Beatnik Christianity Deplores “Fundamentalisms Swapping”

When most people think of fundamentalism their minds often go straight to the vitriolic outbursts, behavioral control, restrictive thinking, literalistic interpretations, and all the rest. What’s helpful to realize is that these things are merely the symptoms, not the underlying disease. At the core of any expression of fundamentalism is a mindset that fears being wrong and finds safety in certainty. It’s an emotional coping mechanism. From this perspective, it becomes easy to see that fundamentalism is not limited to the religious conservatism of Christianity or Islam.1

Have you noticed those who swing from one extreme certitude to another? I’ve seen people go from aggressively low-church Southern Baptist to aggressively high-church Roman Catholic. A former co-worker converted to Mormonism, then “de-converted” to New Atheism. I remember a single mom from church who was born again in Midwestern Pentecostalism that suppressed her sexuality, then joined a woo-woo Eastern religious cult on the West Coast that mandated participation in polyamorous relationships and ritualistic orgies. Seeing the pattern emerge?

In a 2019 episode of The Liturgists podcast, Michael Gungor and Hillary McBride describe this behavior of subconsciously moving from one oppressive system to another as “fundamentalisms swapping.” As they describe it, it’s when a person escapes a toxic community or worldview only to somehow end up in similar binds with another community and belief system. Classic case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. Sadly, this often happens within the process of deconstruction. People question everything about what they think, but they never question how they think.2

In fundamentalisms swapping people don’t actually lose their aspired certainty or black-and-white mental schema for world. Instead they switch from right-wing to left-wing, egalitarian to complementarian, individualism to collectivism, systematic theology to contemplation, fascist to communist, pro-life to pro-choice, etc. Ever a met an evangelical turned atheist who proselytizes against God?3 The specific beliefs and practices appear to radically change, but the underlying thought processes remain the same as they operate with the zeal of the newly converted.4

The original beatniks were blessed with an abundance of skepticism. It appears this naturally inoculated them against many of the common pitfalls of fundamentalisms swapping like groupthink, shaming, control that’s presented as accountability, secret information, social exclusivity, praising people as being special, punishing questions or doubts, inner-circle elitism, demanding adherence to authority figures, the in-or-out/us vs. them mentality, and dictating behaviors. Well done, Beat Generation. Beatnik Christianity seeks to walk in their skeptical steps.