Wow! great thread, good movie - loved the books. I was raised in a fairly liberal American Lutheran tradition and now am a practicing (until I get it right??) Epicopalian. I took some excursions into what is widely regarded as mainstream "fundamentalist Christianity" during my youth and other areas as well.

One of the things I noticed about this part of Christendom is the focus on the "fundamentals" of Christian belief - as interpreted by several mainline and conservative denominations (called sects in other religions). Many adherents to this interpretation or approach to worshipping Jesus Christ rely on the simplicity of the beliefs to bulwark themselves against the complexity of the world around them. Of course not all fundamentalists are knee-jerk reactionaries. There is as wide a spectrum of beliefs there as anywhere else in the kingdom. The failure is in the round condemnation of any reference to "magic", "sorcery", "spells" and like vocabulary to Satanic influence and wickness.

I've heard in Baptist churches about the sin of being Catholic, in Catholic churches of being any Protestant denomination, in evangelicals of being "charismatic" and so on. The problem is not Christianity, it is human nature. Fortunately as far as the proclaimed gospel is concerned, christians are saved by grace through faith, not necessarily because they are realistically "good" people. I personally hope that like in Narnia however the fruits borne determine the destination.

Just some personal thoughts.

-CLB