Fundamentalism. n.
1. Strict maintenance of traditional religious beliefs. This term has been used over and over again to describe certain religious groups that resort to extremism to get their point across.

2. An interpretation of every word in the sacred texts as the literal truth.

The term “fundamental,” when used to describe religion, sounds like the basic beliefs and morals a person would live by in order to bring themselves closer to the God they believe in. Somehow, the term got misconstrued, and we are left with a definition that describes the most twisted form of religious beliefs.

Fundamentalism has become a large and potentially violent voice of a very small minority aiming to represent the goals of the majority of Christian and Islamic groups. Unfortunately, bombings of abortion clinics and government buildings don’t seem to do much to change governmental policy or human nature in the way the fundamentalists want.

Although not in the form of violence, fundamentalist activism recently hit close to home in Eau Claire. The Campus Mall was invaded by a group of radical Christian fundamentalists holding life-size posters of fetuses covered in blood, including an absurd poster comparing the Jewish Holocaust in World War II to abortion by labeling the latter as “America’s Holocaust.”

When someone is convinced the slaughter of six million independently living people is equal to something deemed legal under the United States Constitution and supported by 52 percent of Americans, according to an Associated Press poll taken March 13, I would assume that person has had a bit too much to drink.

These campus-touring extremists, who are members of the Milwaukee-based Missionaries to the Preborn, were spewing condemnations toward various students who gathered around the general area or were just passing by. A few students decided they were not going to tolerate the missionaries’ unwanted presence.

The most effective of these students was sophomore Matt Boyeson, a student senator and president of the College Democrats.

Boyeson – who used a bull horn to encourage condom use – and a few other student senators decided to pass out condoms to promote safe sex while the missionaries were demonstrating on the Campus Mall. As the supposed leader of this resistance, Boyeson took the most brutal attacks.

“An older woman accused me of being a homosexual because of the pink shirt I was wearing,” he said.

Take a moment to ponder what she said and tell me this was a peaceful protest. Boyeson also said she continually asked him why he didn’t choose life and said using condoms was “perverse sex.”

“One guy followed me around and said I was ‘afraid of the truth’ and ‘lying to myself,’ ” he said. “The funny thing was that he never really gave a reason to back up his statements.”

The main problem arising from this fundamentalist viewpoint is the inability to accept and logically understand someone else’s differing lifestyle. Even though the missionaries were not violent, their blatant disregard for anyone who questioned their message showed a closed-mindedness that most people couldn’t imagine having in a college setting, even if that person considers themselves Christian.

In turn, this closed-mindedness leads down a path to contradiction by the Bible. Although many fundamentalists use Bible passages to prove their arguments, they fail to see the other side of the coin and take into account the possibility that they might be wrong in their interpretation of “God’s word.” I’ll admit that I’m not the most devout churchgoer, but I do have five years of Catholic school under my belt, and I do carry my own opinions about a few parts in the Bible that may pertain to fundamentalism and its contradictions.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged” is an often-quoted passage from Matthew 7:1 in the New Testament. Many fundamentalists who publicly condemn to hell people who don’t fully accept their radical perspective as the one and only truth could get a lot out of this passage.

It’s very possible that an average student who walked through the Campus Mall last week has a set of morals drawn from their religious faith. Yet many felt that publicly stereotyping anyone not rallying to the extremist side was not the best way to make a “change for the better” in the world.

By standing in a public setting and badgering casual passers-by, fundamentalists typically deter anyone from their cause because of their outgoing, hateful protests.

If the missionaries had been casually discussing their views with students, there would have been no need for police intervention.

In a quote from Matthew 7:15, Jesus says, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.”

Many of the missionaries were dressed in normal clothing. One woman wore a “grandma” sweater, and another went so far as to bring her children to join in the fun. Do you see a pattern developing here?

Most extremists, like the Missionaries, choose willingly to completely ignore the negative impact they have on people’s lives with their over-the-top protests, but if ignorance is bliss, then many fundamentalists are already in heaven.

McCormick is freshman print journalism major and copy editor of The Spectator.