A Conservative Christian view of the World

I was a devout born-again-Fundamentalist Christian for the first 20 years of my life. The Christian world view that I know does not represent every Christian's view of the world. The Christian world view that I know is stricter and harsher than the world view of your average Christian. The Christian Fundamentalist world view is not easy to understand for an outsider, mainly because Christian Fundamentalist beliefs are so far removed from Christ's teachings. The reason for this is the psychological make-up of Fundamentalists. They take conservative values to an all-or-nothing extreme, because they believe that there are real forces of evil in the world that need to be destroyed. However, the biggest revelation is that they are motivated by self-centeredness (self-worth) and not by principles. Their value is in self, their motivation is self and they often confuse principles with this self-centered value. It is difficult for a Fundamentalist Christian to see this because part of their belief is that they "must die to self" in order to let God take control of their lives. But what is religion except a set of self-imposed rules that dictate one's every move in life?

Fundamentalism is appealing to people with a self-centered value system because it is an all-or-nothing approach to religion. Keep in mind that religion is simply a man-made set of rituals pulled from the Bible based on man's interpretation of what is important and what is not. So a Fundamentalist is a person who has absolute faith that these rituals are true and correct and therefore must be followed perfectly or Hell awaits. They study the Bible tirelessly, daily, to ensure that the rituals are reinforced in their minds to keep them from stepping off this straight and narrow path.

Part of the rules state that all men are born into sin. People do not become sinners, they are born that way. In other words every human is placed on a conveyer belt at birth and the conveyer belt deposits the person in Hell at the end of their life. The goal for humans then is to get off the conveyer belt to Hell and stay off. Therefore in life there are only two kinds of people: those on the conveyer belt to Hell and those who are not. Good people are off of the conveyer belt and bad people are on the conveyer belt. That's as black and white as it gets. There is no gray area and no hair to split. With a strict world view like this a person needs to be sure that he is off of that conveyer belt.

A Fundamentalist Christian wants to be damn sure he is on the correct side of every issue and surrounded only by other like-minded people. He doesn't want to be anywhere close to the gray areas. There is real evil in the world that attempts to draw Christians to hell. Christians must stay away from and/or destroy these forces. You can begin to see why principles do not factor into this world view. Life is all about being on the correct side of an issue; it's all or nothing. Principles can be tricky and get you into gray areas. When you raise a gray area issue with a Christian Fundamentalists they will not split hairs with you, there are no, "but what ifs" on any issue. They retreat to the safety of black and whiteness. They have no interest in the specifics of a "what if," gray-area debate, because they only think about their own skin. They will not be trapped by some fool-hearted attempt to get them back onto that conveyer belt. There are no compromises.

This conveyer belt concept is but one factor that shapes the Christian Fundamentalist's world view. The basic instinct of self-preservation that keeps Christian Fundamentalists out of gray areas is matched by another basic instinct and that is the desire to belong to a group. Religion is a means to that end. Fundamentalists not only want to belong to the group they want the group to be "number one" as in number one on the side of good, far away from the conveyer belt. They place a high value on loyalty to the group. Fundamentalist Christians use Revelations 3:16, about not being a lukewarm Christian, to justify their fierce loyalty to the group. However, "being on fire for God" has nothing to do with loyalty to a group of religious people.

This loyalty to a group is somewhat analogous to a sports fan in that the more you live-and-die for the team the bigger fan you are. We all know that sports fans can get hyper-moronic in their loyalty to their team. Fundamentalists are the super-fans of any religion: Islam has the hyper-moronic Taliban and Christianity has the hyper-moronic Fundamentalists. In fairness, I can only speak about the Christian Fundamentalists. Christian Fundamentalists, as with many people in general, think that loyalty is a principle. Therefore, they believe that defending the group that they belong to is a principle. If you watch Christian Fundamentalists in action you will see that Christ's principles of: "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", "Love your enemy" and taking care of the "least of these", take a back seat to loyalty to a group. The group can be: a nation as in the USA; or a political party as in the Republican Party; or the group can be a religion as in "Christianity"; or a group within Christianity such as Fundamentalists. They do this because it is basic human instinct to place value in numbers. The larger the group that thinks like me the more I must be correct in my thinking.

