One of the things that fundamentalism claims is that it (or rather "Jesus") can give you freedom. In actuality I would contend that all fundamentalist faith does is replace the agony of decision making with the ease of being told what to do; the difficulty of addiction to drugs or alcohol with the difficulty of addiction to a given religion; or the unfortunate reality of pain and a failing body with false hope combined with pain and... a failing body.

Yes, I contend that fundamentalism replaces problems with problems, and solves nothing -- while sapping your will, making you its own slave, and robbing you of your time, money, and contentment. Even its basic premise for freedom -- that it frees you from death and hell -- is highly suspect, as that premise is dependent on the Bible being a truly infallible font of all that is good and righteous -- which as we see in the pages on the Bible, listed in the index to the left -- it is not. If you question that after reading the pages that we have on the subject and looking up the references, we invite you once again -- read the Bible, cover to cover - with a notebook at your side, without any "study guides" and note the contradictions, immoral suggestions, genocides, and horrific abuses of an "almighty god" on his helpless children. Apologetics has no real solutions for any of these insoluble difficulties with the literalist position. The Bible either is or it isn't anything special. I maintain staunchly that it isn't. No, even the freedom most basic to fundamentalism is something that fundamentalism cannot offer.

Instead it robs you of your humanity and leaves you unable to decide for yourself, unable to compromise, and most importantly unable even to really love others. Conditional love is meaningless, but although fundamentalists talk about the "Agape" love, actions speak far louder than words, and for all the double-speak about tough love and other nonsense, they simply don't practice what they preach. Fundamentalists backstab one another, sect to sect and for that matter inside sects; they attack the innocent, they gossip, and they demonstrate greed and a desire for power. Fundamentalists condemn others, and judge routinely while declaring publicly that they do not judge, but are just saying what God told them to. Fundamentalists destroy rather than build up and cannot ever stop looking for the mote in their friends eye, whether or not s/he is a coreligionist, particularly if the alternative is noticing the beam in their own.

That this is a reality in Christian fundamentalism is not a surprise, since it is a reality in all other forms of fundamentalism. For that matter, that Christian fundamentalists want to kill those who differ from them (see the politics page) is also not a shock, after all we see the murder of supposed "heretics" in other Abrahamic faiths all the time. Both the fundamentalist Moslems and Jews stone their heretics day by day if they are allowed to, sometimes to death. It is the way of things when men are ruled by a book thousands of years old, written for a different culture.

To be truly free is not to be part of a fundamentalist sect. It is to be free of anything that takes away your power to decide. That includes being free of fundamentalism. I truly hope as you consider the things you have read on this site, you will find a way to be free. If you are addicted to drugs or alcohol or tobacco, seek help and come free of them. If you are addicted to that most insidious and destructive force called fundamentalism, find strength within yourself or with help to come free of it as well. LIVE!!! Be FREE!!! If you want to be religious or spiritual, then seek a form of religion or spirituality that serves you well and that does not seek to control you, but rather to comfort and support you; and enjoy the days of your life. Whether there be anything afterwards or not -- whether you live again in the flesh or not -- you do not get to redo the life you have now, revel in it.

By this I do not mean that you must be free of religion necessarily, but that you must be free of fundamentalism. Sin is an illusion - real sin is that which hurts someone, and fundamentalism hurts everyone that it touches. Be free of it.

Live well.