I'm ignorant about religion, so please help clear this for me.

[CrispyQ]

What is the difference between a fundamentalist & an evangelical? And is there a term for "regular" Christians?

[trotsky]

1. Difference

Evangelical: believes in the utmost importance of "spreading the faith."

Fundamentalist: believes in the inerrancy and universal applicability of sacred text(s).

So you see they are not mutually exclusive.

[Fleshdancer]

3. my mother in law is both.

and you just know how GREAT the holidays are now that she "found her faith". :puke: Thankfully though my mother is a free thinker.

[gratuitous]

2. The difference, and it's kind of minor

Evangelical is a term that is applied to Christians who actively seek to convert non-Christians to their faith. This is done through a variety of methods, ranging from proselytizing to handing out tracts and leaflets, to knocking on doors and publishing broadsides.

A fundamentalist Christian is someone who claims to take the Bible literally, eschews any deep discussion of the text, and assents to a generally agreed to body of assumptions and declarations. For example, they take the first creation story in Genesis literally, and extrapolate from that story the hare-brained notion that the earth is only 6,000 years old. They are very familiar with about 100 to 150 verses from the Bible, quoting them to each other over and over, but completely unknowledgeable about the wealth and diversity of viewpoints presented in its totality.

Almost all fundamentalists are evangelical, usually of the most intrusive kind, but not all evangelicals are fundamentalist. I suppose that by making this post, I could be considered evangelical. I am most decidedly not fundamentalist -- almost fundamentally so. :)

"Regular" Christians are usually denoted by their "mainstream" denominational titles, though even there some confusion can arise. For example, the majority of Lutherans belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), which might lead some folks to associate them with the more intrusive elements of others who claim the label "evangelical."

[bloom]

4. If there is a specific term for Non-evangelical or fundamental

Christians - I can't think of what it would be - but maybe we should start one.

Beliefnet.org is sort of interesting in sorting out religious people - you can take a survey. They distinguish between "Liberal Quakers" and conservative Quakers...about opposite in their survey - though I haven't seen that designation elsewhere.

P.S. there are also Evangelical Quakers - but they are referred to as such with that reference - otherwise "regular" Quakers are just Quakers - although what people do/say/think is not necessarily labeled anyway.

[Warpy]

11. "Mainstream"

[noonwitch]

5. Evangelicals, fundamentalists and pentecostals

Evangelical is sort of interchangeable with born again christian. The belief is that one is not really a christian unless he has been born again of the spirit (from John 3). In order to get people born again, the christian has to spread the word by evangelizing. I can't think of a particular denomination, because evangelicals cross over different lines. There are liberal evangelicals, although they are few and far between. Young Life is an evangelical group, that is not tied to any particular denomination, as are the Gideons.

Fundamentalists belief that the Bible is the absolute word of God, with no exceptions, and no errors. They are also usually evangelicals, but the converse is not necessarily true. Most "white" baptist churches are fundamentalists. The American Baptists are the exceptions-they even ordain women. Jerry Falwell is a fundamentalist, as is Billy Graham.

Pentecostals believe that they have spiritual gifts (from Acts 2). These include prophecy and speaking in tongues. My personal opinion is that the speaking in tongues is a gross misinterpretation of scripture-the context of the verses in Acts 2 that describe what happened when the spirit of God descends upon the apostles makes it very clear that they are being given the gift of speaking in a different language, in order to spread the word across borders. Pentecostals believe that the babble talk is a gift from God, and a language for prayer that only God understands. Televangelists who practice this are particularly amusing, like Robert Tilton. Churches that do are scary, imo. Assmblies of God churches are pentecostal. So are most churches that go by names like "Apostolic" and many non-denominational churches. TD Jakes is also a pentecostal, as are Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggert, and Jim Bakker. They tone it down for their shows, in order to have more appeal to fundamentalists and evangelicals.

One thing that fundamentalists and I usually agree on is that the pentecostals are wrongly interpreting scripture to justify their speaking in tongues act. Whereas I tend to think it's an example of group mental illness, a fundamentalist may suggest that it is spiritual deception by demons, designed to lead christians astray.

[Bo]

6. None...there both WACKOS

[msmcghee]

7. My understanding is that fundamentalist . .

. . . Christians are highly organized - by organizations run by a few very visible leaders such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell. These Christians psychologically identify with the "strong father" worldview. They see their religion and their politics through that window.

There are many millions of non-fundamentalist Christians but this group is less organized. They mostly adhere to the "nurturing mother" view of their religion and their politics. Almost all Christians here at DU are in this camp.

One reason that this group is less organized is that it eschews the "strong father" mentality and tends to encourage people to find God in their own hearts - rather than in the way some some strong father figure tells them to find God (or else face everlasting damnation).

I am an atheist but I admire the "nurturing mother" Christians here at DU because we share a basic view of the role of government. That is, it is our responsibility as Americans to take care of each other - to provide a clean environment, a good education and health care for all Americans, for example.

I guess both types of Christian can be evangelical - but finding Christ in your heart doesn't seem very compatible with the proselytizing of the evangelicals I know.

[Lerkfish]

10. good post! I would add...

that the terms "fundamentalist" and such are changed through common usage.
It should mean someone who adheres religiously (pun intended) to a particular dogma or theology (or texts). What it has come to mean are the religious rightwing faction.

