Religious zealotry: terrorists’ #1 recruiting tool.

Nah that would allude toward civility and morality.

God forbid we have a civilized society!!1!1!1

Christian-based ideological USA imperialism that spawns enemies? Yes let’s stop that. It seems to never end. See Afghanistan for latest example.

great idea!

Just gonna put in a Christianity plug and note that fundamentalism for us (at least...the sensible among us) IS a free and peaceful society.

:)

Umm, fundamentalism in general is bad. It means you try aggressively to convert everyone, there’s a theocratic government with no freedom of religion, etc. I don’t have a problem with you being Christian, but fundamentalism I bad no matter what religion.

According to Google, the simplicity of which I feel removes the need for me to cite this (just type 'fundamentalism' into the box) it is a strict interpretation of a religion's base teachings. The basis of Christianity is determined, but peaceful, adherence to Christ's example as we live our own lives. Nothing therein requires aggressive conversion of others, for indeed you CANNOT truly force someone to believe something.

And many times more have upheld the way of peace for the last two thousand years. What's your point?

Unfortunately not enough to prevent the spilling of more blood than any other religon, ideology, country, goverment, organization, cause, or whatever in history.

Perhaps then the simplcity of simply reading a history book might be, well, too simple for you to do, but perhaps if you can spare the time?

Quakers.

Name one totally free and peaceful society period. Nobody is perfect. That's just the reality of being human.

This is Christian fundamentalism; there are countless other stories like these, often the children don't survive.

"The Followers of Christ is a religious sect that preaches faith healing in states such as Idaho, which offers a faith-based shield for felony crimes – despite alarming child mortality rates among these groups

Mariah is 20 but she’s frail and permanently disabled. She has pulmonary hypertension and when she’s not bedridden, she has to carry an oxygen tank that allows her to breathe. At times, she has had screws in her bones to anchor her breathing device. She may soon have no option for a cure except a heart and lung transplant – an extremely risky procedure."

No, that's not fundamentalism at all. That's American Protestantism, which is already a VERY aggressive manifestation of Protestantism, which is in turn FAR more 'simplistic/extreme' than the Catholic Church, AKA the OG Christianity and therefore its fundamental form.

Those folks you mentioned are not 'strict'. They're extremists who make the all-too-common mistake of trying to make the Bible something it fundamentally is NOT. It tells us how to get to Heaven, not how the heavens work (I.E, not how science works). That's an oversimplification because I sincerely doubt you're invested enough in Christianity to make the nuances worth discussing.

The point is that you are mistaking radicals for fundamentalists. The definitions are *similar*, but very much NOT identical.

Gee, no, it's not like history was my college focus or like I know anything about my Faith. I just spout words without ever sourcing my views...yeah, that makes perfect sense and totally describes me. 🙄

My point isn't that the Church has never done anything wrong ever. My point is that Christian fundamentalism is NOT Christian extremism, and anyone who mistakes the two needs to seriously reevaluate their understanding of Christianity's history in general.

I should elucidate; I'm not trying to bash all Protestants here. Not all of them are simplistic or extremists, and indeed I'd argue most aren't. But the story in America has ALWAYS been one of a very simplistic and aggressive manifestation of Protestantism, and that HAS to be taken into account when we discuss matters like this at any point in the nation's history.