Thoughts on the New Legalism

This string of thoughts was inspired after reading a post about Harry Potter book burning and the resulting comments in Ryan’s blog. I didn’t want to respond in a comment myself since the initial conversation took place quite some time ago.*

Legalism is still a hot issue in the Church at the moment. I still have the misfortune to work for a Church-related office and I can’t tell you how often the subject rears its ugly head. I hate to burst the optimistic bubble of some, but it is still a very real and very present reality. If I interpreted it correctly, the discussion turned to the idea of a new brand of legalism, the liberal elite of Christianity calling down fire upon the fundamental Christian Right. As is the case in most incidences of prejudice (because after all, that is what we are essentially talking about here) there will eventually be a reversal of those criticizing pointed fingers. I agree with that sentiment whole-heartedly as it is evidenced all over the world; however, I cannot say that the traditionally fundamental and intolerant are not still vying for control over many of our Churches and in turn, over our futures. That is the ugly reality.

This new legalism can be viewed as the reversal of traditional prejudices, yes, but I tend to view it as a long overdue backlash with some teeth. To me, it's the difference of a group of people who are considered the "new oppressors" by some, and a group of people who have made a practice of confusing and confounding others by inserting doubt into their hearts of a different kind. Their brand of confusion and doubt appears to make a good person wonder if they are prejudicing the "right" things enough to buy their way into Heaven! The "new oppressors" are simply the "liberal" believers calling the first set of over-opinionated, habitually oppressive believers out on their bull. Sure that can eventually reveal a complete reversal of past relationships, but at this point, it is the unchurched people who have been so long (and are still) at the mercy of those wielding the use of mystifying scriptures and mostly personally invented logic to support their collective distrust in things they don't understand.

At one time, everyone agreed that the fundamentalist’s once long-held prejudices were inappropriate, but now, these types of people find things that confuse us and make us struggle with issues of little importance that have been cloaked in the guise of being Heaven or Hell issues—and for what purpose? Which is more evil then?

*This is clearly an ongoing discussion that hasn't been fully developed. There are obviously so many tributaries of thought to explore when discussing something like this, but I'm not writing a thesis here. These are just some thoughts, however emotionally charged, presented as they come to mind.