These two basic, very human, factors that boil down to self-preservation are what motivate Christian Fundamentalists to substitute principles with a primal "us versus them" mentality. The "us versus them" mentality guides Christian Fundamentalists as to what is right and what is wrong, not principles. If Christian Fundamentalists truly worried about everyone on the conveyer belt they'd be Hell-bent to rescue people, because everyone on it is a potential soul to save. Every death of a non-believer removes that non-believer from a chance at salvation. Instead what we see from Fundamentalists is that they are more Hell-bent to kill, because they view every non-Christian as a potential threat to pull them and their fellow Christians back onto the conveyer belt.

Not only that, but if Christians obeyed Christ's principles there would be no desire to form a Fundamentalist clique. Love of God does not translate into loyalty to a group of people that share common ground. Nor does love of God translate into loyalty to a group of people who worship God in exactly the same manner. If you are motivated to bash someone's brain in because they do not worship God the same way you do and your justification for your violence is "loyalty", you clearly have a screw loose. A man that murders his ex-girlfriend because the girl was "disloyal" is put into prison. Loyalty is not a principle. Loyalty is simply the value that one places upon a group.

Jesus Christ did not teach people to inflict pain and cruelty upon others to accomplish goals. Being kind to others is a principle. A principle is always just and therefore correct, but a group, as in "us" or "them," is almost never just and therefore seldom correct. Many people, especially in the USA, believe that loyalty to the US is a principle. Like the super-fan these people associate justice with winning. Therefore, they believe that winning by any means necessary is justified.

There is a story from the life of Alexander Hamilton that serves as an example of how principles trump loyalty. Hamilton wanted an American Revolution since he was a child. He therefore had strong loyalties to the colonies as opposed to any loyalty to England. When he was a student at Kings College (later renamed Columbia University) the head of the college, Miles Cooper, was an outspoken "obnoxious" Tory. One night a pro-colony mob came to tar and feather Cooper. Hamilton intervened, all by himself. Although Hamilton is in agreement with the mob that England must go, Hamilton upholds the principle that the ends do not justify the means. Hamilton did not want the mob's violence to "disgrace the cause of liberty". "For Hamilton order is the key to liberty." (American Experience PBS Alexander Hamilton: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/hamilton/program/index.html) Principles trump loyalty and loyalty is not a principle. By conservative standards Hamilton should be labeled a traitor for protecting Cooper. Conservatives would blast him for not being loyal to the Colonies.

In the "debate over torture" you hear people justify torture by saying that it "saves American lives", as if that reason is a principle. The statement, "if torture helps save American lives, then torture is acceptable" is said to be "a conservative value" by conservatives. However, ask a conservative what an "American" is and you will get to the heart of the matter. Think it through and you will understand why Christ did not promote a country. You will understand why Christ didn't draw a line between "us" and "them". Christ didn't preach that some people matter and some people don't. He didn't teach that one nation is better than another. Christ taught principles. Principles have no borders and no loyalties. Principles do not rely on violence and retribution to prove them correct. When it came to violence Jesus said, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone…" John 8:7. Christ didn't say, "If you want to protect our society from shameful sinners like this low-life scum bag, start casting stones. Don't be shy, the bigger the stone the better. If you love your country you'll make every stone count. Come on put your back into it, don't be a rag-arm!"

Christ taught how to try and make yourself perfect in the eyes of God. Christ did not teach this lesson so that one can feel so superior and righteous that one can kill in God's name. No, Christ's lessons were designed for a simple, one-on-one relationship with God so that one can have inner peace. People with the Fundamentalist mentality try to extrapolate these inner personal beliefs onto the group to which they belong, be it the USA or Christians. They do this because of their psychological make-up not because of "God's will". They may believe it is God's will to kill in God's name, but it is not God's will. People kill because it makes things easy for them. Negotiation, compromise, getting along with others, these things take time and are difficult. Killing others is so much quicker and easier than getting along with others. Christ instructed people how to get along with each other. Ignoring that principle is anti-Christ and obviously comes from someone who is self-motivated and self-centered.

