On December 2, 2005, while on Larry King Live, Rick Warren stated the following:

Then, on January 10, 2006, a Philadelphia Inquirer story reported: "Warren predicts that fundamentalism, of all varieties, will be 'one of the big enemies of the 21st century. Muslim fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalism, Jewish fundamentalism, secular fundamentalism—they're all motivated by fear. Fear of each other.'"

Finally, on January 29th, 2008, while on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, Warren casually remarked: "A Fundamentalist is someone who stops listening. There are Fundamentalist Christians. There are Fundamentalist Jews. There are Fundamentalist Muslims. Fundamentalist Atheists. Fundamental Secularists. It's an attitude that doesn't want to listen to anybody else."

These three blurbs have given more than enough reason for the church's self-proclaimed "watchman" to start hurling accusations at Warren in their ongoing efforts to convince the world that he is nothing less than an enemy of the cross, a God-hater, a false teacher, and a New Age deceiver. Consider these bizarre interpretations of Warren's comments:


But is this an accurate interpretation of Warren's remarks? One need only take the time to actually listen to what he is saying in order to understand the meaning behind his words. But rather than approaching his statements calmly and rationally, the heresy-hunters have repeatedly ripped his remarks out of context and misrepresented them.



All Warren is saying here is that there is a certain kind of mindset often held by people who are more comfortable with hating, than loving; more interested in screaming than listening; more concerned with judging, than accepting. These people are often referred to as "Fundamentalists" in our current society/culture. They come in all kinds of different theological, sociological, and cultural colors, but they are all "Fundamentalists" in the negative way usually envisioned by society/culture when hearing that term. It doesn't matter what these Fundamentalists call themselves. Nor does it even matter if they are religious! They are "Fundamentalists" in that they don't care at all about what anyone else has to say about anything! They are closed-minded isolationists (mentally, emotionally, and psychologically). Talking to them, or trying to reason with them, is like trying to communicate with a brick wall.



Confusion has resulted because the word "Fundamentalist" has come to mean two different things in society/culture. In other words, there are two different kinds of fundamentalists:


The world, of course, sees the second type of Fundamentalist most often in the Fundamentalist Muslim, who takes his/her mindset so far as to kill and destroy in the name of God. But we have Christian Fundamentalists, too. They are the ones who burn/ban books, express their views harshly and hatefully, and isolate themselves socially-culturally from the world, and who will not even entertain the idea of communicating thoughtfully and tolerantly with those who are not of the Body of Christ. In short, Fundamentalists of all kinds simply don't listen (hint to discernment ministries).

These types of people, whatever they might call themselves religiously (or irreligiously), are the same kinds of people at their core. And they are the ones to whom Warren is referring. He is making no condemnation of Christians who hold dear to their hearts the doctrinal essentials of the Christian faith once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). That would be absurd since Warren himself holds to these very same beliefs (see my two articles Saddleback Church: The Cross, Sin, and Hell and The Doctrinal Essentials of Christianity—and Rick Warren").



What is most amazing is how Warren's critics have continued spreading the false notion that Warren somehow has demeaned, condemned and mocked "Fundamentalism" (as in the fundamentals of the Christian faith) in the face of rather clear language. Moreover, Saddleback Church has actually gone so far as to release an article in hopes of clearing up any misunderstandings! The article, titled Rick Warren On Fundamentalism, makes it extraordinarily clear that Warren was in no way belittling doctrinal fundamentalism or the doctrinal fundamentals of Christianity, declaring as follows:


Here we see Saddleback itself embracing the label Fundamentalist!

The article then refers to the other kind of Fundamentalist; the kind about Rick Warren is talking: "There is, however, another kind of fundamentalism that has nothing to do with fundamentals of the Christian faith; instead, it is about keeping the right rules in the right way order to please the right people. . . . This form of fundamentalism is, quite frankly, just another form of religion, one that diminishes the intimate relationship we have with God through Jesus Christ."

Clearly, Warren is has never, and is not now, slamming Fundamentalism as it applies to those Christians (Warren included) who embrace the fundamentals of the Christian faith.