Fundamentalists, evangelists, etc how do you guys feel or opinion about people referring to you in (what seems to me) with those words in a deragatory way?
Do you identify (by nature of telling others about scripture not you as a person) with one of the two words (if not others)?
It's interesting how the word 'fundamentalist' has been used over the last 45 years in some old and new ways.
When I was an adolescent, the way the word fundamentalist would first be used to my ears (way back in the 70s) might be for something like a religious woman who will always wear a head scarf to cover her hair, because of 'fundamentalist' beliefs. Or for the wacky and rare 'young earth creationists' (YEC) which at that time way back in the southern plains of the U.S. were actually only people you heard about in a distance, and even at our little country church no one would ever say the 'young earth' nonsense (YEC is in reality a speculative theory invented by
added ideas (that aren't anywhere in the text) inserted into interpretation of Genesis chapters 1-3).
So, back then, to me, 'fundamentalists' were people that had some odd belief, or sometimes might be simple minded or confused or wacky.
Not necessarily bad people mind you!, but off kilter in that way (and everyone has their own flaws).
When Islamic terrorists starting attacking the U.S. such as in 1996, bin Laden's declaration of war on the U.S. in 1998, etc., these were called 'Islamic fundamentalist', or sometimes 'militants' and so the word 'fundamentalist' got repurposed in effect to mean
those willing to kill others for some mistaken idea.
So, for example, the
Khmer Rouge that murdered millions in Cambodia for ideology were then 'fundamentalists' also...
Notice how big a change in meaning happened there! Instead of being sweet but wacky, now 'fundamentalists' were murderous and horrific.
By association.
So, if someone tries to label one of us a 'fundamentalist', it's probably
an attempt to paint on some extra connotation like that, to attempt to suggest (or just outright slander that) the person isn't merely dedicated to an ideology, but instead is more sharply doing wrong.
So, it'd be disingenuous for us I think to just use the basic denotation of the word as someone that hews to principles (as if there is no connotation). By that meaning a scientist is a fundamentalist.