Let's psychoanalyze the US Christian Fundamentalist to help explain the mentality; let's call him "Sam" for simplicity. Sam wants to belong to a group to satisfy his primal need to belong to a group. He is born in the USA and he is a Christian so he belongs to two groups and that feels pretty good. However, he also has needs to be on the side of good as far away from the conveyer belt to Hell as possible. Sam is a Christian, meaning Christ-like, Christ was good so that means Sam and all those in his Christian circle are "good". The USA is just a nation one of many in the world. There doesn't seem to be anything intrinsically "good" about belonging to the USA, so in order for Sam to reconcile being a part of the USA he needs a just cause for belonging to it.

Sam hears people from a group who call themselves Liberals telling some pretty horrific stories about the USA past and present. Sam doesn't feel very good about belonging to the USA because there is nothing special about it. But then Sam hears people from a group who call themselves Conservatives telling some really wonderful, almost magical, stories about the USA and Sam starts feeling really good about belonging to the USA. He likes these people who tell only good stories about the USA so he joins them. Suddenly Sam belongs to three really awesome groups! He now has three solid pillars to prop himself up.

Sam has now been with all three groups for so long that he thinks of all three as one in the same. If someone tries to speak ill of any one of these groups they are speaking ill of all three as far as Sam is concerned. Anyone who tries to harm any one of these groups is in for a long hard fight with Sam, because he believes there is no greater principle and value than the protection of one's own. Sam completely ignores the fact that Christ never taught about the "protection of one's own". Sam is surrounded by like-minded people who believe and teach that the absolute deepest truth in life is loyalty and the protection of one's own. In Sam's case, that is the USA and the people in it who believe exactly the same as he believes.

The myth of a perfect nation, founded under God completely trumps Christ's principles. Nationalism is Sam's God. To justify this Sam must believe that God's hand guides the USA and that the USA is the right hand of God. Therefore, whatever the USA does is actually God's will. This concept is tangible, Christ's teachings are not. Sam can justify war and torture because if the USA does it, it is God's will.

How does Sam reconcile (justify) capitalism's greed with Christ's teachings? One, he doesn't follow Christ's teachings. Two, Communism tries to stamp out religion to ensure separation of church and state. Sam sees this as justification for capitalism because his religion can only thrive under capitalism so capitalism must be God's will. Three, the USA does it, so it has to be God's will. Four, Christ's parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30): the man who did not invest his money was scorned, so therefore God approves of capitalism *. It doesn't matter that this parable is about saving souls and not a blessing on capitalism, Sam uses the parable as God's blessing on capitalism.

The point to all this is that people seek out and find the rationales that support what they already believe about the world. People gravitate to preexisting views based on their own personal make-up not due to some higher truth. Enlightenment is simply the discovery of the preexisting ideas that fit our personal make-up. If you are basically a selfish person you will feel enlightened when you stumble upon a philosophy that says "live for self". Likewise if you are self-sacrificing you will feel that you have reached enlightenment when you hit upon a philosophy that says "live to serve others". The individual is the starting point and NOT some "higher truth" that one day all people will eventually discover.

Take note! This means that you cannot open anyone's eyes to your higher truth. A conservative will never see what a liberal sees as the higher truth and vice versa. So when framing an argument with a conservative a liberal cannot use his higher truth as the ultimate trump card in the debate. The conservative will see that trump card as a joker and laugh his head off at such a silly argument. The reverse is true as well, except that the conservative will shoot the liberal if he dares to laugh.

