# How many Christians are Fundamentalist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 1, 2002, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796 "2002-08-01T01:46:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![garcolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aca169/32.png) [@garcolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garcolga)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/1 "2002-08-01T01:46:59Z")
After noodling around on the 'net, I gave up looking and thought I’d come here and ask. Does anyone know where I can find information on the percentage of Christians in the US who believe the Bible to be free of error? I guess what I’m really asking is what percent of Christians are Fundamentalist. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/2 "2002-08-01T02:08:07Z")
I’m sure you realize how difficult it is to answer that question. After all, you have to define fundamentalism and I have a feeling a lot of people have different ideas about that. I’m not even sure that biblical inerrancy is a necessary qualifier. (I’ve always assumed that was a key point myself) It may help to look at the site below. (not a link) www.gc.cuny.edu/studies/key\_findings.htm This is a survey of Americans regarding religion. It breaks things down pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/3 "2002-08-01T02:09:17Z")
Oh. I guess it is a link. D’oh! ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/4 "2002-08-01T10:01:49Z")
According to [this link](http://logosresourcepages.org/tim-5.html), the World Congress of Fundamentalists espoused this definition in 1976:- > [@](#): > > A Fundamentalist is a born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ who– > > Maintains an immovable allegiance to the inerrant, infallible, and verbally inspired Bible. > > Believes that whatever the Bible says is so. > > Judges all things by the Bible and is judged only by the Bible. > > Affirms the foundational truths of the historic Christian Faith: The doctrine of the Trinity; the incarnation, virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection and glorious ascension, and Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; the new birth through regeneration by the Holy Spirit; the resurrection of the saints to life eternal; the resurrection of the ungodly to final judgment and eternal death; the fellowship of the saints, who are the body of Christ. > > Practices fidelity to that Faith and endeavors to preach it to every creature. > > Exposes and separates from all ecclesiastical denial of that Faith, compromise with error, and apostasy from the Truth. > > Earnestly contends for the Faith once delivered. This is, to put it mildly, a minority position within Christianity as a whole. The largest Christian denomination - Roman Catholicism - does not subscribe to these views; neither do most of the mainstream Protestant congregations (such as the Church of England, of which I’m a member). Fundamentalists are a very vocal and militant minority within Christianity as a whole, but they are very much a minority. ---
**Author:** ![garcolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aca169/32.png) [@garcolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garcolga)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/5 "2002-08-01T13:39:24Z")
Thanks photopat & Steve Wright for a couple of good sites. They’ll come in handy. ---
**Author:** ![quixotic78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3ab097/32.png) [@quixotic78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quixotic78)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/6 "2002-08-01T16:33:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by photopat \* > \*\*I’m sure you realize how difficult it is to answer that question. After all, you have to define fundamentalism and I have a feeling a lot of people have different ideas about that. I’m not even sure that biblical inerrancy is a necessary qualifier. (I’ve always assumed that was a key point myself) > > It may help to look at the site below. (not a link) > > www.gc.cuny.edu/studies/key\_findings.htm > > This is a survey of Americans regarding religion. It breaks things down pretty well. \*\* I just want to re-emphasize **photopat** ’s point, based on the link he provided. The first table on that page says that there are 61,000 Fundamentalists in the United States, but I think that’s because “Fundamentalist” is something of a derisive term. I’d wager that a not-insignificant percentage of “Baptists” are Biblical Innerants (which is close enough to “Fundie” for me) – perhaps 30-50%. I’d also be wary of the “Protestant – no denomination supplied” guys and the “Christian – no denomination supplied.” Back when I was a Fundie, if I were to be asked what my religion was, I’d often answer that I’m not religious, but am a Christian. (Which, incidentally, is now one of my biggest pet peeves, now that I’m an apostate… after all, if Christianity isn’t a religion, what is??) Churches of Christ tend to be Literalists, as would Seventh-Day Adventists (with some other odd dogma thrown into the mix), Assemblies of God (who are Pentacostal), Church of God, Born Again, and probably two or three more on that list. IOW, yeah, it’s tough to nail down how many Fundies there are, but I guarantee you that it’s WAY more than 61,000… perhaps more by a factor of 10. Quix ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/7 "2002-08-01T16:43:53Z")
[hijack] If there are people who consider themselves Christian but not religious, what do they think “religious” means? I’m not trying to make a point - I’m genuinely curious. