Hello everyone and happy day. I'm not really very good at introductions or remembering the names of people to whom I am introduced.However, I'll go head and try to introduce myself, but please be aware that a Dixie Chicks CD is feeding into my ears. Inadvertently,it may color the introduction some.I am a 52-year old guy who lives in Tennessee with my wife of 27 years and my two children, a girl (age 11) and a boy (age 4). We liveon a rather ordinary street inan "upscale" neighborhood in a small town. However, we think it is a very special place. My field of endeavor at work is environmental science/environmental protection/technical writing/technical editing. I have a B.A. in anthropology (GPA 3.89) and an M.A. in archaeology/anthropology (GPA 3.96) from The University of Tennessee in Knoxville. In addition, I attended Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, for two years and a quarter. The main focus of my study there was in geology. I know all of that looks very scientific, but I actually love literature, religious studies, history, etc. While I may not know as much about the humanities as some of you folks, my heart is probably more at home there than it is in the scientific realm.On the religious front, I was never a Christian fundamentalist in the sense of growing up in what is often referred to as a "Bible-Believing" church, and I was never even introduced to the notions of being a "True" Christian or following something called "right doctrine." In fact, I grew up in what would become the United Methodist Church.My parents were Christianswho did not attend church. They were good, decent people who loved me a lot, but they weresick (mother with mental illness---apparently predisposing genes in the family) and my dad with insulin-dependent diabetes. To make matters worse, they were dirt poor. This contributed a great deal to my life-long problem withsomething that might be referred to as clinical depression. My psychologist says "no." My psychiatrist says "yes." Who knows. However, I do know this for absolute certain. Whenever a journalist does anon-camera report in the aftermath of a child committing murder, details the good Christian home, the neighbors who say they are such nice people, and ends with the old phrase "...and everyone is just at a loss to explain this senselessact," don't you believe it for even a second. The family can go to church, the family can be nice, everything can seem just great, but I can tell you from personal experience that all manner of pain and severe dysfunction can still exist in that household---enough to result in a great deal of anger and even murder.When I got married,Istarted back to church again and ended upat two churches in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)---really without doing any research into what they believed and being totally ignorant of the fundamentalist takeover in 1979. That was a big mistake. I got a heavy dose of fundamentalismfor about 4 years. The dose was bad enough that it trampledwith jack boots through my problems with depression, and I had to seek psychotherapy for the first time to deal withmy childhood issues. Some of you may be surprised by this, but the fundamentalismin the SBC was not an issue in the therapy sessions---never really came upI don't believe.However, dealing with my childhood situation helped me to realize on my own that these right wing, religious right, fundamentalist Southern Baptistswere espousing things I didn't believe (things that I thought were totally at variance with my understanding of the Christian faith from my personal studies in religion and theology). Furthermore, they had abandoned their own Baptist traditions with regard to religious freedom, separation of church and state, etc. First chanceI got, I was out of there fast!!! Several years later, I asked an assistant pastor to transfer my membership to a local United Methodist Churchand to erase any and all evidence that I had ever had anything at all to do with their church---sort of like erasing one's name from all of the buildings and monuments in ancient Egypt.So, where am I today. Well, I am still a Christian, andI have returned to the United Methodist Church wheremy roots were planted in younger years. I love Jesus dearly, accept his grace freely and without fear, and operate---often with great personal failing---according to the principles of love rather than law. However, to put all of you recovering fundamentalists at ease, I am not a "True" Christian, and by baseline fundamentalist standards, my church is about 1000 miles to the left of what you would have once called apostasy.To tell you the truth, by fundamentalist standards, I feel almost certain that Jesus would be labelled apostate if he showed upat the local Separate Baptist Evangelical Free Church. Where do they get those church names!!!!!!!Why am I here?1) First of all, I am here to learn and want you to be my teachers. I am very interested in the fundamentalist belief system, how it operates, and what its implications are for the lives of ordinary people and American society in general. I have read quite a few books on the subject, but have never been able to converse with people who have "been there---done that." I have a million questions to ask and would welcome---in fact would love---a variety of responses from all of you. I would like to pursue something Socratic where I ask questions, you talk, and I basically shut up and listen, except to ask more questions. It might not always work out quite like that, but that's the ideal. I guess the desire to do this comes from my anthropology background.I just have an innate need to understand this human "state of mind" (or whatever it is) called Christian fundamentalism. On several occasions, I have tried to engage pastors of fundamentalist churchesto answer my questions by e-mail. However, they were all dreadfully suspicious of me, even though I approached them with utter innocence. To this day, I am amazed at the fear and negativism I detected in the fewresponses that were received from these pastors.From the receptionI got, you would thinkI had shown up to rape their daughters.2)Secondly, I might be able to help or support anyone who has mental health issues caught up in a negative experience withChristian fundamentalism. Although my personal brushwith fundamentalism was brief, I have never seen darkness as deep and abiding asit is in the pit where psychological disorders andfundamentalism meet up. If you have spent any timein this living hell, I feel for youbecause I have been there myself. Perhaps better, I found my way out. Also, if there is anyone here who isbeginninga journey out of fundamentalism but does not want tototally toss theChristian experience out with the bath water, I could probably be helpfulin salvagingyour faith (not fundamentalism) in a peaceful, nonjudgmental,and loving way. However, I am not here as a missionary, and I know that it is against the rulesto be a missionary here. So, that would be your choice to initiate---not mine. Something tells me that this would be arare case anyway. Why? Although I don't know a whole lot about the subject, it occurs to me that most people who escape from really for real, honest to goodness, common denominator Christian fundamentalismend up as atheists or agnostics. Being an anthropologist, I have a very goodhypothesis as to why this occurrs, but you probably wouldn't believe me even if I told you---so I'll stay quiet about it for now. We can all talk about it somewhere along our mutual journey in understanding this monster from hell called fundamentalism. I think it must surely be what the Apostle Paul is actually referring to when he talks about "...the way of death."If anyone would like to Socratically teach me about Christian fundamentalism, you may do so here on the forum or via my home e-mail address atspacal@comcast.net. I count all of you as my fellow sufferers and wish you well.Tracy