social conditions that they think have to be included as a matter of faith.

The exploitation of those extremists by the Republican party, and vice versa, is another matter entirely. It is not a healthy relationship. It is co-dependent.

Wasn't there an historian, someone who has been dead since the 1970's who studied the cyclical nature of religious revivals in the United States, and how those cycles followed economic boom and bust periods? Does anyone remember?

[Kimber Scott]

35. Fear of uncertainty. Fear of having to live without answers. Fear of

"other" people. Fear of each other. Fear of self. Fear of dying and nothing happening after that.

[Tigerlily]

38. Yes. Fear of uncertainty.

You beat me to it. :)

[Tigerlily]

36. My guess...

A need for certainty. A need to feel that one has found a permanent "answer". Maybe it numbs some of the inevitable pain that comes with being fully alive? Maybe it is "all of the above".

[LeinesRed]

40. I vote fear n/t

[The Straight Story]

42. Define

Fundy, I see it a lot, have an understanding of the term in general, but each person has a slightly different view on what the word means.

[DemBones DemBones]

45. Not all operating with the same definition creates problems.

Are Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses "fundies"?

What about the Holiness sects, including snake handlers?

[The Straight Story]

48. That is what I am trying to grasp

How one defines fundamentalism (not the dictionary version) - is it solely meant in a religious context, broader, and what does it mean. I see it bandied about a lot (and I don't mean that in a derogatory way) but have a different view and exposure to it than others (with regards to religious fundamentalists of the christian variety like pentecostals). My exposure to the word leads more to a definition involving how one interprets a specific text and applies it (and hence, is a narrow meaning of the word with relation to that exposure) but I can see a broader term (to which one could also apply to those of political leanings).

[Ladyhawk]

60. Fundies are people who put dogma before anything else.

I'd lump the snake handlers, JWs and Mormons into the fundy group. Anyone who believes a set of "fundamentals," regardless of any evidence presented to the contrary, is a fundamentalist. Some fundamentalist sects are more harmful than others. The ones that put dogma ahead of people are the worst.

[JVS]

49. Are we talking the "Jesus loves me" or the obsessive "brood on God" type?

[Zynx]

50. Fear and waning personal belief.

Fundies actually have quite weak beliefs. They have to believe all kinds of stuff as conditionals for being religious because they are so afraid that if they don't believe that they will go to hell. This isn't what Christ intended for his religion, but it is what the foul hand of man has done.

[DemBones DemBones]

51. I think that, typically, something happens in their lives to

fundamentally alter their perception of the world, something they feel helpless to cope with on their own.

The sudden death of a loved one, especially a child, particularly in an accident, by sudden illness, or by murder or suicide, drives some people to a strict religion (and others away from all religion.) Losing a job, being betrayed by a "friend," realizing you're never going to be rich like Donald Trump, being seriously injured, learning you have a terminal illness or a chronic disease, losing the person you love (spouse or SO), finally realizing nobody gets out of here alive, seeing an election stolen in your country -- all those things are possible causes for people to be seriously dissatisfied with their lives and ripe for conversion.

Along with John Lennon, I believe that "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" is a good thing for anyone in a time of need. What's sad is when someone imposes his or her beliefs on others, or tries to turn a country into a theocracy.

On the other hand, religious people have every right to try to convince others to believe the same wasy. It's the same thing that's done in politics. We all try to convince others to do what we believe is right. The problem is when people aren't willing to allow others to have different beliefs and opinions.

[Liberal Gramma]

52. Most religious people

have one predominant avenue of approach, that's why there are so many different denominations and creeds. Fundamentalists generally feel most comfortable with a clear and specific set of rules to follow to salvation, in my opinion. There are also people who cling to ceremony and tradition, and others who intellectualize their faith. Many roads, leading to the same place.

That said, my problem with many (not all) fundamentalists is that they don't want to allow me to choose my own road. They feel they have a lock on the truth, and everyone should follow their lead, hence their attempt to legislate morality.

[Astarho]

55. There's a cultural aspect too

I was debating with someone on another board about colonialism. He could not understand how it made people in the middle east turn to radical Islam. It was a waste of time, but made me realize that colonialism, like any other unwanted foreign or international influence tends to force people to embrace their own culture, sometimes to fanatical levels.

