What creeps out from under this
latest stone is particularly nasty and it’s a warning to keep a professional distance
from fundamentalists.
As a rule fundamentalists have a very jaundiced view of those beyond the pale of
their sub-cultures, often assigning quite extreme opprobrium to outsiders. An
example is fundamentalist Jason Lisle who recently referred to civic leaders
as “wicked” on the basis that they sanctioned homosexual marriage. He
has also stuffed blasphemies into the mouths of Christians who don’t accept his YEC
position. In the perception of fundamentalists like Lisle one cannot ultimately
reject their opinions in good faith or good conscience – instead they see final rejection
of their opinions as a product of malign ulterior motives. As I have said
before this imaginatively jaundiced view of the world gives fundamentalists a
weakness for conspiracy theorism: When they adopt a conspiracy theory stance it gives them at once both aggrandisement and rationale for their paranoia by way of dignifying narratives
which explain why the world is so evil-hearted in not accepting their opinions.
Before
I continue I must give my usual mental health warnings: Fundamentalists are apt
to apply moral duress on outsiders by means of quite extreme language; after all,
they genuinely believe their opinions come with divine authority and so in
their view if you speak out against them you speak against the Almighty himself
and one can’t do worse than that!...in fact that's the unforgivable sin. It’s understandable then that in fundamentalist
perception detractors deserve the utmost censor. But this censoriousness can
have a damaging emotional effect and unless you are the sort for whom it’s all
water off a duck’s back it is probably not advisable to have contact with
fundamentalists if you feel that disagreements are inevitable. I have seen and experienced
some pressure myself but my usual approach is to treat fundamentalists with the
utmost firmness; unless I am seeking
information from them I find that attack is the best form of defence and a firm approach chases them
away. Fortunately Christian
fundamentalism is non-violent – it is very difficult to justify violence from the
teaching of the NT Christ. However, having said that it is my opinion that the core
mental complex displayed by Christian fundamentalists is an all too human trait
and has commonalities with the mental complex displayed by Islamic extremists:
In both cases we see that uncompromising, self-believing, last-bastion remnant militancy, an attitude that is proof against
discouragement when just about everyone in the world is perceived as being
wickedly set against your community. Uncompromising idealism of this kind, in any
shape or form, can be ruthless and cruel and is best avoided.
Now,
against that backdrop I would like to introduce The John Mackay affair. Mackay is an abrasive Young Earth
fundamentalist. In terms of being highly self-motived and with utter self-belief he is probably on a par with fundamentalist Kent
Hovind. Both have that kind of faith
which trades on fear. Obliviously as professing Christians they can’t use violence
but there are other means of putting coercive pressure on people. It is this
more subtle coercion which brings me to the point of this post. For this post
is about the fierce acrimony that can exist between fellow fundamentalists; if
fundamentalists fall out their self-believing epistemic leads to a belligerent confrontational
paranoia that is compounded when it is on both sides of the equation; ergo, fundamentalist
schisms are some of the most vicious feuds of all as both sides let out all
the stops and have no compunction about engaging in mutual accusations of atrocious
sin. Since 'compromise' is a dirty word to fundies inter-fundie feuds can go on for years.
The
information I will be linking to in this post is, in my view, in the public interest
because it exposes the psychological pressures that can be brought to bear
within the closeted confines of fundamentalist communities. Such rancour can be
very damaging to those who find themselves on the front line, especially if
they don’t have the self-belief and confidence of some of their hardened uncompromising cohorts. This data will serve to reinforce my warnings about the potential psychological
dangers of fundamentalism. Let me also add that I have on more than one occasion
been concerned about the mental health of some fundamentalist leaders; but
ironically it is that self-same mental condition which gives them their drive, their
vision and above all their self-belief.
The John Mackay Scandal: A sordid,
squalid affair
John MacKay: A Headache for Ken Ham
In
the late 1970s John Mackay was a business partner of Ken Ham; they ran a
business selling YEC literature. But according to the sources I link to below there
was a complex three way split starting in the late 1980s triggered by the accusations MacKay made about Ken Ham’s
secretary Margaret Buchanan. As a result
MacKay fell out acrimoniously with his own organisation, now called Creation Ministries
International (CMI). It seems that even today there is considerable rancour between
CMI and MacKay. Also, CMI remain bitter about the way they were treated in the early 2000s by Ken Ham's start up, Answers in Genesis-USA. I needn’t go into details as those details are provided in the documentation
I link to. I have created my own copies
of all the relevant documents in case they should otherwise disappear from the
web. It is these copies I link to.
1. The British Centre for Science Education have an web article that is probably best read first as an introduction to the affair. My copy of it can be obtained here, although the original web article can still be found here. Some of the links in the article are orphaned but that doesn’t matter as I supply links to the requisite documentation below.
2. Creation Ministries International at the time of writing still have a web page on the affair. My copy of this page can be found here. The original, if it is still available, can be found here:
1. The British Centre for Science Education have an web article that is probably best read first as an introduction to the affair. My copy of it can be obtained here, although the original web article can still be found here. Some of the links in the article are orphaned but that doesn’t matter as I supply links to the requisite documentation below.
2. Creation Ministries International at the time of writing still have a web page on the affair. My copy of this page can be found here. The original, if it is still available, can be found here:
hxxp://creation.com/regarding-john-mackay
3. Supporting documentation that is linked to by both the BCSE and CMI web pages can be found here and here.
3. Supporting documentation that is linked to by both the BCSE and CMI web pages can be found here and here.
4. Ken Ham has, it seems, come out on the side of MacKay: Reformo-charismatic fundamentalist Nigel
Wright sent me this document.
Finally one general
lesson: As in
the case of the Witch Finder General of 17th Century England, we
discover that those who seek out witches are far more dangerous than those they
accuse of witchcraft!
Relevant Links
Jeepers Creepers
I:
See the sections
on Witchcraft here:
