You Don't See Any Amish Terrorists

As I was reading Timothy Keller's essay in A Place for Truth yesterday, I came across this particular snippet:

Actually, my wife Kathy gave this to me some years ago, right after 9/11.  All the papers were saying this is the problem with regligious fundamentalism.  If you're a fundamentalist, if you really believe you have the truth, this is what happens.  Kathy said, as I tried to show you here, everybody's fundamentalist, in a way.  Everybody believes fundamentals; everybody's got exclusive truth.  I remember Kathy said, "Fundamentalism doesn't necessarily lead you to terrorism.  It depends on what your fundamental is.  Have you ever seen an Amish terrorist?

I first laughed at the comment, and then I started thinking very seriously about it.  I started thinking about how the antidote to religious fundamentalism, particularly in my neck of the woods of the U.S. has been.

Several years ago, I remember being in conversation with a fellow clergy who had a high school son.  His son had told him the folks most despised in school were "Fundies" or religious fundamentalists.  In Texas, that usually means hard-core Southern Baptists, Pentacostalists, or Independent Bible Church going folks.  Most of the time, these folks, as they live out their faith lives, are in your face about belief in Jesus Christ.

"Do you know Jesus?" they will unabashedly say.  And if you say that you do and you are a part of a mainline denomination, you'd better be ready to defend yourself.  They will work diligently and forcefully to tell you why you are wrong, why your baptism (if you were sprinkled as an infant) doesn't count, why women shouldn't preach, how your worship is too rigid and not spontaneous enough, and the list goes on.  And, as an extra added measure, they will oftentimes tell you if you don't change and come over to their point of view, you are destined to hell.

Sound's peachy, doesn't it?

While such churches do grow and become the rage, they do turn off quite a few folks from living the life of faith, and many mainline denominations are well aware of this.  Therefore, to reach out to the ones "Fundies" hurt or turn off, mainline denominations (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America of which I am a part included) have tended to head in almost the opposite direction.  Instead of being absolutely certain in what we believe and how we articulate it, we have tended to buy into the post-modern thought of relativizing faith and practice.  We have tended to buy into the "it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you live your life faithful to your beliefs and don't hurt anyone."  Usually, we link forms of universal salvation to this belief along with a particularly strong emphasis on doing good works, especially social justice.  Other mainline denominations may not go quite that far, but they still tend to move in this general direction to distance themselves from "Fundies."

In my estimation, what then happens is a denomination or even a congregation that becomes rudderless.  What is the guiding principles and beliefs of such an organization?  Believe what you want and do good.  That's bascially it.  That becomes your fundamentals.  And I believe they are inadequate if you would choose to call yourself a Christian.

I believe there are some fundamentals for Christianity; particularly my "brand" of Christianity, Lutheranism.  They can best be articulated in the documents contained within the Book of Concord.  This book enlightens us in how we read Scripture, holds up our core beliefs and understandings, and gives us the parameters of belief and doctrine.  It helps us know what is and what is not central to the Christian faith. 

And, of course, it points us to the Word of God, Jesus Christ.  And that makes a huge difference.  How?

I'll end with an extended quote from Keller's essay:

If your "fundamental" is a Man dying on the cross for his enemies, if the very heart of your self-image and your religion is a Man sacrificing and praying for his enemies as he died for them, loving them--if that sinks into your heart of hearts--its going to produce the kind of life that the early Christians produced.  The most inclusive possible life out of the most exclusive possible claim.  This is the truth.  But what is the truth?  The truth is a God who became weak, who loved and died for the people who opposed him, forgiving them.

Take that into the center of your heart and you will be at the heart of the solution we need in this world.

That's why you don't see any Amish terrorists--and why you shouldn't see any Christian ones either.