You can see this reaction throught history, and it doesn't have to be relgious. Communism spreads through Europe, in response, Mussolini's fascism which glorified Ancient Rome and Hitler's Nazism which glorified Germanic history.

People here turn to "Old Time Religion" because they see kids dancing to "bad" music. Science (which recognizes no national boundries) tells them al lot of their religion is wrong, and the modern world has allowed much greater and easier contact between cultures than ever before. Go into any large city and you can meet people of other nationalities and religions. It makes them more fanatical about their own religion.

Similar to the children of athiests who become fanantical Christians and the children of fundies who become fanatical athiests, only on a large scale.

[mitchum]

56. Fear and loathing

[Ilsa]

57. They've been bitten on the neck by another fundie.

It usually takes an incredibly disappointing and painful ordeal for them to come back to reality. At least, that's been my experience.

[Ladyhawk]

58. Fundies breeding with other fundies.

It's really hard to break free from this shit. I did it, but it was terribly hard. I lost my friends and any relationship I had with family. I still haven't picked up the pieces.

[nemo137]

61. You know, not all fundies are poorly educated jackass rednecks

My father, a very intelligent man, English teacher, now manages Youth Services at a library, is also a fundie. Why? How could this intelligent man, raised in a mainline Prostestant family, with an smart wife and two children, solid Democrat go fundie?

Despair.

My sister has a brain tumor, and is epileptic. My father didn't want to have risky surgery, so he turned toward faith healing, and got more into it from there.

All kinds of people get into fundementalist Christianity. Not all of them fit your mental conception of what a fundie is. Even amuong fundies, there's independent though, as eveidenced in how much my dad and I talk politics, and how much common ground we find. They're not all evil, really, I promise.

[DemBones DemBones]

63. It's sad that so many seem to pigeonhole them that way.

Some DUers are known to stereotype Christians and Southerners; they'd be embarrassed to realize how many black Christians there are in the South. Quite a lot of them are "fundy," too.

[Wapsie B]

65. That's so true.

I met a woman several years ago who is highly intelligent, educated and a hardcore Democrat to boot. She's also a fundie. In the past we've had many conversations about politics and religion and the dangers of mixing the two. I've met Pentecostals who've chosen to stay within their sect and change it from within. Even if you were to go into a church known for its conservative viewpoint on issues not every person sitting in every pew is going to have the same outlook on things.

[opihimoimoi]

67. Susceptibility to BS and Deception

Having an Emotional Leaning, Mankind has a percentage who fall for the silliest of shit....including things that are counter productive and dangerous.

[TankLV]

68. Hate, ujustified ego and superiority complex, need to be told what to do,

and to repeat to others and tell them what to do.

Their assholes consume their every being.

Shit for brains.

I could go on.

[flaminbats]

69. an inability to handle the truth...

also leading to fundamentalism is no driving interest in parts of the Bible along with other religions and their moral values. Many groups only embraced one interpretation of these teachings, which have been passed down in Greek or Hebrew, long before being translated into Latin or German.

[makeMyDaze]

72. 'whoever tells you otherwise must be the devil trying to trick you'

It's the 'whoever tries to convince you other than what we tell you is none other than the devil trying to trick you' mind trick which preachers use to trap the open minded one behind so that they in effect close their mind.
Have you ever tried to tell a fundie that the person who told them that was wrong? Automatically you are the one who is wrong. Doh!

[Ripley]

74. Drugs.

Seriously. My sister and one of my friends in college used to be big time into using and selling hard drugs (not together...different decades). Both of them are now total religious wackos and in the most selfish, hypocritical way they can be.

See, it's all about THEM. They got sick, scared, hurt or busted on drugs and found another escape to fill that void.

Frankly I don't see a lot of difference between the thinking of drug addicts and fundamental religious people.

[molly]

76. Brain death and laziness

it's so much easier and a lot less responsibility to have someone else do your thinking.

[deutsey]

77. Fear and uncertainties

People, especially battered by hardships, often want absolutes in a world fraught with uncertainty and too many shades of gray.