The reason this is bad labeling is that the RRW do not spend a great deal of time adhering to scriptures, or even studying them in totality (as a fundamentalist would). They instead have been given a brief subset of scriptures that appear to support (out of context) whatever bizarre POV they have, and commit those to memory.

If the RRW were TRULY fundamentalists, they would read the entire bible and realize that, in gestalt, their own basic tenets (especially their political ones) are irrelevant in the grand scheme. They are fixated, as the Pharisees were, in the legality of the cliff notes scriptures and are obsessed with ENFORCING those "laws" on others, even non christians.
they conveniently ignore scriptures such as Matthew 7:1: Judge not that ye be not judged.

They have deluded themselves with the bizarre belief that it is their calling to create a theocracy.

I personally believe that if a person were judiciously fundamentalist, meaning taking the ENTIRETY of scripture into account, with greater weight to Christ's teachings, and recognizing the anachronistic invalidity of certain laws, then a fundamentalist would be a liberal christian, like me.

When any "christian" group spend time whipping up their congregation by appealing to their basest nature: fear, hatred, intolerance, arrogance.....then they are not following Christ's teachings at all. You will know them by their fruits.

Any message that does not save the lost, edify the found, or glorify God, is not of God.

[msmcghee]

12. Thanks . .

. . for pointing that out.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Fundamentalist means to take the bible literally, evangelical

means to be moved by the Bible to go out and convert others, charismatic means that we believe that the Holy Spirit interacts with us in our Daily Lives.


Me, I am charismatic in the sense that I do believe God is active in my life in whatever form (s)he has, and I am evangelical in that I believe I need to get out the word that liberals can be Christians too. But I am in no way a fundamentalist. (See more about all that on my site.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Critically examine everything. Hold on to the Good." 1 Thessalonians
5:21

Would Jesus love a liberal? You bet!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/liberalchristians.htm

[bloom]

9. Religious Left / Religious Right

'Evangelical Christianity Has Been Hijacked':

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/150/story_15052_1.html

"Well, there's a difference between evangelical and being a part of the Religious Right. A significant proportion of the evangelical community is part of the Religious Right. My purpose in writing the book was to communicate loud and clear that I felt that evangelical Christianity had been hijacked.

When did it become anti-feminist? When did evangelical Christianity become anti-gay? When did it become supportive of capital punishment? Pro-war? When did it become so negative towards other religious groups?

There are a group of evangelicals who would say, "Wait a minute. We’re evangelicals but we want to respect Islam. We don’t want to call its prophet evil. We don’t want to call the religion evil. We believe that we have got to learn to live in the same world with our Islamic brothers and sisters and we want to be friends. We do not want to be in some kind of a holy war."

We also raise some very serious questions about the support of policies that have been detrimental to the poor...."

------------------------

I"m just posting this to illustrate the Religious Left / Religious Right divide and that evangelical and non is not necessarily the best division to describe the religious divide as it relates to politics, etc.

[ogsball]

13. Reading "How Jesus became an American Icon"

He would say that "Evangelical" is the brand of Christianity we have in America which emphasises choice. Evangelicals rejected fundamentalism and dispensationalism up until the mid 20th century.

Fundamentalism is a reactionary religious movement that was a response to the required education of mainline clergy that occured in the mid 20th century.

Evangelical Fundamentalist should be seen as an oximoron. The Evangelicals liberalized Christianity in a big tent movement and thus Christianizing the US by the early 1800's.

[sweetheart]

14. jesus was not an institution

Religion is direct and personal, not some academic theology with
defined terms like law. In that respect, your question is not about
religion, as you're projecting the illusion that it can be known as
an academic concept. As well, christianity, is but one religion.
So your question is about "a religion", not about "religion".

Its subtle, but how christianity is hyjakked to be a weapon of war,
starts with presuming it to be "the" religion, rather than "a"
religion. All religions i am familiar with, have a term for
"evangelical". In buddhism, it is "mahayana", "the great raft" with
a tradition of bodhisattva's teaching. The very energy of the
teachings is "teaching". Contrasted with "theravada", monastic
religious life, where direct communion is stressed.

As well, religions are generally formed by enlightened masters of
past times, who's teachings get re-told over and over by generations,
that they become "rules", and no longer direct. Then a
fundamentalist would be someone who wants clear rules to exist in
life when the truth is there arn't any... but fear and contraction,
drive fundamentalists to impose the rules.

Recently some evangelical jehovas witnesses came by with their
watchtower. The 15 foot long buddhist eye painted on the side of
the house obviously invited them. ;-) I asked them whether they
felt gay marriage was a good thing... and then the dutifully pulled
out their bibles and preached to me some words they said proved that
gay people are unnatural... that is fundamentalism... failure to
rely on common sense, and rather trusting rules. While reading the
bible, i felt this fear from them, that i would realize that their
faith was blind, that they did not speak from the heart as direct
faithful devotees of the lord jesus christ. We had tea and biscuits
so they would close their bible, and be honest.

There is no such thing as a regular christian... only a social club
member. Jesus was a radical liberal, and to live truly inspired in
your relationship with jesus is to be intolerant of injustice, and
to live for the liberation of those around you. In that sense
jesus was himself an evangelical. He was not a fundamentalist,
nor was he a regular christian... he is your example, not the book.