Thursday, September 17, 2009

Liberal fundamentalists

Rowland Croucher writes:

Frances McNabb probably never preaches, these days, without including what he's against, or without using terms like 'myth', which can be very confusing to layfolk. I call this aggressive anti-conservative approach 'liberal fundamentalism'.

I think "liberal fundamentalism" is unfair. In my experience, fundamentalists are those who seek to force their views on others. A classic example is tacitly or openly prolonging injustice against those they don't agree with in the hope the hardship will encourage them to change their minds. Denying people communion is another common tactic. I think the people Rowland mention's immediately following this quote are certainly strong advocates for a liberal perspective, and they do pursue this mainly through addressing the faults in the conservative perspective. I don't think this makes them fundamentalists.

On another note, it really is so much easier to describe what progressives don't believe rather than what they do believe. This is not because the beliefs are less well defined, it is because a core component of progressive belief is accepting that our current knowledge is limited. Thus any statement we make about God will certainly not capture the full nature of God and will be open to change as our knowledge of and relationship with God develops over time.

Thus, for example, we can confidently say God is not an old man inhabiting some physical place above the sky, but it is much more difficult to describe what God is.