Goliath

Fred Phelps will (tomorrow, IIRC) be visiting Fargo to protest a NDSU-UNC game (something to do with the fact that both universities support "Safe Way," which is some kind of counseling and support service for homosexuals). There has been a lot of hub-bub around Fargo because of the Phelps protest. People keep saying that fundamentalists in general, and especially hate-mongers like Phelps are "a vocal minority."

However, it seems to me as though fundamentalists in general are gaining numbers and support with each passing second. I'm honestly not sure anymore as to whether or not fundamentalists are a minority. Certainly, Phelps supporters are in the minority (for now), but can the same be said for fundies in general?

Sincerely,

Goliath

sakrilege

From ReligiousTolerance...

<a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/us_rel.htm" target="_blank">Religious Makeup of the United States</a>

Perchance

Hi Goliath,

I'm not sure about the minority part, but I do think the reason fundamentalists seem to be such a large part of everyday life is at least partially due to their vocal nature. All the theists I know offline who are fundamentalists talk much more about God, going to church, converting others, their own conversions, and so on.

Perhaps there are many liberal Christian churches, but I wish they would speak up more, so as not to let their religion be defined by the fundamentalists.

-Perchance.

Rusting Car Bumper

My limited impression.. from the middle of one spot in the Bible Belt.. is the other way around. It's not like they are dropping off quickly but I don't see them as growing in numbers.

Heck I even have a couple of conservative religious friends who believe in some of the religion and morality connection stuff. When we were having coffee and chatting, they all nodded when someone said "Those fundamentalists will be the death of this country." I took that as an indication that many Christians don't like the fundamentalist Christian stuff.

DC

Bree

I think it really depends on where you are.

In my area the numbers are steadily growing - especially since 9/11. The fundamentalist religious groups did a very good job at recruiting by playing off people's fears about the future. People who were formerly fence-sitters were dragged into the fray and found themselves given an opinion about certain things.

I personally think neutrality is the worst thing when it comes to fundamentalism. People who say 'I don't care one way or another' can be recruited into saying 'I don't care one way or another' about other things.

ex-idaho

I think the reason we feel that they are so numerous and powerful is the willingness of Americans to beleive that religion is a good thing. The typical American will not question a persons beliefs, they are just happy that the person believes. This allows people with far out and downright dangerous ideas to pepetuate this behavior.

While tolerance is in essence a good thing it does have a boundry. We should tolerate the beliefs of others to a point. If those beleifs are diesigned to incite hatred or fear then we should stand up put those people in their place.

DigitalDruid

Yeah, I guess so. Here in Florida, Christian radio hosts have started agonizing over how the boost in church attendance following 9/11 has now all but evaporated.

But who knows, probably a war is all that is needed to get the herd back in - atleast for a while? Christian radio here is now awash with frequent and fiery referrals to prophetic and inevitable "just war" with Iraq. Looks like the stock market and the church view uncertain times differently.

Gregg

It's hard to tell which way it will go. Some people seem to think that the basic American character is such that ultimately, most people will reject fundamentalism. However, I'm not sure that the basic American character is what it used to be. It's been almost three generations since Americans had to face any real adversity. Many Americans know next to nothing about history. They don't seem to understand how easy it is for religion...ANY religion...to become corrupt, intolerant, and oppressive. You would think that 9/11 would have been seen as the ultimate warning of the dangers of fundamentalism, but many people didn't seem to learn a damn thing from it. No way a fundamentalist Christian theocracy could ever be even half as bad as an Islamic theocracy, I guess.

However, I do suspect that we may begin to see a split between political conservatives and Christian conservatives. See, political conservatives say that they love this country and want to protect it. Christian conservatives say the same thing, but ultimately their loyalty is not to their country to their god and what they think is their god's plan, namely Armageddon. I think as the political conservatives begin to see that the Christian conservatives are really serious about this End Times business, about starting a nuclear war over Israel in order to fulfill biblical prophecy, they are going to start publically disavowing that stuff. Because, in the end, I don't think Rush, O'Reilly, Hannity, et. al. really want to see their beloved country nuked for someone's religious agenda.

Gregg

lpetrich

I'm not sure about that, Gregg, because right-wingers have a great skill at constructing Machiavellian "alliances". I mean by that something like the Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact.

I ate Pascal's Wafer

In my limited experience, it seems like fundies are in the minority. Most xians I know keep quiet about their beliefs and aren't too vocal about it. They even make comments about how looney the rabid fundies are, and don't like being associated with them. However, these xians aren't very vocal about their beliefs. It just isn't an issue to them, so they don't seek discussion online or in person.

However, the fundies are very vocal about it. They live every waking moment of their lives thinking about their invisible friend, and they don't mind talking about it in real life and online. Thus they seem like a majority when they really aren't.

Just my $0.02.

-Nick