John, they are certainly not representative of most of the Christians I know, but then I go to a fairly liberal Lutheran church (and no, that's not an oxymoron).

One of the two fundamentalist Christians I had that discussion with used to live in the same building where I live. He belongs to one of several nearby churches who share the same beliefs. They proudly say that they believe that the Bible is the literal word of God (the definition of "fundamentalist," whether the book referred to is the Bible or the Koran), and they tend to take verses out of context and string them together to make them mean what they want them to mean. Now, I call that interpreting, which they insist one is not supposed to do.

The vast majority of Christian fundamentalists that I have met seem to be focused on matters of personal salvation, sin, and punishment for sin, along with a heavy emphasis on The Book of Revelation and the "End Times." Other than Revelation, the Old Testament seems to play more of a role in forming their beliefs than the New Testament, apart from selections from Paul's Epistles (oddly enough, especially neglecting the Gospels). Any quotations of Jesus are highly selective, and I never hear them quoting the Beatitudes (". . . Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. . . .") or verses such as Matthew 25:31-35 (". . . For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me. . . ."). Lots about separating the sheep from the goats, but not that part. They often become involved in legal and political action in an attempt to force their beliefs on the community as a whole. For verification of this, see national politics. Also, my wife works at the Seattle Public Library, and they often have to deal with challenges from these groups to remove certain books from the shelves. Number 1 on the current "hate parade" is the Harry Potter series.

This is not a case of "All Indians walk in single file. At least the one I saw did." In my fairly long life, I've met and had discussions with a substantial number of these folks, and I've had plenty of opportunity to observe them in action. The two people I mention above seem to me to be pretty representative of—not Christians—but Christian fundamentalists.

Don Firth