Anyone who has followed this weblog for very long knows that, from the get-to, we have been rather upset that legions of reporters insist on ignoring the wise guidance offered by the Associate Press Stylebook concerning when to use, and when not to use, the hot-button label “fundamentalist.”
All together now, let’s rise and quote the passage in question:
“fundamentalist: The word gained usage in an early 20th century fundamentalist-modernist controversy within Protestantism. In recent years, however, fundamentalist has to a large extent taken on pejorative connotations except when applied to groups that stress strict, literal interpretations of Scripture and separation from other Christians.
“In general, do not use fundamentalist unless a group applies the word to itself.”
So, with that in mind, let’s consider a very odd — in not bizarre — thing that happened the other day in The Politico.
Yes, it has finally happened. What we have here is a case in which a news organization had every right to use this term from American Protestant history and — gasp — failed to do so. In fact, this is a case in which the word “fundamentalist” needed to be used to add clarity to the story. Here is the top of the story:
A top administrator at Bob Jones University, one of South Carolina’s most prominent conservative Christian institutions, plans to endorse a primary challenger to Republican Rep. Bob Inglis, POLITICO has learned.
Robert Taylor, the dean of the Greenville-based school’s College of Arts and Sciences, plans to throw his support to Spartanburg County Solicitor Trey Gowdy at a public event within the next week.
Bob Jones University holds an iconic status among conservative religious institutions, and has a history of active political engagement. Taylor, who also serves as vice chairman of the Greenville City Council, endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president, even as Romney’s Mormon faith raised concerns among some evangelical voters.
As the story noted, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush aroused controversy during the 2000 race for the White House by delivering a speech on this controversial campus. Suffice it to say that the word “fundamentalist” was tossed around quite a bit in the mainstream-media coverage of that event.
The key here is that Bob Jones University has always proudly claimed the fundamentalist mantle for itself, with leaders in previous Jones generations openly separating themselves from leaders — the Rev. Jerry Falwell leaps to mind — who formed public-square alliances with members of other Christian flocks. Thus, the Rev. Bob Jones, Jr., once called Falwell “the most dangerous man in America” among compromised Christian leaders.
Now, does the university’s current leadership still embrace the “fundamentalist” label? That’s an interesting question. If Politico folks have any fresh insights into that question, then by all means they need to be shared. That’s a big news story.
Wait! Someone at BJU endorsed Romney? Stay tuned.
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Comments (7) |
April 28, 2010, at 12:54 pm
You’ve managed to surprise me with this topic. Perhaps the failure to use fundamentalist was due to political correctness overreaction?
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April 28, 2010, at 1:32 pm
It might also help to clarify whether Taylor endorsed Romney in the 2008 election cycle or for the 2012 cycle.
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April 28, 2010, at 1:48 pm
Often the word “fundamentalist” is used to refer to more mainstream folks. Here a more mainstream label is used to refer to bona-fide fundamentalists. The effect in both cases is to inappropriately identify fundamentalists and mainstream conservatives as the same.
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April 28, 2010, at 2:30 pm
According to Wikipedia, citing a 2007 article in the Greenville News that is no longer online, Bob Jones III himself, “as a private citizen”, endorsed Romney for president in that year. It was made clear that he was not speaking for the university.
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April 28, 2010, at 2:36 pm
I’m a BJU graduate, a BJ Seminary Ph.D. student, and a long-time GetReligionista!
Bob Jones III, the immediate past president of BJU, said as far back as 2002 in an official BJU promotional magazine that the term “Fundamentalist” has taken on negative connotations and ought to be replaced. He suggested “Preservationists” as the appropriate moniker for conservative, separatist inerrantists.
Predictably, people to the right of Bob Jones (yes, they’re out there) lambasted Dr. Bob for sliding further down the slippery slope that he’s allegedly been on for decades. But most people in the BJU orbit who stay aware of the news would agree with Dr. Bob’s assessment, I think. The new name hasn’t caught on, but the F-word—except in classes on church history—is probably fading.
And now seems like an appropriate opportunity for me to weigh in on something that’s been building in my thinking for a while. It’s been my job for eight years to follow the news for my alma mater and write a newsletter which covers current trends. On a lark, I started having Google send me every reference to “Bob Jones” that popped up in the press. I’ve gotten probably 10-20 a week for six years or more. The Politico article was one of the most recent.
In my humble, unofficial, but experienced opinion, the hundreds of articles like Politico’s that I’ve read over the years show that the world out there doesn’t understand the world in here. They think we’re a (covertly racist) Republican boot camp à la Patrick Henry College. But the average BJU graduate really, honestly, truly cares far more about saving souls than saving a Republican majority. Daily chapel messages, believe it or not, come from the Bible, not the Drudge Report. And Stephen Jones, the new president, has said he doesn’t have a political bone in his body.
Admittedly, I have known a few political cranks here, people who send me links to WorldNetDaily (I trash every one) and who think that Sarah Palin would be a good president. But I suspect that would be the case at any college—only the cranks might have a different mascot and link to the Daily Kos.
The world out there should remember that the amount of hope they place in politics is far greater than it is in here. We place our hope in the return of Christ to set His world to rights. The world imputes their motives onto Bob Jones, because they don’t understand that Preservationists live for something more important than the next election.
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April 28, 2010, at 6:51 pm
My own take is that the reporter simply wanted to emphasize the word “conservative” for its reasonably clear political, as well as religious, meaning.
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April 28, 2010, at 9:51 pm
I used to read this little news digest from BJU’s website regularly. It’s a different take and includes stories I don’t see elsewhere.
http://www.bju.edu/resources/what-in-the-world/
The edition I looked at just now included excerts from Christianity Today, Calvin College Chimes, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek, as well as references to some recently published books. Interesting stuff.
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