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/8 "2002-08-01T17:20:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by quixotic78 \* > \*\* > I’d wager that a not-insignificant percentage of “Baptists” are Biblical Innerants (which is close enough to “Fundie” for me) – perhaps 30-50%. \*\* Have to say it: _cite?_ (I know there are some very hard-line Baptist congregations, but I find those percentages rather hard to credit.) > [@](#): > > \*\* > I’d also be wary of the “Protestant – no denomination supplied” guys and the “Christian – no denomination supplied.” \*\* My first reaction, on seeing anyone classify their religion this way, would be to assume that they’re non-churchgoers who rarely think about religion at all - the “Christian-by-default” types. It seems more likely than some sort of Fundamentalist Fifth Column. Incidentally, in my experience (which may be limited, I admit), Fundamentalists do not regard the “Fundamentalist” label as pejorative. > [@](#): > > \*\* > IOW, yeah, it’s tough to nail down how many Fundies there are, but I guarantee you that it’s WAY more than 61,000… perhaps more by a factor of 10. > > Quix \*\* That would still make them a very small minority of Christians, both in the US and in the world at large. ---
**Author:** ![quixotic78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3ab097/32.png) [@quixotic78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quixotic78)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/9 "2002-08-01T18:26:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > **Have to say it: _cite?_ [That’d be for me claiming that 30-50% of Baptists are “Fundies” – Quix]** Well, okay, let’s look at the Southern Baptist website, which says that there are [15.9 million Southern Baptists.](http://www.sbc.net/aboutus/default.asp) Furthermore, [they believe that](http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfm2000.asp#i) > [@](#): > > The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. 15.9 million is 47% of the 33.8 million total Baptists given on **photopat** ’s website. I said 30-50%, which allows some leeway for non-unilateral thinking in the Southern Baptist community, as well as Literalist thinking in non-Southern Baptist Baptists. \*\* > [@](#): > > Incidentally, in my experience (which may be limited, I admit), Fundamentalists do not regard the “Fundamentalist” label as pejorative.\*\* Eh, perhaps you’re right. Fundie is definitely perjorative, but not necessarily Fundamentalist. \*\* > [@](#): > > That would still make them a very small minority of Christians, both in the US and in the world at large. \*\* Well, roughly 10% of the Christians in the US, and much smaller in the world at large. But no other primarily Christian nation seems to be as gung-ho about religion as the US is… perhaps because they do not have 10% Fundamentalists. Quix ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/10 "2002-08-01T18:44:33Z")
So many that it boggles my mind. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/11 "2002-08-01T20:50:25Z")
Count me as one. ---
**Author:** ![JS\_Princeton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@JS\_Princeton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JS_Princeton)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/12 "2002-08-02T20:42:30Z")
Not all groups that are fundamentalists are labeled as fundamentalists. For one, many Conservative Anabaptist groups believe in biblical inerrancy but are not necessarily the “born again”-types. This, of course, poses the question of what “born again” means. Also, there are biblical-inerrancy groups out there who are extremely liberal and therefore, most so-called “fundamentalists” would not see fit to include them within their group. If you want to see the aboved-cited group’s version of Chick Tracts, look at [this website](http://godstuffcomix.com/). It’s not exactly the friendliest, but it is absolutely worth the effort to examinine some of their work. ---
**Author:** ![JS\_Princeton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@JS\_Princeton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JS_Princeton)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/13 "2002-08-02T20:46:35Z")
[here is a good tract example](http://godstuffcomix.com/Christian_not_religious/intro.html) for all those that are intimidated by directory structures. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-christians-are-fundamentalist/121796/14 "2002-08-03T17:16:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by quixotic78 \* > \*\*15.9 million is 47% of the 33.8 million total Baptists given on **photopat** ’s website. I said 30-50%, which allows some leeway for non-unilateral thinking in the Southern Baptist community, as well as Literalist thinking in non-Southern Baptist Baptists. > > * * * You aren’t kidding. Also, please note that within the denomination, individual churches aren’t bound to follow Nashville’s (where the SBC has it’s HQ) dictates.