Now, there are a few people here at the SDMB who feel that Christians are unfairly picked on (DITWD, I’m looking in your direction). If you get your dander up when you see terms like “Fundie” and “Jeezoid” keep in mind the people in this article are whom most of us are referring to. If you still take exception to the “derogatory” terms then lets see you defend Christians who are “following the Bible’.
I wasn’t sure if this belongs in The Pit or in GD. Knowing how these things work out, I chose The Pit.
That’s exactly why their dander is up, big guy. Read the article… does it say anything about this guy being a Fundamentalist? I’m certainly not a Fundie-phile, but they’ve got enough issues without you tacking on ones that don’t really pertain to them.
I don’t know if I’d lump this guy in with most “devout” Christians. He was nothing but a first class, grade-A, freakin’ nut job. He just happened to use the Bible as an excuse.
I’m not defending “fundies”, but most whom I’ve dealt with here aren’t of that mind. For the most part fundamentalist, in their minds, are trying to do good and spread a belief they hold dear. I ignore them for the most part, as is my right.
You’ll be hard pressed to find a sane Christian who advocates torturing your children so they don’t grow up to kill you.
I feel compelled to point out that only the kid’s names and the dad’s quote makes this a newsworthy event. If these kids were names Bob and Ted and the dad didn’t mention proverbs, this would not have been picked up by any major newsource.
So adam yax, have you read the bible? I assure you there are scarier things in the old testament. Rules for selling your children into slavery and stoning people for various offences come readily to mind. But then anyone who lumps together and judges several million christians and jews by the actions of one undefined lunatic probably does not know what he is really talking about. Please don’t post again until you’ve got two neurons to rub together.
Bah. Overreaction abounds in this thread. Where to begin…
Probably the fact that this issue comes up in every Christian debate/Pit thread on the board, and the standard answer is “When we say ‘Fundies’, we refer to those who act like fucking assholes.” Scan about, most notable was Satan’s Pit thread (that was in Threadspotting for a while) titled something like “Get off my plane, you bible-thumpers” or something like that.
Which is what is meant by “Fundies”… nutjobs who use the Bible/christian dogma to excuse their horrible behavior. If you are Christian, and you have a shred of common sense, then you are not being referred to when the term “Fundies” is used.
Find someone who DID lump several million christians and jews by the actions of one undefined lunatic. You CAN’T. Reread the OP… especially this part:
He’s specifically saying that he is not referring to all Christians. He is referring to the fucking nutjobs who call themselves Christians. Got it now? Good. I hate when this needs to be explained every time one of these threads start up.
Hold the phone there Spoofey. I’ve seen threads along the lines of this:
“Damn Fundies always preaching to me, like I want to hear that shit!”
Now, I don’t want to be preached to either, but being preached to isn’t quite the same thing as shackling your children to bedposts and beating the shit out of them.
I’m all for your definition of what a “Fundie” is if the people who are pissing all over them will hold to it to.
I’m sorry…which is it…annoying bible thumpers on planes who act like assholes…trying to preach/save others (and yes I find them annoying also…) OR nutjobs who chain kids to bedposts…do you equate the 2?
The guy in the OP is a fundie, as in, “Can you believe how awful a person this fundie is?”
The person who preaches at me is a fundie as in “Get off my plane, you mind-melded zealot fundie!”
Yes, one is reprehensible. The other is merely annoying and interrupting my rights to be free from religion and/or assholes.
Different breeds of fundie, yes, but fundies nonetheless.
That said, Navigator is a Christian who is a literalist and a Fundamentalist. He is neither reprehensible, nor is he an asshole. We will talk about God, but he respects me enough as a person to do so on my terms.
Hence, I would not call Navigator a Fundie unless I was joking with him - since he is a friend, he would know the difference. He’d call me a heathen just as quickly, I think, in a similar tone and manner.
Now, some people seem to think that the word “fundie” is the same as an ethnic slur. I do not share this view, for a simple reason: A racist sees a black man and, whether this person is dressed like a gangsta rapper or a Wall Street businessman, a word such as "nigger’ might come into their head. If a homophobic person does not like gays, the minute thy find out that a guy likes innies instead of outies, he will have contempt for that “faggot.”
Whereas most Christians are totally cool, and the mere fact that you are Christian or even a Southern Baptist (such as StrTrkr, who I think is awesome) does not make you a “fundie.” Even having views that many Fundamentalists share does not in and of itself make you a “fundie” - After all, 'Gator and StrTrkr both probably share a lot of the same opinions on some issues as the folks who are the target of ridicule.
They, however, are not assholes who annoy me, nor do they break the law in the name of God like the asshole in the OP (something which would probably draw the ire from both parties I use as examples).
Therein lies the difference. Are we clear now, kids?
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Nutjobs. Assholes. People who act stupid AND just happen to be Christian. In Satan’s thread, it was a large group of people who were very loud and annoying to the general population (and in the very cramped environment of a plane, this is just plain - teehee - rude). The example in the OP is a VERY EXTREME example of “nutjob”.
Yep…I know some folks who use the word fundie as short for “fundamentalist”…it appears you apply a different meaning to the term (which also makes sense to me)
For me (non fundie and non fundamentalist)…the term nutjob seems a more apt description of the moron who chains kids to a bedpost
You know, I just went through this elsewhere. And I thought it hadn’t been addressed before. I looked around a bit. Now it’s sounding like a broken record. Such is the journey from newbie to reg, I guess.
In hind site I am glad that I posted this in the Pit and not in GD.
I hate having to clarify my posts here, but it needs to be done. What I wanted when I started this thread is somebody (I used DITWD as an example) who as a Christian could defend the father in the link. My theory was that enen though the father claimed that he was acting in a biblical manner, nobody could dare to defend him. Yes, had the father not mentioned the gospels or bible, this thread doesn’t start.
It looks that nobody has exactly leapt to the fathers defence here. My point is that the father, in using the bible as an excuse, is a jeezoid or a fundie. He is not doing things that most of us consider constructive, and he using the bible as a justification.
And I have a theory that if I fire bombed Disneyland while screaming “Itchy and Scrathy Rule”, nobody from The Simpsons would defend me.
Kind of a given, don’t you think?
Then the argument is, at which point does the term “Fundie” come into play?
Torturing kids? Fundie.
Posting the 10 commandments in a middle school? Fundie?
I don’t know if I’d want to be the one to lump the two together.
Well, Jack, it’s a matter of extremes… torturing your kids is VERY extreme, so only very extreme (read: very, very few) people wouldn’t find fault with that.
By contrast, wanting to post the 10 Commandments up in school isn’t nearly as extreme… as a result, there’s a higher percentage of people willing to defend it.
Think of it as similar to the pH scale… there are some things that are “very Fundie”, some things that are merely “slightly Fundie”.
