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{{Short description|Unwavering attachment to a set of irreducible beliefs}}
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'''Fundamentalism''' is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict [[Biblical literalism|literal interpretation]] to [[scriptures]], [[dogma]]s, or [[Ideology|ideologies]], along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing one's [[Ingroups and outgroups|ingroup and outgroup]],<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Altemeyer | first1 = B. | last2 = Hunsberger | first2 = B. | year = 1992 | title = Authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, quest, and prejudice | journal = International Journal for the Psychology of Religion | volume = 2 | issue = 2| pages = 113–133 | doi = 10.1207/s15327582ijpr0202_5 }}</ref><ref name="academia.edu">{{cite journal |last1=Kunst |first1=Jonas R. |last2=Thomsen |first2=Lotte |last3=Sam |first3=David L. |title=Late Abrahamic reunion? Religious fundamentalism negatively predicts dual Abrahamic group categorization among Muslims and Christians: Late Abrahamic reunion |journal=European Journal of Social Psychology |url=https://www.academia.edu/6436421 |date=June 2014 |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=337–348 |doi=10.1002/ejsp.2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kunst | first1 = J. R. | last2 = Thomsen | first2 = L. | year = 2014 | title = Prodigal sons: Dual Abrahamic categorization mediates the detrimental effects of religious fundamentalism on Christian-Muslim relations | journal = The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion | volume = 25 | issue = 4 | pages = 293–306 | doi = 10.1080/10508619.2014.937965 | hdl = 10852/43723 | s2cid = 53625066 | url = https://zenodo.org/record/812900 | hdl-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hunsberger | first1 = B | year = 1995 | title = Religion and prejudice: The role of religious fundamentalism, quest, and right-wing authoritarianism | journal = Journal of Social Issues | volume = 51 | issue = 2| pages = 113–129 | doi = 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1995.tb01326.x | quote = ... the fundamentalism and quest relationships with prejudice are especially meaningful in light of an association with right‐wing authoritarianism. ... In the end, it would seem that it is not religion per se, but rather the ways in which individuals hold their religious beliefs, which are associated with prejudice.}}</ref>
In [[comparative religion]], '''''fundamentalism''''' can refer to [[antimodernism|anti-modernist]] movements in various [[religion]]s.
which leads to an emphasis on some conception of "purity", and a desire to [[Reactionary|return to a previous ideal]] from which advocates believe members have strayed. The term is usually used in the context of [[religion]] to indicate an unwavering attachment to a set of irreducible beliefs (the "fundamentals").<ref>{{cite journal | title = Beyond Theology: Toward an Anthropology of "Fundamentalism" | journal = American Anthropologist | date = Jun 2001 | first = Judith | last = Nagata | volume = 103 | issue = 2| doi = 10.1525/aa.2001.103.2.481 | pages= 481–498 | quote = Once considered exclusively a matter of religion, theology, or scriptural correctness, use of the term fundamentalism has recently undergone metaphorical expansion into other domains [...].}}<!--|access-date= January 13, 2011--></ref>
 
The term "fundamentalism" is generally regarded by scholars of religion as referring to a largely modern religious phenomenon which, while itself a reinterpretation of religion as defined by the parameters of [[modernism]], reifies religion in reaction against [[Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy|modernist]], [[Secularism|secularist]], liberal and [[Ecumenism|ecumenical tendencies]] developing in religion and society in general that it perceives to be foreign to a particular religious tradition.<ref name="armstrong">{{cite journal |last=Armstrong |first=Karen |date=2004 |title=Fundamentalism and the Secular Society |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40203988 |journal=International Journal |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=875–877|doi=10.2307/40203988 |jstor=40203988 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Depending upon the context, the label "fundamentalism" can be a [[pejorative]] rather than a neutral [[characterization]], similar to the ways that calling political perspectives "right-wing" or "left-wing" can have negative connotations.<ref>{{cite book|last= Harris |first = Harriet |author-link=Harriet Harris (academic) |title= Fundamentalism and Evangelicals |publisher= Oxford University Press |___location= Oxford |year= 2008 |isbn= 978-0-19-953253-7 |oclc= 182663241}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first= Roland |last= Boer |editor= Tony Bennett |editor2= Lawrence Grossberg |editor3= Meaghan Morris |editor4= Raymond Williams |title= Fundamentalism |encyclopedia= New keywords: a revised vocabulary of culture and society |publisher= [[Blackwell Publishing]] |___location= [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] |year= 2005 |pages= 134–137 |isbn= 978-0-631-22568-3 |oclc= 230674627 |url= http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/newkeywords/PDFs%20Sample%20Entries%20-%20New%20Keywords/Fundamentalism.pdf |access-date= July 27, 2008 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080910055945/http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/newkeywords/PDFs%20Sample%20Entries%20-%20New%20Keywords/Fundamentalism.pdf |archive-date= September 10, 2008 |df= mdy-all |quote= Widely used as a pejorative term to designate one's fanatical opponents – usually religious and/or political – rather than oneself, fundamentalism began in Christian Protestant circles in the eC20. Originally restricted to debates within evangelical ('gospel-based') Protestantism, it is now employed to refer to any person or group that is characterized as unbending, rigorous, intolerant, and militant. The term has two usages, the prior one a positive self-description, which then developed into the later derogatory usage that is now widespread. }}</ref>
In many ways religious fundamentalism is a modern phenomenon, characterized by a sense of embattled [[alienation]] in the midst of the surrounding [[culture]], even where the culture may be nominally influenced by the adherents' religion. The term can also refer specifically to the belief that one's religious texts are infallible and historically accurate, despite contradiction of these claims by modern scholarship.
 
==Religious fundamentalism==
However, groups described as fundamentalist or which describe themselves in these terms often strongly object to this terminology because of the negative connotations it carries, or because it implies a similarity between themselves and other groups, which they find objectionable.
 
===Buddhism===
==The fundamentalist phenomenon==
{{See also|Buddhism and violence}}
Buddhist fundamentalism has targeted other religious and ethnic groups, as in [[Myanmar]]. A Buddhist-dominated country, Myanmar has seen [[Persecution of Muslims in Burma|tensions between Muslim minorities and the Buddhist majority]], especially during the [[2013 Burma anti-Muslim riots]] (possibly instigated by [[hardline]] groups such as the [[969 Movement]]).<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/30965 |date= March 30, 2013 |author= KYAW ZWA MOE |title= Root Out the Source of Meikhtila Unrest |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130827232539/http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/30965 |archive-date=August 27, 2013 |access-date=November 4, 2013 }}</ref> as well as during actions which are associated with the [[Rohingya genocide]] (2016 onwards).
 
