Fundamentalists Missed Something Fundamental

The Certainty of the Closed Mind

by Doug Smith

July 15, 2026

I used to be a Christian fundamentalist.  (You can also use the word evangelical; they mean pretty much the same thing.)  The Baptist church our family attended when I was young answered all the questions a person might ever need to ask.  As a child, I assumed “our” answers were the “right” ones, and all others were wrong. 

As an adult, I continued down that path, until I encountered other Christians who had differing opinions and could back them up with the Bible.  What to do?  Do I listen and try to evaluate, or do I turn away and refuse to engage?  For many years, I refused to listen.  Nobody’s arguments changed my mind… I had the certainty of the closed mind.  It wasn’t until I allowed myself to ask questions and entertain the idea that I might be wrong that I started to change. 

It's easy to see how a closed mind like mine could be easily manipulated.  One of the ways I was manipulated was in politics.  If the church leaders you believe and trust with your eternal soul tell you that Candidate A is God’s choice, and voting for Candidate B is a vote for the devil, you fall in line.  You vote as you’re expected to vote. 

Funny thing, though… once these “godly” candidates got power, they started voting the opposite of the teachings of Jesus.  “Feed the hungry?”  No, that would be rewarding laziness.  “Welcome the stranger?”  They came illegally so we get to be as cruel as we want to as we kick them out.  “Care for the sick?”  No, that’s socialized medicine and besides, we don’t want OUR tax money to pay for medical care for THEM.  These are the “godly” politicians fundamentalists vote for again and again.

Seems to me that fundamentalists missed something, well, fundamental.  They teach how to vote and act and judge, but they don’t teach how to BE like Jesus.  At the heart of the gospel, we are told to love our neighbors as ourselves.  If we’re going to be like Jesus, we need to interact with people as he did.  Did he judge?  Hold people at arm’s length?  Refuse a request for help?  Did he use his status as a rabbi to denigrate the poor or the sick or even the flagrant sinners of his day? 

The fundamental truth that fundamentalists so often miss is that following Jesus is not about having correct beliefs on every topic, it’s about wanting to become more like Jesus.  The people and politicians who brag about upholding “family values” and “Biblical morality” are not acting like Jesus in any way that I can see.  Are they acting in love?  In mercy?  In patience?  In kindness?  Are they caring for the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the poor, or the prisoners?  Are they peacemakers?  These are the characteristics of someone acting like Jesus. 

Because these were not emphasized in the fundamentalist and evangelical churches I belonged to for many years, I had to leave that world.  And in the process, I learned to evaluate whether political candidates at any level were talking the talk or walking the walk.  And you can too, if you have the courage to defy the peer pressure keeping you in one place and in one party, and follow your heart to vote in ways that reflect your actual values. 

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