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 Fundamentalists wrong about Bible, Vatican says
 Associated Press
 
    Vatican City -- A new Vatican document on how to interpret the Bible
condemns the fundamentalist approach of word-for-word literalism as
distorting, dangerous and possibly leading to racism.

  The 130-page document, presented Friday, is the Roman Catholic Church's
latest commentary on trends in biblical study.  Some of its language is
unusually harsh, reflection of the challenge that Protestant fundamentalism
 poses to the church.

  "Fundamentalism actually invites people to a kind of intellectual
suicide," says the document, written by the Pontificial Biblical
Commission.

  Fundamentalist denominations have posed a growing challenge to
Catholicism.

  During the 1980's, fundamentalism became a powerful force among many
mainstream Protestant denominations in the United States -- most
prominently the Southern Baptist Convention.  Independent fundamentalist
ortanizations are drawing congragants away from Catholic churches as
well.

  The Vatican document grants that fundamentalists, who take the words of
the Bible as literal truths are right to "insist on the divine
inspirtation of the Bible."  But that's about all it gives the
fundamentalist approach.

  "It's relying upon a non-critical reading of certain texts of the Bible
serves to reinforce political ideas and social attitudes that are marked
by prejudices--racism, for example--quite contrary to the Christian
gospel," the pamphlet says.