Buddhist fundamentalism also features in [[Sri Lanka]]. Buddhist-dominated Sri Lanka has seen recent tensions between Muslim minorities and the Buddhist majority, especially during the [[2014 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka]]<ref>{{cite news|url= https://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/19/world/asia/sri-lanka-muslim-aluthgama|title= Fear, shock among Sri Lankan Muslims in aftermath of Buddhist mob violence|first1= Iqbal|last1= Athas|first2= Tim|last2= Hume|date= June 24, 2014|work= CNN|access-date= January 23, 2020}}</ref> and in the course of the [[2018 anti-Muslim riots in Sri Lanka]],<ref>
Although the term fundamentalism in popular usage sometimes refers derogatorily to any fringe religious group, or to extremist ethnic movements with only nominally religious motivations, the term does have a more precise [[denotation]]. "Fundamentalist" describes a movement to return to what is considered the defining or founding principles of the religion. It has especially come to refer to any religious enclave that intentionally resists identification with the larger religious group in which it originally arose, on the basis that fundamental principles upon which the larger religious group is supposedly founded have become corrupt or displaced by alternative principles hostile to its identity.
{{cite news
|url= https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43305453
|title= Sri Lanka struggles to halt days of Buddhist riots
|date= March 7, 2018|work= BBC News
|access-date= January 23, 2020
}}
</ref> allegedly instigated by hardline groups such as the [[Bodu Bala Sena]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Riza |first=M. |title=Sri Lanka declares emergency amid communal riots |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/3/6/sri-lanka-imposes-state-of-emergency-after-communal-riots |access-date=2024-10-17 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref>
 
Historic and contemporary examples of Buddhist fundamentalism occur in each of the three main branches of [[Buddhism]]: [[Theravada]], [[Mahayana]], and [[Vajrayana]]. In addition to the above examples of fundamentalism in Theravada-dominated societies, the reification of a [[Dharmapala|protector deity]], [[Dorje Shugden]], by 19th-century Tibetan lama [[Pabongkhapa]] could be seen as an example of fundamentalism in the Vajrayana tradition. Dorje Shugden was a key tool in Pabongkhapa's persecution of the flourishing [[Rimé movement]], an ecumenical movement which fused the teachings of the [[Sakya (Tibetan Buddhist school)|Sakya]], [[Kagyu]] and [[Nyingma]],{{sfn|Schaik|2011|p=165-169}} in response to the dominance of the [[Gelug]] school. While Pabongkhapa had an initially inclusive view early in his life, he received a number of signs that he had displeased Dorje Shugden by receiving teachings from non-Gelug schools, and thus initiated a revival movement that opposed the mixing of non-Gelug practices by Gelug practitioners.{{sfn|Kay|2004|p=47}} The main function of the deity was presented as "the protection of the Ge-luk tradition through violent means, even including the killing of its enemies." Crucially, however, these "‘enemies’ of the Gelug refers less to the members of rival
This formation of a separate identity is deemed necessary on account of a perception that the religious community has surrendered its ability to define itself in religious terms. The "fundamentals" of the religion have been jettisoned by neglect, lost through compromise and inattention, so that the general religious community's explanation of itself appears to the separatist to be in terms that are completely alien and fundamentally hostile to the religion itself. Fundamentalist movements are therefore founded upon the same religious principles as the larger group, but the fundamentalists more self-consciously attempt to build an entire approach to the modern world based on strict fidelity to those principles, to preserve a distinctness both of doctrine and of life.
schools than to members of the Gelug tradition ‘who mix Dzong-ka-ba’s tradition with elements coming from other traditions, particularly the Nying-ma
[[Dzogchen|Dzok-chen]]’."{{sfn|Kay|2004|p=47}}
 
In Japan, a prominent example has been the practice among some members of the Mahayana [[Nichiren]] sect of [[shakubuku]] – a method of [[proselytizing]] which involves the strident condemnation of other sects as deficient or [[evil]].
The term itself is borrowed from the "Fundamentalist-[[Modernist Christianity|Modernist]] controversy" which appeared early in the [[20th century]] within the [[Protestant]] [[church]]es of the [[United States]], and continued in earnest through the [[1920s]].
 
===Christianity===
The pattern of the conflict between [[Fundamentalist Christianity|Fundamentalism]] and [[Modernist Christianity|Modernism]] in Protestant Christianity has remarkable parallels in other religious communities, and in its use as a description of these corresponding aspects in otherwise diverse religious movements the term "fundamentalist" has become more than only a term either of self-description or of derogatory contempt. Fundamentalism is therefore a movement through which the adherents attempt to rescue religious identity from absorption into modern, [[Westernisation|Western]] culture, where this absorption appears to the enclave to have made irreversible progress in the wider religious community, necessitating the assertion of a separate identity based upon the fundamental or founding principles of the religion.
{{Main article|Christian fundamentalism|Christian nationalism|Christian terrorism|Sectarian violence among Christians}}
[[George Marsden]] has defined Christian fundamentalism as the demand for strict adherence to certain theological doctrines, in opposition to [[Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy|Modernist theology]].<ref>{{as of|2023}}, Marsden's work has been cited over 3600 times, according to {{Cite web|title=Google Scholar
| url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=marsden+fundamentalism&as_sdt=1,27
|access-date=2023-01-02|website=scholar.google.com}}</ref> Its supporters originally coined the term in order to describe what they claimed were five specific classic theological beliefs of Christianity, and the coinage of the term led to the development of a [[Christian fundamentalism|Christian fundamentalist movement]] within the Protestant community of the United States in the early part of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web
| first = John | last= Buescher
|title=A History of Fundamentalism
|url=https://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24092
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100714095134/https://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/24092
| archive-date= 14 July 2010
|access-date=2023-01-02|website=teachinghistory.org}}</ref> Fundamentalism as a movement arose in the United States, starting among [[conservative]] [[Presbyterian]] theologians at [[Princeton Theological Seminary]] in the late 19th century. It soon spread to conservatives among the [[Baptists]] and other denominations around 1910 to 1920. The movement's purpose was to reaffirm key theological tenets and defend them against the challenges of [[Liberal Christianity|liberal theology]] and [[higher criticism]].{{sfn|Ammerman|1991}}<ref>Mark A. Noll, ''A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada'' (1992), pp. 376-86.</ref>
 
The concept of "fundamentalism" has roots in the [[Niagara Bible Conference]]s which were held annually between 1878 and 1897. During those conferences, the tenets widely considered to be ''fundamental'' Christian belief were identified.
Fundamentalists believe their cause to have grave and even cosmic importance. They see themselves as protecting not only a distinctive doctrine, but also a vital principle, and a way of life and of salvation. Community, comprehensively centered upon a clearly defined religious way of life in all of its aspects, is the promise of fundamentalist movements, and it therefore appeals to those adherents of religion who find little that is distinctive, or authentically vital in their previous religious identity.
 
