Fundy educations

"This was a world far removed from the mild Methodist devotion of my infant baptism, but I conformed to it quickly." This quote couldn't be more true for me, but they are the words of Christine Rosen, author of My Fundamentalist Education: A Memoir of a Divine Girlhood.

The difference between Rosen's indoctrination and mine is that I embraced fundamentalism at age 18 when I went away to college rather than when I was in Kindergarten. The reason I chose a fundamentalist college was because I wanted to know God and to escape the demons that I knew from life to that point, and I figured that going someplace with strict rules and lifestyle standards would beat the Hell right out of me. Of course, I learned that while fundies place a lot of emphasis on outward appearance, they also have a mostly accurate view of scripture. And it's from within scripture that I learned that only faith in Christ would draw me closer to God, not rules.

Perhaps being an adult when I embraced fundamentalism made it easier to turn away from it while still in college (philosophically anyway). In any case, I learned that fundamentalism isn't God, and I never left my faith in Christ. Unfortunately, many people equate the two and wind up throwing the whole kit and kaboodle on the same trash heap.

I recognized many of the situations Rosen writes about. Certain aspects of fundamentalism are the same regardless of age:

• The Bible is to be taken literally in every instance, except when it mentions wine, in which case it really means "grape juice."
  
• Your outward appearance can and will either draw others to Christ, or cause them to turn away, so don't cuss, smoke, drink, or chew, or go with girls that do.
  
• No dancing. Ever. This is a non-negotiable. I learned that this was because it would lead to "other things" (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). I figured that logic would dictate that that dancing was perfectly acceptable after marriage, since the "other things" were not only acceptable, but encouraged. I was wrong. Dancing is still bad.

There are others, but those are my favorites. The aspects of the fundy culture I had never experienced myself I knew of vicariously thanks to my lovely fundy-trained wife, who grew up going to fundy schools all the way through high school. More than once while reading this book I burst out in laughter saying, "did you guys do that?" Her hollow stare back said it all.

That's not to say that I dislike fundamentalists. I am related to fundamentalists that I love. I was taught the Bible and other subjects by fundamentalists. I learned what it was to grow in Christ because of that teaching.

What I reject, and what I never fully embraced, is the "circle the wagons" mentality that permeates the fundy culture. I always felt that insulating themselves (indeed, often throwing up barriers) from the rest of the world keeps people at arm's length and usually pushes people away from the very gospel they are trying to share. I offended friends and relatives by dispensing my moral rectitude upon all that would listen in an effort to see them come to Christ. Some of those relationships are still broken.

Rosen's portrait is free from animosity and often humorous. She supplies a "where are they now" chapter at the end where she offers fond updates on her friends and teachers that are featured in the book, and tells a little of her now fully secular life. Still, she makes it clear that she respects and even appreciates the education she received as a child and credits fundamentalism with her forays into intellectual pursuits later in life. It makes me sad, however, whenever I hear or read about someone turning from their faith; whether because they just decide they don't believe it, or because of the extremes they have experienced at the hands of well-intentioned people.