Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

FUNDAMENTALISTS – SCARY AS HELL “The problem is the extremists,” a Jewish friend said during a discussion about religiously motivated violence.   BBC news story on violence Religious fundamentalists are frequently in the news nowadays—largely because of some threat or horrific act. Recently, a Muslim group made news in France with the murder of Charlie Hebdo magazine staff in Paris (BBC). Hindu fundamentalists are on the rise in India and persecuting Christians according to a story in Christianity Today 23 January 2015. Some 300 clergy and church leaders are targeted. A report from 2014 claims some 7,000 Christians faced aggression and persecution from non-Christians. Muslims have also been under attack by Hindu fundamentalists who seek to convert Muslims and Christians. Muslims are about 14% of the population according to Free Speech Radio News . Popular Pope Francis has seen the need to speak out against all fundamentalists with a challenge to th...

LOVE     and Pentecostal-   Charismatic Spirituality I was intrigued by the writings of researchers who are exploring what they call the Science of Godly Love. A Templeton Foundation Report from last year (2013) featured some findings by researchers Matthew T. Lee, Margaret M. Poloma, and Stephen G. Post. Here are some quotes from the report: Ø   Almost half of all Americans feel God’s love at least once a day Ø   Eight out of ten have this experience at least once in a while. Ø   A similar number have felt God’s love prompting their compassion for others at least occasionally, with almost a third feeling this compassion daily or more often. Ø   Millions of Americans frequently experience divine love and for them this sense of God’s love not only enhances existential well-being, but underlies a sense of personal meaning and purpose and enlivens compassion for others…(Matthew T. Lee) An interesting phrase is what the...

How God  Oral Roberts 1958, UPI   heals and helps “God spared my life for a reason,” Dave testified following a close brush with death by a tornado.* “My husband’s not expected to live; please pray,” pleaded Becky as she posted from her husband’s hospital room.*             Christians have long believed in the power of prayer. Perhaps it is better theology to say many Christians believe in the power of God to cause a change in people or in the natural world in response to prayer. Beliefs about prayer and how God works can make a difference; as I suggested in a previous post . All God beliefs In classical Pentecostal traditions, believers claimed divine healing as a right. Something guaranteed by God to those who believed. As a boy, I went to a tent meeting put on by Oral Roberts not far from my home in Southern New Jersey. I recall lines of people waiting for a miracle. Throughout history, som...

Conversion,  Deconversion, Transformation Imagine working for a private security firm. You get a call to head off to a local park where there’s a protest. You’re armed and ready to take ‘em out. POW! Out of nowhere a truck slams into your SUV. The airbag busts you in the face. You fumble, slump in your seat, and discover you’re blind. Your plans have changed. You hear a voice. ZAPPED! You mumble, “omg.” And SHE says, “Yeah? I am here. So what are you up to?” And just like that your whole life has changed.  The prototype for conversion studies had been the conversion of the apostle Paul who was struck by God on his way to persecute Christians ( Acts 9 ). The sudden and dramatic change of life was studied by psychologists like William James who interviewed converts following the American revival meetings in the late 1800s. In preparing a lesson related to religious conversions (Chapter 8, Hood, Hill, & Spilka, 2010) I find the field is still lo...

Divorce Remarriage  &  Tension Alyce Conlon is divorced from her husband. And she has filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit against Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF). According to the story reported by Sarah Pulliam Bailey of Religious News Service, the suit alleges the firing was because of her divorce. But two male colleagues kept their jobs as they went through divorce and remarriage. Pulliam documents the requirements of IVCF policy pertaining to Separation and Divorce. Two verses illustrate Old and New Testament statements about divorce, Malachi 2:16 and Matthew 19:9. FRED CLARK AND THE UGLY GAME Fred Clark weighed in on the news story with a post titled, The ugly little game of white evangelical divorce . Fred opines this case is about gender discrimination. Acknowledging that each case is different, Fred offers another opinion: “In the white evangelical church, there are good divorces and bad divorces.” The crucial issue becomes ...

FUNDAMENTALISTS: WHO ARE THEY? Recently I overheard four faculty members from a conservative American Christian school discussing creationism and the age of the earth. One person was impressed with the presentation at the Creation Museum in Kentucky. "I teach the Bible," she said. As I listened to them talk I assumed they took a literal view of scripture, held ultra conservative social values, and were quick to support military solutions when national interests were threatened. Was I right? Zorrse Zonkey Creation Museum / G Sutton 2015 American fundamentalism has been associated with the beliefs of Protestant Christians who reacted against social trends toward higher biblical criticism and evolution. The fundamentalist leaders developed a list of fundamental truths: 1. Authority of the Bible; 2. Virgin birth of Jesus; 3. Substitutionary atonement for sin; 4. Resurrection of Jesus; 5. Miracles; 6. Millennialism. Behavioral scientists began looking for...