"Fundamentalism" was prefigured by ''[[The Fundamentals|The Fundamentals: A Testimony To The Truth]]'', a collection of twelve pamphlets published between 1910 and 1915 by brothers Milton and [[Lyman Stewart]]. It is widely considered to be the foundation of modern Christian fundamentalism.
The fundamentalist "wall of virtue", which protects their identity, is erected against not only alien religions, but also against the modernized, compromised, nominal version of their own religion. In Christianity, fundamentalists are "Born again" and "Bible-believing" Protestants, as opposed to "Mainline", "liberal", "modernist" Protestants, who represent "Churchianity"); in Islam they ''jama'at'' ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]: ''(religious) enclaves'' with connotations of ''close fellowship'') self-consciously engaged in ''[[jihad]]'' (''struggle'') against Western culture that suppresses authentic ''Islam'' (''submission'') and the ''God-given'' (''[[Sharia|Shari'ah]]'') way of life; in Judaism they are "''haredim''", "Torah-true" Jews; and they have their equivalents in [[Hinduism]] and other world religions. These groups insisting on a sharp boundary between themselves and the faithful adherents of other religions, and finally between a "sacred" view of life and the "secular" world and "nominal religion". Fundamentalists direct their critiques toward and draw most of their converts from the larger community of their religion, by attempting to convince them that they are not experiencing the authentic version of their professed religion.
 
In 1910, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church identified what became known as the ''five fundamentals'':<ref>George M. Marsden, "Fundamentalism and American Culture", (1980) p. 117</ref>
== Basic beliefs of religious fundamentalists ==
* [[Biblical inspiration]] and the [[Biblical infallibility|infallibility of scripture]] as a result of this
For religious fundamentalists, sacred scripture is the authentic word of God. Fundamentalist beliefs depend on the twin doctrines that God articulated His will precisely to prophets and that we also have a reliable and perfect record of that revelation, which has been passed down to our day in an unbroken chain of tradition. Since Scripture is the word of God, no one has the right to change it or disagree with it. People are thus obliged to obey the word of God. The appeal of this point of view is its simplicity: people must do what God tells them to do. However, the fundamentalist insistence on strict observation of religious laws may lead to an accusation of "[[legalism]]".
* [[Virgin birth of Jesus]]
* Belief that Christ's death was the [[Atonement in Christianity|atonement]] for sin
* Bodily [[resurrection of Jesus]]
* Historical reality of the [[miracles of Jesus]]
 
In 1920, the word "fundamentalist" was first used in print by Curtis Lee Laws, editor of ''The Watchman Examiner'', a Baptist newspaper.<ref>{{cite web |title=fundamentalist (adj.) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/fundamentalist |website=Etymonline |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=January 29, 2021}}</ref> Laws proposed that those Christians who were fighting for the fundamentals of the faith should be called "fundamentalists".<ref>Curtis Lee Laws, "Convention Side Lights," The Watchman-Examiner, 8, no. 27 (1 July 1920), p 834.</ref>
===Christian Views===
 
Theological conservatives who rallied around the five fundamentals came to be known as "fundamentalists". They rejected the existence of commonalities with theologically related religious traditions, such as the grouping of Christianity, [[Islam]], and [[Judaism]] into one [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic family of religions]].<ref name="academia.edu"/> By contrast, while [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical]] groups (such as the [[Billy Graham Evangelistic Association]]) typically agree with the "fundamentals" as they are expressed in ''The Fundamentals'', they are often willing to participate in events with religious groups that do not hold to the "essential" doctrines.<ref>Carpenter, ''Revive us Again'' (1997) p 200</ref>
[[Christian fundamentalists]] (major separate article) see their scripture, a combination of the [[Tanakh|Hebrew Bible]] and the [[New Testament]], as both infallible and historically accurate. The New Testament represents a new covenant between God and man, which is held to supersede the Old Testament where contradictions arise. On the basis of this confidence in Scripture, fundamentalist Christians accept the account of scripture as being literally true and believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and rules the church from heaven. They believe that the church has been granted the gift of the Holy Spirit, who leads the church into fulfillment of God's will according to the Scriptures. Most Christian fundamentalists do not believe that it is possible to infallibly interpret the Bible on every point, but even those who believe this are unable to see any contradiction of their main premise concerning the necessity of infallible scriptures. This is because they believe that God interprets His own intent and fulfills His will for those who trust Him, and through them, and despite their faulty understanding; and, nevertheless, it is the church's obligation to understand the Scriptures and to believe what they say, and act accordingly. However, there are types of Christian belief that attach infallible authority to the interpretations of some single, living individual or ruling body.
 
===Ethnic Jewishtribal Viewsreligions===
{{See also|Indigenism|Ethnic religion}}
A few scholars label some [[indigenism|indigenist]] [[revitalization movement]]s within [[ethnic religion|ethnic]] and [[indigenous religion]]s who reject the changes brought by the modern states and major religions in favor of a return to traditional ways as fundamentalists in contrast with syncretic reform movements. Thus, numerous new generally fundamentalist [[Native American religions|Native American religious movements]] include the [[Pueblo Revolt]] (1680s), the [[Shawnee]] Prophet Movement (1805–1811), the [[Cherokee]] Prophet Movement (1811–1813), the [[Creek War|Red Stick War]] (1813–1814), White Path's Rebellion (1826), the [[Ho-Chunk|Winnebago]] Prophet Movement (1830–1832), the first Ghost Dance (1869–1870) and the second [[Ghost Dance]] (1889–1890), and the Snake movements among the Cherokee, [[Choctaw]], and [[Muscogee|Muscogee Creek]] peoples during the 1890s.{{sfn|Champagne|2005|p=}}
 
===Hinduism===
[[Jews]] believe that the [[Tanakh]] (Hebrew Bible, Old Testament) cannot be understood literally or alone, but rather needs to be read in conjunction with additional material known as the [[oral law]]; this material is contained in the [[Mishnah]] and the [[Talmud]]. [[Orthodox Judaism]], especially [[Ultra-Orthodox Judaism]], is a fundamentalist Jewish denomination, as opposed to [[Reform Judaism]] and [[Conservative Judaism]], which are theologically opposed to fundamentalism. No Jews, even the Orthodox, read the [[Tanakh]] in a literal fashion, but most Orthodox Jews read the Mishnah and Talmud in what may be termed a fundamentalist way. All Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and many Modern Orthodox Jews, hold that these texts are divine and infallible. [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic Jews]] usually ascribe infallibility to their [[rebbe]]'s interpretation of the traditional sources of truth.
{{See also|Hindutva|Hindu nationalism|Hindu terrorism}}
The existence of fundamentalism in [[Hinduism]] is a complex and contradictory phenomenon. While some would argue that certain aspects of [[Gaudiya]] [[Vaishnavism]] manifest fundamentalist tendencies, these tendencies are more clearly displayed in [[Hindutva]], the predominant form of [[Hindu nationalism]] in India today, and an increasingly powerful and influential voice within the religion. Hinduism includes a diversity of ideas on [[Spirituality#Hinduism|spirituality]] and traditions, but has no ecclesiastical order, no unquestionable religious authorities, no governing body, no prophet(s) nor any binding holy book; Hindus can choose to be [[Polytheism|polytheistic]], [[Pantheism|pantheistic]], [[Panentheism|panentheistic]], [[Pandeism|pandeistic]], [[Henotheism|henotheistic]], [[Monotheism|monotheistic]], [[Monism|monistic]], [[Agnosticism|agnostic]], [[Atheism|atheistic]] or [[Humanism|humanist]].<ref>[[Hinduism#CITEREFLipner2009|Lipner 2009]], p. 8 quote: "... one need not be religious in the minimal sense described to be accepted as a Hindu by Hindus, or describe oneself perfectly validly as Hindu. One may be polytheistic or monotheistic, monistic or pantheistic, henotheistic, panentheistic, pandeistic, even an agnostic, humanist or atheist, and still be considered a Hindu."</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Kurtz | first=Lester R. | title=Encyclopedia of violence, peace, & conflict | publisher=Elsevier | publication-place=Amsterdam | date=2008 | isbn=978-1-84972-393-0 | oclc=436849045}}</ref><ref>MK Gandhi, ''The Essence of Hinduism Archived 24 July 2015 at the [[Wayback Machine]]'', Editor: VB Kher, Navajivan Publishing, see page 3; According to Gandhi, "a man may not believe in God and still call himself a Hindu."</ref> According to Doniger, "ideas about all the major issues of faith and lifestyle – vegetarianism, nonviolence, belief in rebirth, even [[Caste system in India|caste]] – are subjects of debate, not [[dogma]]."<ref>[[Hinduism#CITEREFDoniger2014|Doniger 2014]], p. 3.</ref>
 
