what is bob jones university?!

Tarhunt
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:59:02 +0000

You’re right. You shouldn’t have brought this back to the top. ;-)

Anger is a manifestation of fear. We do not hate things we do not fear. We are not angry at things we do not fear. I think that, once you understand that, it will all fall into place.

The sort of fundamentalism Bob Jones practices causes fear in others. It causes fear because:


It is aggressive in its assertion, stated or implied, that is has all the answers and that those who disagree are wrong, immoral, etc.
This aggression implies that fundamentalists should assume the reins of power and “put things right” at the expense, presumably, of everyone who disagrees with them
Historically, this sort of monotheistic fervor and attitude, when combined with actual, coercive force, has resulted in severe human rights abuses, especially against Jews (in the Christian world and, to a lesser degree, in the Muslim world), but also against anyone who disagrees


The amount of the fear has to do with the degree of localized, coercive power that a particular group has at its disposal. What I just described applies to pretty much any “ism,” whether that’s Nazism, communism, democratism/populism (as in the French Revolution and, at times, in Athens), capitalism in its unregulated state, Islamism, and any other one you can think of where one follows an absolute, 100% true creed and all other opinions, by definition, are both wrong and evil.

Islam, in many of its forms and in many places, is at least the equal of the people of BJU when it comes to oppression, and very often more than equal. Where it has access to real coercive power, it is very oppressive, indeed. But here in the US, Islam has little access to coercive force. Neither do communists. Neither do the Nazis and other supremacists groups (yet).

But the fundamentalists have access to a LOT of coercive power through both political activism and local, cultural control in some areas. I grew up in one of those with some of those very scary people.

So, the fear of the sort of people who run and attend BJU is based on a history of oppression from those kinds of people, coupled with their proximity and their access to coercive power. If I lived in Saudi Arabia, I would not fear BJU or talk about it. I would fear the Wahabbists because they would have, potentially, more negative impact on my life.

The “tolerance” thing is used by the pseudos (and I’ll get into pseudos in a moment) a lot. They aren’t tolerant themselves, of course, but insist on it in others. I will proudly admit that I’m intolerant of the intolerant. I’m not tolerant of Nazis, communists (if they’re totalitarian), terrorists, etc. Those people would cheerfully have me dead or “reeducated” if they had enough coercive force to do so.

Now, about the issue of “pseudo.” I have read the NT many times, in many translations. I read it growing up a fundamentalist kid in the KJV, and I’ve read it many times since, but I admit that I’ve read the gospels, especially the synoptics, more than any of the other books. Some of the things in the gospels contradict, such as whether the baby Jesus and his family fled to Egypt or when first to the Temple and then back home, but I don’t really care about that kind of conflict.

What I care about is the overall message; that is, those things that get repeated so often that it seems clear to me that JoN was very serious about them. It seems clear to me that he was an Essene in most of his thinking and teaching. He eschewed personal property and the things of this world and was a pacifist for that reason. And if you look at what we know of early Christian communities; that is, those communities run by people who knew JoN, or knew people who knew him, you find that they are communes of those who eschew the material world and refuse to fight. Gibbon attributes part of the fall of the Roman Empire to pacifism on the part of the early Christians.

And look at Christianity today. Expensive cathedrals and churches. TV shows on how to make money. Praying in public. Constant calls for donations. Militarism is many cases. Mixing nationalism and the cross.

The list goes on.

There may be genuine Christians these days, but I think you’d find them only in very reclusive monastic orders or convents. The fundamentalists are, to my way of thinking, just Pharisees.

And, BTW, the sort of fundamentalism one sees at BJU is also a manifestation of fear rooted in the tenets of cognitive theory and, especially, cognitive dissonance. So, it’s fear meets fear, and aggression is one of the coping mechanisms.