(* In the parable of the talents, Matthew 25:14-30, that Fundamentalists use to condone capitalism, the "investors" in the parable are servants. Applying the same logic that states that capitalism is condone by God in this parable it must then be true that servitude is condoned by God and Fundamentalists as well. I doubt that Christians will argue that servitude and slavery are condoned by God. The fact that the men in the parable are servants is no more significant than the monetary investments they made. The point of the parable is "Don't be a do-nothing Christian". Don't call yourself a Christian and then live your life doing nothing for Christ. Give God a return on His investment in your soul. The early church was set up as a commune yet it is this parable of the talents that Fundamentalists reach for to support their faith in capitalism.)

As a real life example witness the war-on-terror debate. Conservatives say, "Give me security over freedom". Liberals reply with a Ben Franklin quote, "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither." Liberals think they have dropped a grenade into the conservative's foxhole when they say this, but it has all the impact of a wet noodle on conservatives. "Liberty" the conservative replies, "comes from taking what you want when you want it and it takes muscle to do that. You cannot have liberty if the enemy takes you over. Shoot first and shoot to kill. A strong America is a safe America." And the liberal walks away with his jaw dragging in the dirt.

Liberals believe that the world can live in peace so they extend themselves to help others. They will make compromises to attain peace. Liberals point to Christ's teachings to support this view: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"; "Love your neighbor as thy self"; "Love your enemies"; "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Conservatives on the other hand believe that the world can never live in peace so they are on guard and always ready to fight. Because the world cannot live in peace without God, the only way to "help" people is to convert them to Christianity thus saving their souls for eternal peace in the next life; or just "kill them all and let God sort them out". Conservatives point to the Bible to support this view: "Put on the full armor of God"; "It is dangerous to sit with ungodly and scornful people"; "live in the world, but we cannot take part in the ways of the world"; "they shall cry ‘Peace, Peace', when there is no peace." **

Fundamentalists and conservatives like to state that the US is hated by terrorist "because of our principles", but this is meaningless. Do conservatives hate liberals because of their liberal principles? Conservatives could care less about liberal principles. Why then would terrorists care about American principles? It's a throw away line to cover up the truth: conservatives live for self preservation. Self preservation is not a principle. These unprincipled people have no issue with torture or breaking any other deeply held American principles. "Winning by any means necessary," is easy when you have no principles. There is no reason to examine issues or fix problems. "Kill them all and save my skin" is all that matters.

Liberals tend to want to help others no matter what the other person is like. Liberals approach problems as if "we are all in this together". By necessity they rely on principles to help a diverse group of people to get along fairly. The Fundamentalist Christian says, "I'm not in this with you! I'm not on that conveyer-belt-to-Hell with you." They shake off the sinner and pelt him with stones. Satan will not ensnare them! "Fight the good fight!" Laws and principles delve too much into gray areas. Sometimes you end up defending the enemy as Alexander Hamilton did. This is too close to the conveyer belt for Fundamentalists. Killing bad people is easier to understand, so keep things in black and white simplicity. You will hear this simplicity repeated over and over from conservatives and Fundamentalists, "security is our number one priority, protect the USA at all cost." These same people have torn down all of the USA's principles. The only thing left to fight for is the preservation of self. This stance is the best proof that Christian Fundamentalism is simply the preservation of self, devoid of principles and sure as hell not Divine.

(** "Peace, peace, they say, when there is no peace". Jeremiah 8:11. This is an example of how Fundamentalists reject Christ's teachings in favor of their own desires. Christ made an obvious call to practice peace and patience with one another, but Fundamentalist opt instead for wrath, anger and WAR! Fundamentalists prefer and raise their voice for war, vengeance and the destruction of their enemies same as they have done since John wrote from Patmos. John was sure the Lord would return and destroy Rome, so he wrote a fantasy about the fall of Rome called "Revelations". Every Fundamentalist Christian since that book was written has used it as hope of the destruction of their oppressors. Our modern day Fundamentalist do the same. The World Wide Web is full of sites dedicated to their drooling hopes for vengeance based mainly upon Jeremiah 8:11, rather than seeking peace as Christ commanded. They do not want to be "fools" and hope for peace. They want blood and almost everyone in the Bible but Christ gives it to them. So they dismiss Christ's teachings, twisting His words into dust.)