Some would argue that, because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, a lack of theological 'fundamentals' means that a dogmatic 'religious fundamentalism' per se is hard to find.<ref>{{Citation|title=Hinduism not a religion, there's no book, no papacy: Sadhguru| date=May 24, 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRxmg213lBc|language=en|access-date=2021-12-04}}</ref> Others point to the recent rise of Hindu nationalism in India as evidence to the contrary. The religion "defies our desire to define and categorize it." In India, the term “dharma” is preferred, which is broader than the Western term “religion.”<ref>[[Hinduism#CITEREFSharma2003|Sharma 2003]], pp. 12–13.</ref>
=== Islamic Views ===
 
Hence, certain scholars argue that Hinduism lacks dogma and thus a specific notion of "fundamentalism," while other scholars identify several politically active Hindu movements as part of a "Hindu fundamentalist family."<ref>{{Cite web|title=On the Difference Between Hinduism and Hindutva|url=https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/on-the-difference-between-hinduism-and-hindutva/|access-date=2021-12-04|website=Association for Asian Studies|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Brekke 1991 127">{{cite book|author=Brekke|title=Fundamentalism: Prophecy and Protest in an Age of Globalization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JGooYIEd9h4C&pg=PA127|year=1991|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=127|isbn=9781139504294}}</ref>
Most Muslims believe that the [[Quran]] was dictated by [[Allah]], through the Arch-Angel [[Jabril]], to [[Muhammad]], and that the current text of the Quran is identical to what was said by Muhammad to be the Quran. However, fundamentalist [[Muslims]] believe in addition that the correct interpretation of the [[Quran]] must rely solely on the [[Quran]] and [[Hadith]] (oral accounts of [[Muhammad]]'s teachings and practices), and nothing else (thus excluding tradition, popular practice, and all but the simplest reasoning, ''qiyas''.) Like the fundamentalist forms of other religions, Islamic fundamentalism holds that the problems of the world stem from modern influences, and that the path to salvation lies in a return to the original message of the faith, combined with a scrupulous rejection of all innovation (termed [[Bid'ah]] in Islamic terminology) and outside traditions. However, the groups described as Islamic fundamentalists are rarely if ever traditionalists; typically, their message is that returning to the original version of the faith requires abandonment of a variety of traditional practices which they contend are medieval innovations, such as the practice of asking favors from "saints" (''awliya''.)
 
===Islam===
== Arguments in favor of fundamentalist positions ==
{{Main article|Islamic fundamentalism|Islamism|Islamofascism|Jihadism|Islamic terrorism|Sectarian violence among Muslims}}
Fundamentalism within Islam goes back to the [[early history of Islam]] in the 7th century, to the time of the [[Kharijites]].<ref name="Poljarevic 2021">{{cite book |author-last=Poljarevic |author-first=Emin |year=2021 |chapter=Theology of Violence-oriented Takfirism as a Political Theory: The Case of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) |editor1-last=Cusack |editor1-first=Carole M. |editor1-link=Carole M. Cusack |editor2-last=Upal |editor2-first=Muhammad Afzal |title=Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements |___location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion |volume=21 |doi=10.1163/9789004435544_026 |doi-access=free |isbn=978-90-04-43554-4 |issn=1874-6691 |pages=485–512}}</ref> From their essentially political position, they developed extreme doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream [[Shia Islam|Shia]] and [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] [[Muslims]]. The Kharijites were particularly noted for adopting a radical approach to ''[[takfir]]'', whereby they declared other Muslims to be [[Apostasy in Islam|unbelievers]] and therefore deemed them worthy of death.<ref name="Poljarevic 2021"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/another-battle-with-islams-true-believers/article20802390/|title=Another battle with Islam's 'true believers'|work=The Globe and Mail}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/fruits-of-the-tree-of-extremism|title=Imam Mohamad Jebara: Fruits of the tree of extremism|author=Mohamad Jebara More Mohamad Jebara|work=Ottawa Citizen|date=February 6, 2015}}</ref><ref name="hasan-balance-2012">{{cite web |author=Dr. Usama Hasan |date=2012 |url=http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/publications/free/the-balance-of-islam-in-challenging-extremism.pdf |title=The Balance of in challenging extremism |access-date=2015-11-17 |url-status=dead |publisher=Quilliam Foundation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802045255/http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/publications/free/the-balance-of-islam-in-challenging-extremism.pdf |archive-date=August 2, 2014 |df=mdy }}</ref>
 
