A Time to Laugh

If fundamentalism were really about agreeing to a set of fundamentals, then count me in. Of course, I now realize my Catholic friends and my mainline liberal Protestant friends agree with the same fundamentals, so that’s not really what it is at all. Most of that is just being orthodox.

Fundamentalism is about a particular read on the Bible. An arcane view of the future. A very specific Gnostic view on (even redeemed) humanity. A nihilistic hopelessness to the Christian walk.

And, of course, separation. It really is all about separation. Fundies try desperately to look separated but not totally irrelevant to the world. They want to be seen as both godly and significant. And their attempts miss the point.

We aren’t supposed to be separate. We are made separate. Or set apart. Or sanctified. Or holy. It’s an act of God, not a short hair cut.

Trying to look separated is like forming a Barbie doll’s foot to look ready to walk in high-heeled shoes. It’s missing the point. She’s just a hunk of lifeless plastic with a freakishly perfect form. A play thing. A poor but pretty copy of the real thing.

It’s Who lives on the inside that makes us beautiful, not the man-made plastic perfection on the outside.

So what’s the difference between the morality of a legalist and the spirituality of a believer? Because when it all comes out in the wash, it may not look that much different. Both are examples of squeaky-clean living, right?

I think it’s the difference between a wife and a paid escort. The wife does what she does for whom she loves. The escort does what she does for what she can earn. And the latter is probably better at it too.