If you were formerly a Christian fundamentalist,

[raccoon]

what was it about fundamentalism that appealed to you?

And what happened to change your mind?

[ComerPerro]

1. I'd venture a guess that its their "not strings attatched" path to heaven

all you have to do is say you accept Jesus, and it doesn't matter what kind of life you live.

You can even judge others. Actually, its encouraged.

And, of course, remember that a lot of fundie preachers talk not about the teachings of Christ, or compassion towards others, but instead focus on how God can make you rich and pay your bills and help you lose weight.

[bryant69]

10. Ah - but, when you were a fundamentalist, what was your reaction?

I mean you must have been one to respond to this?

[jwirr]

11. I think it is more the last part of your statement. They need some

to tell them what to do and give them hope that their iconoclastic ideas are the only right way to succeed. For instance,if you can blame the handicapped person for his/her own problems then you do not have to be responsible for that person in any way. Pure self idolatry.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I postulate it's the whole thing of never having to take responsibility

for making your own, independent decisions and making mistakes. You follow a set of rules and if you do, you go to heaven. My girlfriend at one time married a fundamentalist. On her wedding day, she announced that she had to ask her newlywed husband if she could drink a beer so that he would be responsible for her not "messing up" and he would know enough about the Bible to think for the both of them. Ugh.

[Lars39]

3. The urge to conform, to fit in.

What changed my mind? Thinking. :)

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. I was convinced that I would go to Hell otherwise. It's a very effective

recruitment tool.

[MountainLaurel]

16. Same here

Oldest child who felt responsible for everything, with a family history of anxiety disorders. It was a match made in hell.

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. Yep oldest sib with anxieties (and was picked on at school.. and bipolar

as it turns out)

I married my husband because we fell in love in high school. I still love him dearly but am not sure that were we to meet today as stranger that we would still fall in love and get married. :(

[Dr.Phool]

5. It was forced down my throat as a kid.

Curiosity, reading and thinking is the cure.

[shadowknows69]

7. The mystical and supernatural side of it

at least that's what drew me to an Assemblies of God church. Speaking in tongues, getting filled with "the spirit", faith healing, fighting evil spirits etc. etc. They made you believe in the Divinity of God. Why I left? Hipocrisy in the congregation, independent thought, the fact that I always had supernatural experiences but I was being told that until I accepted Jesus they were all from Satan. The lack of any middle ground. If you weren't serving Jesus you were serving Satan. So I said fuck that I won't serve either of you and I became a Wiccan. B-)

[meisje]

6. I'm not a Christian Fundamentalist, but I played one on T.V.

[shadowknows69]

8. Ooh a Holy Celebrity

Come on out with it. What show?

[blonndee]

9. Fear of hell.

Ironically, it was mostly the whole idea of hell that changed my mind. I double-majored in English and Religion and so I did a LOT of studying and critical thinking about religion (mostly Christianity), which was difficult at first but soon became fascinating and something I really enjoyed. The whole idea of hell was something I just couldn't reconcile, and something for which, no matter how hard I tried, I could find no justification. When I learned about the history of what "hell" really meant, and how it was used specifically as a tool of fear and recruitment as the church evolved, fundamentalism and most of "Christianity" itself lost the last bit of credibility it still held for me and I became very angry at being manipulated in such a way.

[shadowknows69]

17. Well said blondee

it was the fear factor that turned me off a bit too. Reincarnation made more sense to me in the cosmic scheme of things.

[Bluerthanblue]

12. the mistaken belief

that 'being good enough' and 'following the rules' could keep you safe from bad people hurting you, and bad things happening.

The sad, twisted notion that WE can control our ultimate destiny. And the belief that I could become 'worthy'- 'acceptable'- less than the scum I believed myself to be, by "doing what I was supposed to"-

Long story, that I can't revist right now for many reasons.

But what happened is, I 'did' all the 'right' things and my world not only continued to deterioate, but I completely disintergrated. And the people I had come to know as my only "family/friends support system, network"- pulled away as if I was contagious. The reality that terrible things still happen to 'good' people (or people that 'do what they are sposed to' scared the SHIT out of them. And left me (and my young children) even more abandoned than ever -for awhile.- Enter some of the worlds most kind, dedicated, tolerant, caring people. Most of them liberal, social democrats, left-wing open hearted, open minded, generous average "Joes and Janes".

THAT is when I truly came to understand, and embrace the notion and life Jesus Christ encourages all of us to explore.

Hope this makes some sense- I often can't articulate well, and use way to many words in my attempts.

[liberalmuse]

13. I had just gotten out of Mormonism...

I was raised as a Mormon, but left at 16. I needed another crutch because I was not ready for believing in 'nothing', and became a born-again Christian. I should have went with my gut reaction and run out of the first fundie church I went to. I was a fundie for a couple of years, but realized that most of the fundies were like programmed robots, which freaked me out, so I stopped going to services. I considered myself Christian for many years after that. After my brother died, I finally realized that the 'god' I was raised on did not exist, so now I'm pretty much an atheist. This was not out of bitterness, but the epiphany came to me when I was yelling at 'god', and I realized that there was nothing there. It was very much a head trip trying to move forward, but I was drawn to 'Conversations With God', which allowed my mind to break free of the tight little bubble it was wrapped in. I couldn't even read that book today, because it seems hokey, but it really was instrumental in deprogramming me from years of intensive brainwashing.

[Selatius]

18. A question, if it pleases you

So do you say there is no God or say that there's not enough evidence to affirm or deny the existence of God or some Creator? There seems to be a lot of give and take between Agnosticism and Atheism.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

14. I guess my brand of fundamentalism is different

the attraction for me at the outset was something that I saw as different. With Christianity, you didn't have to be perfect to be loved by God. You didn't have to obey to be loved by God. You were loved just because you loved God back. The thought that the creator of the universe was happy with me and willing to accept me as I was turned out to be the point for me where I made the leap.

And nothing has changed my mind...

sP

[gratuitous]

15. Surety of answers

There was a design and a plan and a cosmic plot. It was all laid out, and to "win" you just had to follow the design. Coming out of a Catholic background, this chimera of confidence was quite attractive and gave me answers that a lot of people around me agreed with. What was there to argue about, or discuss? We had the combination to the cosmic padlock, and we were in. A lot of people I admired and respected believed in it, and I liked being "in" with them. I also wanted some kind of eternal mark, to avoid the Eccesiastes admonition that "all is vanity {useless}."

I don't think there was any one event that changed my mind, but I knew that there was a lot of judgment, a lot of "us versus them" thinking that didn't gibe with the "we are all sinners and all of us need redemption." If we really are all sinners, and God is no respecter of persons, then to feel superior or above someone else ran counter to that. Paul said over and over that no one should boast about possessing the Truth, but there sure seemed to be a lot of boasting among my fellows. If it wasn't boasting about being saved, it was boasting about being a really, really bad sinner.

I sort of drifted away from that crowd after college. Some of them have drifted as well. Others have, for all I know, stayed true to what they believed 30 years ago. I became more interested in the aspects of the Bible that echoed Matthew 25: Feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, visiting the sick and imprisoned. There is a lot all over the Bible about welcoming the stranger and living in community, joining with others to magnify one's own efforts, and pursuing eleeomosynary activities not out of fear of Hell but out of genuine Love for our fellow human beings.

Luckily, I found a congregation that believed and acted similarly. We have a very small membership, which isn't perhaps surprising, but we accomplish quite a bit for our size and we hope that we have some influence on other congregations in our community and across our denomination, as well as a good influence on our local neighborhood.