The Shia and Sunni religious conflicts since the 7th century created an opening for radical ideologues, such as [[Ali Shariati]] (1933–77), to merge social revolution with Islamic fundamentalism, as exemplified by the [[Iranian Revolution]] in 1979.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Griffith|first=William E.|date=1979|title=The Revival of Islamic Fundamentalism: The Case of Iran|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2626789|journal=International Security|volume=4|issue=1|pages=132–138|doi=10.2307/2626789|jstor=2626789 |s2cid=154146522 |issn=0162-2889|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Islamic fundamentalism has appeared in many countries;<ref>Lawrence Davidson, ''Islamic Fundamentalism'' (Greenwood, 2003)</ref> the [[Salafi movement|Salafi]]-[[Wahhabism|Wahhabi]] version is [[International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism|promoted worldwide]] and financed by [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Qatar]], and [[Pakistan]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Terrorism: Growing Wahhabi Influence in the United States |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-108shrg91326/html/CHRG-108shrg91326.htm |date=26 June 2003 |website=www.govinfo.gov |___location=[[Washington, D.C.]] |publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215092631/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-108shrg91326/html/CHRG-108shrg91326.htm |archive-date=15 December 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=26 June 2021 |quote=Nearly 22 months have passed since the atrocity of [[September 11 attacks|September 11th]]. Since then, many questions have been asked about the role in that day's terrible events and in other challenges we face in the [[War on terror|war against terror]] of [[Saudi Arabia]] and its official sect, a separatist, exclusionary and violent form of Islam known as Wahhabism. It is widely recognized that all of the [[Hijackers in the September 11 attacks|19 suicide pilots]] were Wahhabi followers. In addition, 15 of the 19 were Saudi subjects. Journalists and experts, as well as spokespeople of the world, have said that Wahhabism is the source of the [[List of terrorist incidents|overwhelming majority of terrorist atrocities in today's world]], from [[Morocco]] to [[Indonesia]], via [[Israel]], Saudi Arabia, [[Chechnya]]. In addition, Saudi media sources have identified Wahhabi agents from Saudi Arabia as being responsible for terrorist attacks on [[U.S. Invasion of Iraq|U.S. troops in Iraq]]. ''The Washington Post'' has confirmed Wahhabi involvement in attacks against U.S. forces in [[Fallujah during the Iraq War|Fallujah]]. To examine the role of Wahhabism and terrorism is not to label all Muslims as extremists. Indeed, I want to make this point very, very clear. It is the exact opposite. Analyzing Wahhabism means identifying the extreme element that, although enjoying immense political and financial resources, thanks to support by a sector of the Saudi state, seeks to globally hijack Islam ... The problem we are looking at today is the State-sponsored doctrine and funding of an extremist ideology that provides the recruiting grounds, support infrastructure and monetary life blood of today's international terrorists. The extremist ideology is Wahhabism, a major force behind terrorist groups, like [[al Qaeda]], a group that, according to the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], and I am quoting, is the 'number one terrorist threat to the U.S. today'.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=DeLong-Bas |first=Natana J. |author-link=Natana J. DeLong-Bas |year=2004 |title=Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=797QCwAAQBAJ |___location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0195169913}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Armstrong |first=Karen |author-link=Karen Armstrong |date=27 November 2014 |title=Wahhabism to ISIS: how Saudi Arabia exported the main source of global terrorism |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2014/11/wahhabism-isis-how-saudi-arabia-exported-main-source-global-terrorism |___location=[[London]] |magazine=[[New Statesman]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141127132619/http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2014/11/wahhabism-isis-how-saudi-arabia-exported-main-source-global-terrorism |archive-date=27 November 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=28 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Crooke |first=Alastair |author-link=Alastair Crooke |orig-date=First published 27 August 2014 |date=30 March 2017 |title=You Can't Understand ISIS If You Don't Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/isis-wahhabism-saudi-arabia_b_5717157.html |___location=[[New York City|New York]] |work=[[The Huffington Post]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140828141900/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/isis-wahhabism-saudi-arabia_b_5717157.html |archive-date=28 August 2014 |url-status=live |access-date=28 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author-last=Sells |author-first=Michael |date=22 December 2016 |title=Wahhabist Ideology: What It Is And Why It's A Problem |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wahhabist-ideology-what-it-is-and-why-its-a-problem_b_585991fce4b014e7c72ed86e?guccounter=1 |___location=[[New York City|New York]] |work=[[The Huffington Post]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408032152/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wahhabist-ideology-what-it-is-and-why-its-a-problem_b_585991fce4b014e7c72ed86e |archive-date=8 April 2020 |url-status=live |access-date=28 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Lindijer|first1=Koert|title=How Islam from the north spreads once more into the Sahel|url=http://theafricanists.info/how-islam-from-the-north-spreads-once-more-into-the-sahel/|website=The Africanists|access-date=24 November 2014|date=24 August 2013|quote=Hundreds of years later, Islam again comes to the Sahel, this time with an unstoppable mission mentality and the way paved by money from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Pakistan. Foreigners, and also Malians who received scholarships to study in Saudi Arabia, introduce this strict form of Islam, and condemn the sufi's{{sic}}.}}{{verify source|date = November 2014}}</ref>
Fundamentalists claim both that they practice their [[religion]] as the first adherents did and that this is how religion should be practiced. In other words, a [[Christian]] ought to believe and practice as those who knew and followed [[Jesus]] during His time on earth. A [[Muslim]] ought to give the same consideration to the followers of [[Muhammad]]. Analogous arguments can be made for most systems of religious belief. Fundamentalists justify this belief on the idea that the founders of the world's religions said and did things that were not written down; in other words, their original disciples knew things that we don't. For fundamentalist Christians, this claim is justified by the [[Gospel of John]], which ends with the statement "there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." (John 21:25, NKJV) Further of justification is adduced from the static or falling attendance of many liberal or reformed congregations, from the scandals that have struck, for example, the [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic church]], and from the increasing difficulty of distinguishing between religiously liberal and avowedly [[secularism|secularist]] views on such matters as [[homosexuality]], [[abortion]] and [[feminism|women's rights]].
 
The [[Iran hostage crisis]] of 1979–80 marked a major turning point in the use of the term "fundamentalism". The media, in an attempt to explain the ideology of [[Ayatollah Khomeini]] and the Iranian Revolution to a Western audience described it as a "fundamentalist version of Islam" by way of analogy to the Christian fundamentalist movement in the U.S. Thus was born the term ''Islamic fundamentalist'', which became a common use of the term in following years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/archivesearch?ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&tab=wn&q=Islamic+fundamentalist&scoring=n&sa=N&sugg=d&as_ldate=1990&as_hdate=1991&lnav=d4&hdrange=1992,2005|title=Google News Search: Chart shows spikes in '79 (Iran hostage crisis), after 9/11 and in '92 and '93 (Algerian elections, PLO).|access-date=December 9, 2008}}{{original research inline|date = November 2014}}</ref>
== Criticism of the fundamentalist position ==
 
===Judaism===
Many criticisms of the fundamentalist position have been offered. The most common is that the theological claims made by fundamentalist groups cannot be proven. Another criticism is that the rhetoric of these groups offers an appearance of uniformity and simplicity, yet within each faith community, one actually finds different texts of religious law that are accepted; each text has varying interpretations. Consequently, each fundamentalist faith is observed to splinter into many mutually antagonistic groups. They are often as hostile to each other as they are to other religions.
{{Main article|Jewish fundamentalism|Jewish extremist terrorism}}
 
[[Jewish fundamentalism]] has been used to characterize [[Militant (word)|militant]] [[religious Zionism]], and both [[Ashkenazi]] and [[Sephardic]] versions of [[Haredi Judaism]].<ref name="brit1">{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1191955/fundamentalism/252664/Jewish-fundamentalism-in-Israel#ref883280|title=fundamentalism - religious movement|website=britannica.com|access-date=October 22, 2017}}</ref> Ian S. Lustik has characterized "Jewish fundamentalism" as "an ultranationalist, eschatologically based, irredentist ideology".<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.geocities.com/alabasters_archive/dangerous_fundamentalists.html |author=Ian S. Lustik |title=Israel's Dangerous Fundamentalists |journal=Foreign Policy |issue= 68 |date=Fall 1987 |pages=118–139 |issn=0015-7228 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091021171748/http://geocities.com/alabasters_archive/dangerous_fundamentalists.html |archive-date=October 21, 2009 |access-date=November 4, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>
In order to carry out the fundamentalist program in practice, critics claim that one would first need a perfect understanding of the ancient language of the original text, if indeed the true text can be discerned from among variants. Furthermore, they charge that fundamentalists fail to recognize that fallible human beings are the ones who transmit this tradition. [[Elliot N. Dorff]] writes "Even if one wanted to follow the literal word of God, the need for people first to understand that word necessitates human interpretation. Through that process human fallibility is inextricably mixed into the very meaning of the divine word. As a result, it as impossible to follow the indisputable word of God; one can only achieve a human understanding of God's will. [Source: "A Living Tree; The Roots and Growth of Jewish Law', Eliot N. Dorff and Arthur Rosett, SUNY Press, 1988]. Fundamentalists reply that a fallible human being guided by God can partake of divine infallibility, and that liberals themselves claim divine justification for their opinions.
 
