A reply to John Piper
1. They are humble and respectful and courteous and even funny (the ones I've met).
- The only humble and respectful fundamentalists I've ever met are the ones on the verge of leaving the church, or would if they wouldn't be ostracized by their family and friends for doing so. Very humble and respectful, that.
2. They believe in truth.
- No, that would be scientists, who test and re-test until they know the truth. These people believe in mythology
3. They believe that truth really matters.
- If they did they wouldn't vilify science.
4. They believe that the Bible is true, all of it.
- They have trouble distinguishing fact from fiction
5. They know that the Bible calls for some kind of separation from the world.
- Which is why they want the entire world to act exactly like them.
6. They have backbone and are not prone to compromise principle.
- There's a term for religion without compromise in another language. Jihad.
7. They put obedience to Jesus above the approval of man (even though they fall short, like others).
- Because their invisible friend matters more than real people.
8. They believe in hell and are loving enough to warn people about it.
- Try "Are cruel enough to inflict mental and emotional suffering by condemning others to eternal torture."
9. They believe in heaven and sing about how good it will be to go there.
- And going there matters so much more than trying to make this world a better place.
10. Their "social action" is helping the person next door (like Jesus), which doesn't usually get written up in the newspaper.
- So long as the person next door meets their standard for morality. Be too gay or too brown or the wrong kind of poor or the wrong kind of Christian or anything else and you're undeserving and out of luck.
11. They tend to raise law-abiding, chaste children, in spite of the fact that Barna says evangelical kids in general don't have any better track record than non-Christians.
- "In spite of the fact". Key word, fact. Try this article on for size: "Red Sex, Blue Sex: Why do so many evangelical teenagers become pregnant?" Or this one: By the numbers. A cut from that one
RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION IN U.S. FEDERAL PRISONS
There are many uncontrolled variables here, and many ways to account for the interesting discrepancies. What’s your favorite explanation?Religious identification…………% of prison pop. (% of U.S. pop.)Catholic………………………………………33.8% of prison pop. (25% of U.S. pop)
Mainline Protestant……………………32.1% (31%)
Muslim…………………………………………6.6% (0.5%)
Other denominations……………………5.6% (N/A)
American Indian Spirituality……………4.0% (<0.1%)
No preference indicated..................3.3% (N/A)
Nation of Islam...............................2.4% (N/A)
Rastafarian......................................2.3% (<0.1%)
Church of Christ................................2.1% (1.2%)
Jewish..............................................1.7% (1.3%)
Moorish.............................................1.3% (N/A)
Pentecostal.......................................1.3% (2.1%)
Buddhist............................................0.9% (0.5%)
Jehovah's Witness............................0.7% (0.6%)
Adventist............................................0.5% (0.3%)
Santeria..............................................0.5% (<0.1%)
Orthodox Christian..............................0.3% (0.3%)
Mormon...............................................0.3% (1.3%)
Christian Science................................0.2% (<0.1%)
Hindu...................................................0.1% (0.4%)
Atheist………………………………………0.09% (8.0%)
Sikh…………………………………………………0.04% (<0.1%)
Bahai.................................................0.009% (<0.1%)
Hare Krishna.......................................0.008% (<0.1%)
12. They resist trendiness.
- I want to be a member of this church....no, this church....no, this one....no this! Now let's all wear skirts, read Jane Austin and make up our homemaking binders together.
13. They don’t think too much is gained by sounding hip.
- Two words: Mars Hill
14. They may not be hip, but they don’t go so far as to drive buggies or insist on typewriters.
15. They still sing hymns.
- Aw, that's nice
16. They are not breathless about being accepted in the scholarly guild.
- Because they know the scholars wouldn't accept them. See above re: truth.
17. They give some contemporary plausibility to New Testament claim that the church is the “pillar and bulwark of the truth.”
- And yet so many of them don't follow the Gospels. They prefer the Old Testament and Paul and skip right over the red-letter parts.
18. They are good for the rest of evangelicals because of all this.
- Yep, they're dragging them all down together
19. My dad was one.
- Oh, that's nice too.
20. Everybody to my left thinks I am one. And there are a lot of people to my left.
- Including me.
