First off, what the heck is a “fundaloon” anyway? Well, you won’t find it in Webster’s, but it’s a compound word coined on the internet (dailykos.com specifically) that uses the “funda” part of the word “fundamentalist” and the word “loon.”
A fundamentalist in this context is a religious zealot who rejects science in favor of a literalist view of the Bible. A loon is someone who is crazy. So a fundaloon is a crazy religious zealot.
And I was one. A proud unapologetic one. Raised to be one. Long before I had a clue about politics. I was simply raised in a conservative Christian sect that, like so many others, teaches a specific theology that says only they are right and everyone else is wrong. It just so happened that the particular nutty brand of theology I was raised on aligned with conservative politics.
Back in the early ’80s when I was a young know-it-all in my late teens I happened to catch a glimpse of a show called PTL Club where they were showing photos of aborted fetuses. And that was when I decided that I was a Republican. And based on that one single issue I stayed a Republican until the run–up to the 2000 election. At that time it was pointed out to me that the next president would pick Supreme Court justices and that would directly affect me at some future point. See, I’m gay, always have been, so for most of my life I struggled mightily to reconcile the dogma that had been crammed down my throat with my sexual orientation, over which I had no choice.
It was around this same time in my life that I, through my musical talents, became connected with the Presbyterian Church USA. While still a Christian sect it was markedly different from the fundaloon tradition in which I was raised. As I became more immersed in the theology of the PCUSA it became increasingly difficult to see where the Republican Party came anywhere close to aligning with my Christian values. Instead of a party that was representative of so-called Christian values, the GOP, in my plain view, was a party of lies, cruelty, and greed. They weren’t at all the party of Christian values. They were the party that knew how to use those “values” to manipulate voters into supporting policies that were not in their interests.
My political evolution and my spiritual evolution have been one and the same. I’m a passionate individual with a strong devotion to social justice. The Democratic Party isn’t perfect. They’ve got a few too many folks high up in the establishment who are far too devoted to maintaining the status quo. But for better or worse, the Democrats by light years come closer to representing my values; my “Christian” values than Republicans ever will.
Jeff Taylor is a Street Sense vendor and columnist.