===New Atheism===
Other critics of fundamentalism take the view that a fundamentalist approach introduces the danger of a partisan attachment to an individual leader or leading body, when the followers believe that entity to be a living voice of authority to direct them infallibly in the interpretation of the sources of truth. They are vulnerable for joining or recruitment by [[cult|cults]].
{{Main article|New Atheism}}
The term ''[[New Atheism]]'' describes the positions of some [[atheist]] academics, writers, scientists, and philosophers of the 20th and 21st centuries.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Lois |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XguDDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT48 |title=A Dictionary of Atheism |last2=Bullivant |first2=Stephen |date=2016-11-17 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-252013-5 |language=en |access-date=12 March 2017 |archive-date=20 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120215619/https://books.google.com/books?id=XguDDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT48 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Wolf |first=Gary |date=November 1, 2006 |title=The Church of the Non-Believers |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2006/11/atheism/ |access-date=2023-01-19 |issn=1059-1028 |archive-date=21 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170721010426/https://www.wired.com/2006/11/atheism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Critics have described New Atheism as "''secular fundamentalism''".<ref>{{cite book |last=Hedges |first=Chris |title=When Atheism Becomes Religion: America's New Fundamentalists |year=2008 |publisher=Free Press |isbn=978-1-4165-7078-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b-f_HU9MZuYC&dq=new+atheism+fundamentalism&pg=PA1}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=McAnulla |first=Stuart |title=Secular fundamentalists? Characterising the new atheist approach to secularism, religion and politics |journal=British Politics |volume=9 |pages=124–145 |year=2011 |issue=2 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |doi=10.1057/bp.2013.27 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/bp.2013.27|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=LeDrew |first=Stephen |title=Relativism and Post-Truth in Contemporary Society |chapter=Scientism and Utopia: New Atheism as a Fundamentalist Reaction to Relativism |year=2018 |pages=143–155 |publisher=Springer |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-96559-8_9 |isbn=978-3-319-96558-1 |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-96559-8_9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Stahl |first=William |title=Religion and the New Atheism: A Critical Appraisal |chapter=One-Dimensional Rage: The Social Epistemology Of The New Atheism And Fundamentalism |year=2010 |pages=95–108 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-19053-5 |chapter-url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004190535/Bej.9789004185579.i-253_008.xml}}</ref>
 
==Politics==
Although most of the claims made by fundamentalists are practically unprovable in the opinion of those who criticize them, skeptics of a less religious bent may further criticize fundamentalists by questioning the historical accuracy of the texts in question when compared to other historical sources; as well as questioning how documents containing so many contradictions could be considered infallible.
In modern politics, fundamentalism has been associated with right-wing [[Conservatism|conservative]] ideology, especially [[social conservatism]]. Social conservatives often support policies in line with religious fundamentalism, such as support for [[school prayer]] and opposition to [[LGBT rights opposition|LGBT rights]] and [[Anti-abortion movements|abortion]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Martin|first=William|year=1996|title=With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tzi7bIDP3aMC|___location=New York|publisher=Broadway Books |isbn=978-0-553-06745-3}}</ref> Conversely, [[secularism]] has been associated with [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] or [[Liberalism|liberal]] ideology, as it takes the opposite stance to said policies,<ref name="armstrong"/> however, various left-wing policies have likewise been deemed forms of fundamentalism,<ref>{{Citation |last=Graham |first=Peter |title=Liberal Fundamentalism and Its Rivals |date=2006-06-08 |work=The Epistemology of Testimony |pages=0 |editor-last=Lackey |editor-first=Jennifer |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/43179/chapter-abstract/362367716?redirectedFrom=fulltext#:~:text=Liberal%20Fundamentalism%20holds%20that%20it%20is%20a%20priori,confers%20justification%20on%20S%20's%20belief%20that%20P. |access-date=2025-01-15 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-927601-1 |editor2-last=Sosa |editor2-first=Ernest}}</ref> notably stronger forms of [[Woke|wokeness]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kaufmann |first=Eric |date=2020-11-20 |title=Liberal Fundamentalism: A Sociology of Wokeness |url=https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2020/11/liberal-fundamentalism-a-sociology-of-wokeness/ |access-date=2025-01-15 |website=American Affairs Journal |language=en-US}}</ref>
 
Political usage of the term "fundamentalism" has been criticized. It has been used by political groups to berate opponents, using the term flexibly depending on their political interests. According to Judith Nagata, a professor of Asia Research Institute in the [[National University of Singapore]], "The Afghan ''mujahiddin'', locked in combat with the Soviet enemy in the 1980s, could be praised as 'freedom fighters' by their American backers at the time, while the present Taliban, viewed, among other things, as protectors of American enemy Osama bin Laden, are unequivocally 'fundamentalist'."<ref>Nagata, Judith. 2001. ''Toward an Anthropology of "Fundamentalism."'' Toronto: Blackwell Publishing, p.9.</ref>
The novelist [[Bernard Cornwell]] was brought up as a Christian fundamentalist and studied theology in order to falsify the claims made by his adoptive parents. He stated (on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs programme on 18 April 2004) that his ''conversion'' came when he realised that the whole idea of fundamentalist religion was total rubbish and that the happiness of this realisation has never left him.
 
"Fundamentalist" has been used pejoratively to refer to philosophies perceived as literal-minded or carrying a pretense of being the sole source of objective truth, regardless of whether it is usually called a [[religion]]. For instance, the [[Archbishop of Wales]] has criticized "atheistic fundamentalism" broadly<ref name="McGrath 2007">[[Alister McGrath]] and Joanna Collicutt McGrath, ''The Dawkins Delusion? Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine'', [[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]] (SPCK), February 15, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-281-05927-0}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated5">{{Cite web|url=http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/press/display_press_release.php?prid=4542|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080316070109/http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/press/display_press_release.php?prid=4542|url-status=dead|title=Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru &#124; The Church in Wales<!-- Bot generated title -->|archive-date=March 16, 2008|access-date=December 30, 2007}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7156783.stm | work=BBC News | title='Atheistic fundamentalism' fears | date=December 22, 2007 | access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref> and said "Any kind of fundamentalism, be it Biblical, atheistic or Islamic, is dangerous".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atheistnation.net/news/?atheist/article,00139 |title=Archbishop of Wales fears the rise of "Atheistic Fundamentalism" |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227061935/http://www.atheistnation.net/news/?atheist/article%2C00139 |archive-date=December 27, 2007 |access-date=November 4, 2013 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> He also said, "the new fundamentalism of our age ... leads to the language of expulsion and exclusivity, of extremism and polarisation, and the claim that, because God is on our side, he is not on yours."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7156783.stm |title=Atheistic fundamentalism" fears |work=BBC News |date=22 December 2007 |access-date=November 4, 2013}}</ref> He claimed it led to situations such as councils calling Christmas "[[Winterval]]", schools refusing to put on [[nativity play]]s and [[cross]]es being removed from chapels. Others have countered that some of these attacks on Christmas are [[urban legend]]s, not all schools do nativity plays because they choose to perform other traditional plays like ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' or "[[The Snow Queen]]" and, because of rising tensions between various religions, opening up public spaces to alternate displays rather than the [[Nativity scene]] is an attempt to keep government religion-neutral.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/christmas2007/story/0,,2230951,00.html | work=The Guardian | ___location=London | title=Sorry to disappoint, but it's nonsense to suggest we want to ban Christmas | first=Polly | last=Toynbee | date=December 21, 2007 | access-date=May 3, 2010}}</ref>
The [[Nobel Prize]]-winning physicist [[Richard Feynman]] wrote that the greatest threat to the world is not nuclear or biological warfare but mind control. This is thought to be a reference to fundamentalism
and policital ideologies such as [[fascism]].
 
