Media Blog 2

One of the reasons American culture has skewed views on certain topics is because we often trust media as a reflection or window into who we are. The media shows us a specific take on life and to think that what we see in the movies, music, and even online is what real life is has really shaped and affected our cultures view. One of the concepts that the media has portrayed in a light that is very skewed is fundamentalist Christians. fundamentalist Christians stress certain core beliefs, such as the inerrancy of the Bible, the literal nature of the Biblical accounts, the Virgin Birth of Christ, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and the substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross. However most people in America do not perceive fundamentalists in this way primarily because of the media and how it portrays them.
The article “War of the Words” by Molly Marcot is an example of the medias portrayal of fundamental Christians. The article talks about how 200 community members stood against a rally that fundamentalist Christians had protesting homosexuality. The students standing against the Christians were chanting "Black, white, gay, straight, we're together fighting hate!"
Meanwhile, the Christians were standing on Northwester High School in Hyattsville with signs that said: "Fags Doom Nations" and "Mourn for Your Sins." The Christians that were rallying were the Westboro Baptist Church, a very radical, fanatic church. They are seen to be fundamentalists by the media, as shown in this article, however many of their beliefs are not biblical. The older sister of a student at Northwester, Julia Ruth, said, “It's very disheartening to see a church group trying to spread hate. Why would these people want to come here? There are so many loving people here." The media sees fundamentalist Christians as those who hate those who don’t believe the same way they do.
However, from a Christian view, a fundamentalist Christian is something different. Dale A. Robbins in “What people Ask About the Church” explains that the world may view believing the virgin birth and believing the bible is the inspired word of God is not in fact radical as the world sees it, but instead is very basic to the Christian faith. Robbins says that “From the Christian perspective, fundamentalist has traditionally referred to any follower of Christ who believes that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and who believes in its literal interpretation and fundamental teachings.” Essentially, fundamentalists are Christians who are uncompromising and who take their beliefs to the max. Robbins recognizes that in current society “fundamentalist” has come to be used for extremists and radicals. The media portrays them as fanatics, but according to Robbins a fundamentalist is simply any follower of Christ who holds to what the Bible says one hundred percent.
The idea of fundamentalism seen in chapter 4 of “Quoting God” is interesting in light of how the media portrays specifically Christian fundamentalists. The author of the chapter, Corey Flintoff says that it is difficult to “introduce modern standards of journalism in areas where repressive regimes or religions have held sway.” Flintoff makes it obvious that he thinks the view of fundamentalism is something that should be loosened, and that is what he tried to do while dealing with the Mongian fundamentalists. Obviously, through this chapter and through the media, fundamentalists are portrayed as something different than what they are viewed as by Christians.