Thanks for that. I thought de Chardin came a little earlier than he did (I'm barely familiar with him at all -- really little more than a name to me).

"Many of them suddenly abandon their faith when they begin to examine their beliefs."

Yes. The phrase "Recovering Catholic" is part of the American lexicon. "Recovering Fundamentalist" should be, too.

I actually think the average Christian is perfectly equipped to do the internal work necessary to understand the universe. They're just lazy. Or something. But God equips us all for this. But we have to strive to do that internal work you mention.

Jesus was adamant about several things, in my view. One of these, one we don't hear about often is: Question authority (human authority, that is -- although I do yell at God a lot and he/she/they doesn't mind). Fundamentalism is all about unquestioningly coming together on what in the Old Testament would have been referred to as a false idol.

If he was alive today, fundamentalists would be appalled at the company he keeps.