In ''[[The New Inquisition]]'', [[Robert Anton Wilson]] lampoons the members of skeptical organizations such as the [[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry|Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal]] as fundamentalist materialists, alleging that they dogmatically dismiss any evidence that conflicts with [[materialism]] as hallucination or fraud.<ref>Pope [[Robert Anton Wilson]], ''[[The New Inquisition]]: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science''. 1986. 240 pages. {{ISBN|1-56184-002-5}}</ref>
== Fundamentalism and politics ==
 
In France, during a protestation march against the imposition of restrictions on the wearing of headscarves in state-run schools, a banner labeled the ban as "secular fundamentalism".<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/2003/12/19/edscarf_ed3_.php "Secular fundamentalism"], [[International Herald Tribune]], December 19, 2003</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2004-01-17|title=Headscarf ban sparks new protests|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3405453.stm
"Fundamentalism" is a morally charged, emotive term, often used as a term of opprobrium, particularly in combination with other epithets (as in the phrase "[[Islamic fundamentalism|Muslim fundamentalists]]" and "right-wing fundamentalists").
| publisher= BBC News
|access-date=2023-01-02}}</ref> In the United States, private or cultural intolerance of women wearing the [[hijab]] (Islamic headcovering) and political activism by Muslims also has been labeled "secular fundamentalism".<ref>{{Cite news
| first = Ayesha| last = Ahmad
| date = 22 April 2002
|title=Muslim Activists Reject Secular Fundamentalism|url=https://www.islamawareness.net/Secularism/activists.html|access-date=2023-01-02|website=www.islamawareness.net}}{{pb}}{{cite web
| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030315140709/http://minaret.org/dinner5.pdf
| archive-date= 15 March 2003
| url = http://minaret.org/dinner5.pdf
| title= Minaret of Feedom 5th Annual Dinner Edited Transcript
| first = Imad-ad-Dean | last=Ahmad
| publisher= Minaret of Feedom
}}</ref>
 
The term "fundamentalism" is sometimes applied to signify a counter-cultural fidelity to a principle or set of principles, as in the pejorative term "[[market fundamentalism]]", used to imply exaggerated religious-like faith in the ability of unfettered ''[[laissez-faire]]'' or [[free-market]] [[capitalist]] economic views or policies to solve economic and social problems. According to economist [[John Quiggin]], the standard features of "economic fundamentalist rhetoric" are "dogmatic" assertions and the claim that anyone who holds contrary views is not a real economist. Retired professor in religious studies Roderick Hindery lists positive qualities attributed to political, economic, or other forms of cultural fundamentalism, including "vitality, enthusiasm, willingness to back up words with actions, and the avoidance of facile compromise" as well as negative aspects such as psychological attitudes,{{which|date = November 2014}} occasionally elitist and pessimistic perspectives, and in some cases literalism.<ref>Hindery, Roderick (2008). [http://propagandaandcriticalthought.com/RHComparativeEthicsArticle2008.htm "Comparative Ethics, Ideologies, and Critical Thought"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128013058/http://propagandaandcriticalthought.com/RHComparativeEthicsArticle2008.htm |date=January 28, 2012 }}</ref>
Very often religious fundamentalists, in all religions, are politically aware. They feel that legal and government processes must recognise the way of life they see as prescribed by God and set forth in Scripture. The state must be subservient to God, in their eyes: this, however is a basic belief of most religions.
 
==Criticism==
Most 'Christian' countries went, or are also going through a similar stage in their development. The governments of many [[Muslim]] countries, such as [[Iran]] and [[Saudi Arabia]], are Islamic, and include people with fundamentalist beliefs. More secular politicians are often to be found working in opposition movements in these countries.
A criticism by [[Elliot N. Dorff]]:
<blockquote>In order to carry out the fundamentalist program in practice, one would need a perfect understanding of the ancient language of the original text, if indeed the true text can be discerned from among variants. Furthermore, human beings are the ones who transmit this understanding between generations. Even if one wanted to follow the literal word of God, the need for people first to understand that word necessitates human interpretation. Through that process human fallibility is inextricably mixed into the very meaning of the divine word. As a result, it is impossible to follow the indisputable word of God; one can only achieve a human understanding of God's will.<ref>Dorff, Elliot N. and Rosett, Arthur, A Living Tree; The Roots and Growth of Jewish Law, SUNY Press, 1988.</ref></blockquote>
 
[[Howard Thurman]] was interviewed in the late 1970s for a BBC feature on religion. He told the interviewer:
See also: [[Islam]] -- [[Islamism]] -- [[Pentecostalism]] -- [[Ultra-Orthodox Judaism]] -- [[Christianity]] -- [[Christian fundamentalism]] -- [[Seventh-day Adventist Church|Seventh-Day Adventism]]
{{blockquote|I say that creeds, dogmas, and theologies are inventions of the mind. It is the nature of the mind to make sense out of experience, to reduce the conglomerates of experience to units of comprehension which we call principles, or ideologies, or concepts. Religious experience is dynamic, fluid, effervescent, yeasty. But the mind can't handle these so it has to imprison religious experience in some way, get it bottled up. Then, when the experience quiets down, the mind draws a bead on it and extracts concepts, notions, dogmas, so that religious experience can make sense to the mind. Meanwhile, religious experience goes on experiencing, so that by the time I get my dogma stated so that I can think about it, the religious experience becomes an object of thought.<ref>{{Cite magazine
|url = http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jul1981/v38-2-criticscorner1.htm
|title = An Interview With Howard Thurman and Ronald Eyre
|magazine = Theology Today
|volume = 38
|issue = 2
|date = July 1981
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020906162337/http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jul1981/v38-2-criticscorner1.htm
|archive-date = 6 September 2002
|publisher = BBC
|series = The Long Search
|via = Princeton Theological Seminary
|accessdate = August 26, 2008
}}</ref>}}
 
