Season 1
B2: You Might Be a Fundamentalist If . . .
B3: Drifting, Grifting, or Shifting
One of the most common discussions points I’ve had about the podcast is about what I mean when I use the term fundamentalism. I unpack what I mean by fundamentalism – and why I’m trying not to be one – in episode two. But it seems a bit more clarification might be helpful. In a recent conversation about the podcast with a Southern Baptist leader, I used a metaphor from C.S. Lewis that seemed useful. Lewis once compared Christianity to a great house. The central hallway is the shared core of the faith—belief in Christ, the creeds, the big essentials. In this podcast, I oultine a few ways we drift into fundamentalism using Lewis' house metaphor.
It’s a strange thing to hear about people talking about your convictions—not just challenging them, but labeling them. Lately, I’ve found myself placed into a couple boxes by some have been critical of things I’ve shared: Let’s call them drifting and grifting. Then there’s a label I would use of my process, which is shifting.
I shared the statistics regarding the SBC. Here's a link to a CT article on how they SBC lost nearly half a million members in 2025: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2023/05/southern-baptist-membership-drop-baptism-rebound-sbc/ Here's an NPR story on Bono and the song: NPR, "U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For'"