Another netfriend wrote:

The whole point about fundamentalism, which distinguishes it from evangelicalism, is the closed mind that it attaches to. The essential psychology of the fundamentalist is an essential insecurity, which requires finding certainties, and something in which one can believe absolutely. Forget the contradications and inconsistencies in the scriptures, they must be believed absolutely. That is why fundamentalists quote texts one verse at a time, rather than see a verse in the context of the passage, let alone of its social, cultural or intellectual context.

When I preach about faith, it is to emphasise that faith essentially involves letting go of [other] certainties, and trusting in something unknown. It is about responding to the here and now, and embracing insecurity. [I then end up with something that sounds very like the tub-thumping evangelist’s appeal.]

I must take issue re Judaism, however. He clearly is referring to some particular Jewish lobby. But I think of a small number of jewish people I know well, and his view doesn’t gel with my experience. I also think of people like Rabbi Lerner, possibly one of the most outspoken critics there is of Israel, and of his more orthodox coreligionists.

Another danger to truth is the human propensity to generalise, and to reduce complexities to more comprehensible simplicities. It is a reminder to us all to be careful when we cast labels to place them accurately: the lance is a far more precise weapon than the h-bomb.