GREAT quote on fundamentalism. Spot on for JW's like PMJ

by avishai 14 Replies latest jw friends

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  avishai

  
  Here is a great quote on fundamentalism by Jimmy Carter....

  I define fundamentalism as a group of invariably male leaders who consider themselves superior to other believers. The fundamentalists believe they have a special relationship with God. Therefore their beliefs are inherently correct, being those of God, and anyone who disagrees with them are first of all wrong, and second inferior, and in extreme cases even subhuman. Also, fundamentalists don’t relish any challenge to their positions. They believe any deviation from their own God-ordained truth is a derogation of their own responsibility. So compromise or negotiating with others, or considering the opinion of others that might be different, is a violation of their faith. It makes a great exhibition of rigidity and superiority and exclusion.

  Here's the rest of the interview
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  mrsjones5

  Jimmy Carter is one of my personal heroes.
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  onesong

  That's a great quote ! Thanks for sharing.
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  stillajwexelder

  This bit is my favorite

  What Paul condemned in the strongest letters is that believers in the little churches began to embellish that fundamental with other requirements, saying that you had to become a Jew first, you had to be circumcised to be a Christian, you can’t eat the meat that’s been sacrificed to idols and be a Christian, you have to worship on a particular holy day to be a Christian, you have to accept a certain apostle as the best representative of Christ to be a Christian. So they began to embellish the basic foundation of Christian faith by human-created additional requirements. And that was the origin of fundamentalism.

  So you would define fundamentalists as embellishers.

  Absolutely—and creating definitions of Christianity: If you don’t agree with my embellishment, then you can’t be one of us.
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  DannyBloem

  This is a great quote indeed.
  Something I really can use.

  thanks
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  greendawn

  This description perfectly fits the mentality of the FDS of the JWs, he probably had them in mind when he was formulating the above description though there are many others of that mold of mind.
  
  But as it is central to the way they sell themselves to the R&F they can never abandon the by now obviously ridiculous idea that they are God's appointed managers over his earthly affairs.
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  TopHat

  I saw Jimmy Carter being interviewed on TV when he said that...ohh was about 3 weeks ago.

  I was astonished to say the least.
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  jeeprube

  Jimmy Carter is the man! He is spot on with condemming fundamentalism.

  What a wonderful way to describe the start of Christianity.
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  ColdRedRain

  Although history's greatest monster was right on in defining some of the methods of fundimentalism, he was painting fundimentalists with too narrow of a brush.

  I define fundamentalism as a group of invariably male leaders who consider themselves superior to other believers. The fundamentalists believe they have a special relationship with God. Therefore their beliefs are inherently correct, being those of God, and anyone who disagrees with them are first of all wrong, and second inferior, and in extreme cases even subhuman. Also, fundamentalists don’t relish any challenge to their positions. They believe any deviation from their own God-ordained truth is a derogation of their own responsibility. So compromise or negotiating with others, or considering the opinion of others that might be different, is a violation of their faith. It makes a great exhibition of rigidity and superiority and exclusion.

  What about feminist fundimentalists? They consider themselves to the the most enlightened of womyn around the world and doubting and criticising them would be the epitome of fundimentalism. Also, what about non-theistical fundimentalists who believe that anybody who believes in god is beneeth them?
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  avishai

  History's greatest monster? Read the rest of the interview for his surprisingly conservative views.

  C'mon, what about Stalin, pol pot, Hitler?