tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post2252047231616642512..comments2024-03-20T19:23:09.857+02:00Comments on Notes from underground: We have found the enemy and he is...Steve Hayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11283123400540587033noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post-62205012101508602612007-01-27T08:26:00.000+02:002007-01-27T08:26:00.000+02:00Dougald,
I have long thought that theological lib...Dougald,<br /><br />I have long thought that theological liberalism was linked to political conservatism, and your comments seem to bear that out.<br /><br />I saw something else that seemed to bear it out on one of the blogs I read -- I might blog on that, with suitable links. <br /><br />The problem I find with Fundamentalists (or other Christians) who espouse right-wing politics is that very often their theology is in conflict with their political views. Of course, we all do that to some extent. We like to say "Jesus is Lord", except over the parts of our lives or opinions where we think we know better. <br /><br />But, as Barth suggests, eventually one will become aware of what people sometimes call "cognitive dissonance", and that happened with some people in the Gereformeerde Kerk.Steve Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11283123400540587033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post-38599396782527197382007-01-27T03:05:00.000+02:002007-01-27T03:05:00.000+02:00I like that Barth story a great deal.
For a while...I like that Barth story a great deal.<br /><br />For a while, I worshipped at a large "progressive" Anglican church whose vicar was very much engaged in a war against fundamentalism. I found it uncomfortably similar to my earlier experiences of the kind of church he saw as "the enemy". Not least at the point at which he called me "an intellectual defender of fundamentalism" because I spoke positively about Radical Orthodoxy. I began to feel like his Jesus would have denounce the Pharisees, then turned round to the Sadducees and told them they had it all right.<br /><br />My friend <a href="http://www.sebastianmary.com">Sebastian Mary</a> invented the word "goom" to describe the way people invest importance in something, irrespective of whether that importance stems from love or hate. When you're in love with someone, you goom them. But when you protest against someone, you also goom them. So when we focus all our energy on fighting fundamentalism, we're actually gooming it. And the more goom something gets, the more power it has over you. (In fact, I think gooming something is very similar, in one sense, to worshipping it.)Dougald Hinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13454824557311085039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post-39510018136578287492007-01-24T04:19:00.000+02:002007-01-24T04:19:00.000+02:00Thanks heaps for doing the Blogging Survey - I app...Thanks heaps for doing the Blogging Survey - I appreciate your thought out comments Steve (and your blog!).<br /><br />Hey do you want me to link your blog???Pamela J Weatherillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09523938513244256801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post-10098295914997820232007-01-23T17:02:00.000+02:002007-01-23T17:02:00.000+02:00I wouldn't have thought Fundamentalism was superst...I wouldn't have thought Fundamentalism was superstitutious -- rationalist, maybe. I don;t agree with it, but I don't see much point in demonifying Fundamentalism or Fundamentalists. That takes us back to the religious wars of 17th-century Europe, and smacks a bit of a witchhunt (you probably know about those!)<br /><br />We had things like that here in the 1960s -- there was a "People's congress to combat Communism", and there was a lot of real rabbl;e-rousing stuff. But all it showed was that those who were against it were as bad as what they were raving against.Steve Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11283123400540587033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post-56883972500167617792007-01-23T14:40:00.000+02:002007-01-23T14:40:00.000+02:00Thanks for this observation. When someone has bee...Thanks for this observation. When someone has been burned by the institutions of superstitious Christianity it can be easy to write them off.Pastor Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07344719487413688550noreply@blogger.com