I think that's the problem really -- this is what some people think. It needn't be the case of course; plenty of Christian denominations get on fine with their own interpretations of the Bible. As do other denominations of other faiths, with their interpretations of their own holy books.

What I see from the fundamentalist point of view of any religion, however, is a fear of a perceived threat to the comfortable rules laid out for them to follow. The holy book needs to tell you exactly what to do and you can rest assured that all you need to do is follow those rules if you want to live a good life and go to heaven. It cuts to the chase, gets rid of all that inconvenient ambiguity that life tries to throw at people. It also means that you need to believe that your rules are right and that they cannot and will not change because this is simply how God wants you to live; there can be no other way. Therefore, evolution must be false. Therefore, the rules in the Bible are clear -- or as clear as you can make them in your mind.

So if you tell a fundamentalist that they are opening a can of worms by questioning and interpreting what the Bible says, I imagine you will get nothing but fervent agreement -- which is why I don't think we're going to get clear answers to the questions we've asked, other than that everything is clear in the Bible if you understand it properly (like they of course do). Anyone here is welcome to prove me wrong.