Protestant Fundamentalism—Southeast Asia

The greatest religious influences in Southeast Asia (except for the Philippines) are Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Religious fundamentalism in Southeast Asia is generally associated with these three faiths, and even in the Philippines— the only Christian nation in Asia—religious fundamentalism is usually ascribed to Islamic zealots in the archipelago's southern region. However, a Protestant fundamentalist dynamism is spreading throughout Southeast Asia.

The origins of Protestant fundamentalism are rooted in Western religious movements of the nineteenth century. During that era, some Christian leaders created a theology that emphasized human potential and the use of reason to decipher every portion of the Bible. They created this theology in response to the rise of liberal theology, Darwinism, and the premium placed on science. Fundamentalists concluded that the world was on the precipice of God's wrath but that Christians would be taken out of the world (an event called the rapture) prior to a great tribulation. Three implications of this theology are a literal interpretation of the Bible, the short-term goal of gaining converts before the end of the world, and a conscious withdrawal from popular society and culture. This withdrawal from the world distinguished these fundamentalists, and by the beginning of the twentieth century, mainstream Protestant denominations distanced themselves from them. Protestant fundamentalism reached full development by the 1920s, and it has remained a religious force since that time.

Missionary activity is central to fundamentalists for two reasons. First, they teach that individuals are converted by saying a prayer in which the individuals acknowledge that they believe in Jesus Christ as their personal savior. The key, therefore, is to give all people an opportunity to choose whether they want to be saved (that is, to embrace the fundamentalists' brand of Christianity) or not. Second, fundamentalists emphasize missionary activity because they assume that these are the last days, that the great tribulation— when God's grace is removed from the earth—is imminent. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and so their missionary programs are pragmatic, with an eye on the clock.

Protestant fundamentalism's influence in pre– World War II Southeast Asia was minimal. In fact, during the first half of the twentieth century fundamentalists retreated into what Professor George Marsden, the Francis A. McAnaney professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, terms a subculture. Their social atrophy during the Great Depression was in response to the increased prejudice against the "nonrational" arguments that conservative Christians were making against antibiblical scientific conclusions. In those crisis years, it was difficult for the fundamentalists to expend resources on missionary endeavors.

Although the preponderance of Protestant fundamentalist activity in Asia took place after 1945, a few fundamentalist missionaries sought to spread their message throughout Southeast Asia prior to World War II. The work of Adoniram Judson (1788–1850) in Myanmar (at that time Burma) is a case in point. Since World War II, however, thousands of fundamentalist missionaries and indigenous pastors have established congregations, mission agencies, and Bible training centers in Southeast Asia. Whether one travels to the most remote regions of the Philippines or the northern section of Thailand, the landscape is dotted with Baptist Bible Church buildings. During the 1990s, fundamentalist churches were established in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos—nations that were once closed to Christian missionary activity.

Fundamentalists' intense proselytizing in Southeast Asia is attributable to historical realities. Western influence in Southeast Asia, whether superficial or entrenched, is tied to the colonial era. Western imperial powers incorporated all of Southeast Asia, except for Thailand, into their growing empires. Catholic and Protestant missionaries propagated their faith throughout the region. Although this initial Christian evangelization did not have a fundamentalist theology, it did prepare Southeast Asia for a more radical Christianity. Indeed, many independent Baptists now gather converts from the Catholic Church and from liberal Protestant denominations.

A major tenet of fundamentalist theology is the belief that true Christians must not become entangled in popular society and culture. In Southeast Asia this means that fundamentalists do not participate in animism-based rituals, non-Christian religious celebrations, or any social gathering that does not have conservative Christian overtones. In Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—where Buddhism is the state religion—the implication of Christian fundamentalist separatism affects every area of social interaction. In the predominately Islamic nations of Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia, conservative Christians are a subculture and societal pariahs who gladly accept the persecution that is promised to all who truly follow the teachings of Jesus. Even in the Christian Philippines, a distinction is made between fundamentalists and Catholic or other Protestant citizens. The separation between these groups is based on the fundamentalists' claim that anyone who follows religious tradition rather than the Bible is not a Christian. Consequently, Filipino fundamentalists refuse to participate in celebrations such as a town's annual fiesta celebrating the town's patron saint.

Southeast Asian communities are noted for their intense kinship loyalty and the emphasis placed on communal behavior. Yet, fundamentalism stresses the primacy of individual spirituality. Some observers, then, might be astonished to see that there are thousands of fundamentalist congregations throughout Southeast Asia. What would possess individuals to make such a radical step and depart from tradition and culture? The answer to this question is multifaceted, rooted in three aspects of fundamentalist doctrine: the explanation for current suffering, the guarantee of a glorious future, and the personal aspect of this conservative community.

As an anti-intellectual movement, fundamentalism in Southeast Asia does not attract the professional elite. Demographically, the economic lower class fills the conservative Christian congregations. A dominant theme in the preaching to these believers, then, is that their poverty and persecution in this life are due to the wickedness of this world and the rule of the devil. The focus of the fundamentalist message is on the brevity of this life and the imminent return of Christ, so adherents are encouraged to hold on for just a while; soon their suffering will be turned to joy.

Another motivation for conversion is the biblical promise that in the end, the last will be first and the first will be last. Fundamentalists proudly hold to the literal translation of the Bible; therefore, they promise that all believers will receive a mansion and walk on streets of gold when they get to heaven. It takes only a prayer to secure eternal riches. Pastors and missionaries tell their followers that although every true believer must wear the badge of an antisocial religious fanatic, this brief humiliation will result in eternal rewards.

Finally, in a region where monks, priests, nuns, and imams must minister to millions of people, religious relations can feel impersonal. Many Southeast Asians claim that their spiritual needs are not met because of the volume of people that their spiritual leaders must minister to. Fundamentalists, on the other hand, emphasize the duty of pastors to visit all their church members and to create a community in which accountability, emotional and financial support, and a close-knit subculture are nurtured. So long as poverty and alienation from mainstream religious traditions remain the experience of many Southeast Asians, the Protestant fundamentalist denominations will continue to win converts.

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