Fundamentalism and Conservatism Among Jesus People in South Africa

Summary

Members of the Jesus movement in Johannesburg, South Africa, were presented with Brown and Lowe's Inventory of Religious Belief and Wilson and Patterson's Conservatism Scale. The Ss were Caucasian, English-speaking young men and women between the ages of 17 and 28. The control group (N = 22), comprising members of mainstream-church denominations, was matched with the Jesus People (N = 22) for age, homelanguage, occupation of father, and general intelligence. The scores of the Jesus People on the above inventories indicated an increased fundamentalism on the Inventory of Religious Belief but a decreased fundamentalism on the Conservatism Scale. This paradox was resolved by arguing that two forms of fundamentalism exist: Biblical and Ecclesiastical. In addition, on the Conservatism Scale the Jesus People were less conservative, militaristic, and antihedonistic as a consequence of their religious experience.