It's aQuestion ofFaith: Discourses of Fundamentalism ... - JAC Online

Discoursesof Fundementalism 335
the way that students inthis particular classresponded. Asthe term progressed, a
block of seven students (out of 18)who identified themselves as "Conservative
Christians" started to make their resistancevisibleandvocal:they sattogether in a
cluster oftwo tables,they dominated classdiscussions,andsomeofthem refusedto
readorwrite about assignedtexts. Asateacher,Iwasfrustrated by my inability to
connect with these students, andI wasangrywith the waysthat they treated other
students in the class. As aresearcher, though, I was intrigued by these students'
responses to classdiscussionsand assignedreadings, particularly in terms of the
groundsofauthority upon whichthey assertedthemselves.At semester'send,both
Mindy andIdiscussedthewaysthat religiousdifferenceseemedto playanimportant
part in how the students had responded to the course assignments and to me.' In
attemptingto writeaboutthiscourseformy dissertation,then, Ibeganto explorethe
literatureoffundamentalismandtoconsidermorefullywhy fundamentalistdiscourse
seemed to be more powerful and attractive for many of the students than the
discoursesof criticalpedagogythat I had initially hoped to enact.'
My own consciousnessregardingtheterm "fundamentalist"emergedinconcert
with the 1994politicalelectionandpublicdiscourseabout the risinginfluenceofthe
"ReligiousRight" inAmericansociety.Popular newsmagazinessuchasNewsweek
and Timeandtelevisionshowssuchas48Hourshaveallprofiled,invaryingdegrees,
the riseof"fundamentalism"withinU.S.culture.Within academiccircles,MartinE.
Marty andR. ScottAppleby's FundamentalistProject-a multi-million dollar,sixyear,six-volumestudycomparingfundamentalismsaroundtheworld
supportedby
the American AcademyofArts andSciences-reflects how scholarshavebegun to
attendto fundamentalistbeliefasameansofinterpretingsocialandpoliticalbehavior.
Whileaslateasthe 1960smostfundamentalistseschewedpoliticalactionassecondary
to the goalsofmissionaryconversion,recentlyfundamentalistdiscourse-through
the politicalpower ofthe ChristianCoalition andthe conservativethink tankswith
which it isallied-has shapedthe U .5.culturalandpoliticalscene.And whileschool
curriculum hashistoricallybeenasiteofcontest overdifferentreligiousbeliefsand
values,increasingly,fundamentalistshavenamedschoolsasaprimarysiteforpolitical
action. Indeed, debates about the role of religiousbeliefin public education have
becomealmostmainstream,with proposedconstitutionalamendmentsto legitimize
groupprayerintheclassroom,callsforvouchersto fundstudentenrollmentinprivate
Christian schools,andcurrent lawsuitsinstatessuchasAlabamato allowChristian
religiousactivities,suchasBiblereadingandthe postingofthe ten commandments,
within K-12publicschools(Kaniiner).It's not surprising,then, that students' texts
andresponsesreflectandproducethislargerculturaldiscourse.But giventhat many
oftheseactivitiesaresupportedby Christiansandotherswho donot namethemselves
asfundamentalist, usingthe term "fundamentalist" asameans of understanding
behavioriscomplicated.
In its historical sense Christian fundamentalism describes "a coalition of
conservative, predominantly Calvinist, Protestants that emerged from within a
broader, more ecumenicalevangelicalculture inthe latenineteenth century" based
on the fivefundamentals of faith (Bendroth 4). Basedon the 1895Niagara Bible