Influential criticisms of fundamentalism include [[James Barr (biblical scholar)|James Barr]]'s books on Christian fundamentalism and [[Bassam Tibi]]'s analysis of Islamic fundamentalism.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tibi|first=Bassam|title=The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|year=2002|isbn=978-0520236905}}</ref>
==External Links==
*[http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ejcmmsm/article/index.html Psychological Issues of Former Members of Restrictive Religious Groups by Jim Moyers, MA, MFT originally written for psychotherapists working with ex-fundamentalists]
 
A study at the [[University of Edinburgh]] found that of its six measured dimensions of religiosity, "lower intelligence is most associated with higher levels of fundamentalism."<ref>{{cite web|title=The relationship between intelligence and multiple domains of religious belief: Evidence from a large adult US sample |author1=Gary J. Lewis |author2=Stuart J. Ritchie |author3=[[Timothy C. Bates]] |url=http://www.midus.wisc.edu/findings/pdfs/1197.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421071042/http://www.midus.wisc.edu/findings/pdfs/1197.pdf |archive-date=2013-04-21 |url-status=live|date=2011-09-03}}</ref>
== Reading ==
 
== Use as a label ==
''The Encyclopedia of Fundamentalism'', by Brenda E. Brasher, Routledge; ISBN 0415922445, 2001
The [[Associated Press]]' ''[[AP Stylebook]]'' recommends that the term fundamentalist not be used for any group that does not apply the term to itself. Many scholars have adopted a similar position.<ref>[http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/may/12/can-anyone-define-fundamentalist/ "Can anyone define 'fundamentalist'?"], Terry Mattingly, ''Ventura County Star'', May 12, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2011.</ref> Other scholars, however, use the term in the broader descriptive sense to refer to various groups in various religious traditions including those groups that would object to being classified as fundamentalists, such as in the [[Fundamentalism Project]].<ref>See, for example, Marty, M. and Appleby, R.S. eds. (1993). ''Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies, and Militance''. John H. Garvey, Timur Kuran, and David C. Rapoport, associate editors, Vol 3, The Fundamentalism Project. University of Chicago Press.</ref>
 
[[Tex Sample]] asserts that it is a mistake to refer to a [[Muslim]], [[Jewish]], or [[Christians|Christian]] fundamentalist. Rather, a fundamentalist's fundamentalism is their primary concern, over and above other denominational or faith considerations.<ref>Tex Sample. Public Lecture, Faith and Reason Conference, San Antonio, TX. 2006.</ref>
''The Fundamentalism Project'', ed. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby, University of Chicago
*1991 Volume 1: Marty/Appleby: Fundamentalisms Observed ; ISBN 0-226-50878-1
*1993 Volume 2: Marty/Appleby: Fundamentalisms and Society ; ISBN 0-226-50880-3
*1993 Volume 3: Marty/Appleby: Fundamentalisms and the State ; ISBN 0-226-50883-8
*1994 Volume 4: Marty/Appleby: Accounting for Fundamentalisms; ISBN 0-226-50885-4
*1995 Volume 5: Marty/Appleby: Fundamentalisms Comprehended; ISBN 0-226-50887-0
*2002 Almond/Appleby/Sivan, Strong Religion ; ISBN 0226014975
 
==See also==
{{msg:cults}}
{{Portal|conservatism|Religion|History of science|Philosophy}}
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* {{Annotated link |Authoritarianism}}
* {{Annotated link |Biblical literalism}}
* {{Annotated link |Christian identity}}
* {{Annotated link |Christian Reconstructionism}}
* {{Annotated link |Christian nationalism}}
* {{Annotated link |Creation science}}
* {{Annotated link |Cult}}
* {{Annotated link |Dogmatism}}
* {{Annotated link |Dominionism}}
* {{Annotated link |Evangelical atheism}}
* {{Annotated link |Evangelicalism}}
* {{Annotated link |Extremism}}
* {{Annotated link |Formalism (philosophy)}}
* {{Annotated link |Fundamentalism (sculpture)}}
* {{Annotated link |Historical-grammatical method}}
* {{Annotated link |Independent Fundamental Baptist}}
* {{Annotated link |Indoctrination}}
* {{Annotated link |Integrism}}
* {{Annotated link |Islamic extremism}}
* {{Annotated link |Islamic State}}
* {{Annotated link |Islamism}}
* {{Annotated link |Legalism (theology)}}
* {{Annotated link |Militant atheism}}
* {{Annotated link |Moral absolutism}}
* {{Annotated link |Mormon fundamentalism}}
* {{Annotated link |Pentecostalism}}
* {{Annotated link |Political radicalism}}
* {{Annotated link |Reactionary}}
* {{Annotated link |Religious discrimination}}
* {{Annotated link |Religious fanaticism}}
* {{Annotated link |Religious intolerance}}
* {{Annotated link |Religious nationalism}}
* {{Annotated link |Religious persecution}}
* {{Annotated link |Religious segregation}}
* {{Annotated link |Religious violence}}
* {{Annotated link |Restorationism}}
* {{Annotated link |Ritualism in the Church of England}}
* {{Annotated link |Sect}}
* {{Annotated link |Sectarianism}}
* {{Annotated link |True Orthodox church}}
* {{Annotated link |Violence against Muslims in independent India}}
* {{Annotated link |Violence against Christians in India}}
{{div col end}}
 
==References==
[[de:Fundamentalismus]]
{{reflist}}
[[fr:Fondamentalisme]]
 
[[ja:&#21407;&#29702;&#20027;&#32681;]]
==Sources==
[[nl:Fundamentalisme]]
* {{cite book |surname=Ammerman |given=Nancy T. |authorlink=Nancy Ammerman |chapter=North American Protestant Fundamentalism |chapter-url={{Google books|id=qd5yzP5hdiEC|plainurl=y|page=1|keywords=|text=}} |editor-surname=Marty |editor-given=Martin E. |editor-link=Martin E. Marty |editor-surname2=Appleby |editor-given2=R. Scott |editor-link2=R. Scott Appleby |year=1991 |title=Fundamentalisms Observed |series=[[Fundamentalism Project|The Fundamentalism Project]], 1 |place=Chicago, Il; London |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=1–65 |url={{Google books|id=qd5yzP5hdiEC|plainurl=y|page=}} |isbn=0-226-50878-1}}
[[pl:Fundamentalizm]]
* [[R. Scott Appleby|Appleby, R. Scott]], Gabriel Abraham Almond, and Emmanuel Sivan (2003). ''Strong Religion''. Chicago, Il; London: University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN|0-226-01497-5}}
[[sv:Fundamentalism]]
* Armstrong, Karen (2001). ''[[The Battle for God]]: A History of Fundamentalism''. New York: Ballantine Books. {{ISBN|0-345-39169-1}}
* Brasher, Brenda E. (2001). ''The Encyclopedia of Fundamentalism''. New York: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-92244-5}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |surname=Champagne |given=Duane |entry=North American Indian Religions: New Religious Movements |title=Encyclopedia of Religion: 15-volume Set |editor=Lindsay Jones |edition=2nd |place=Farmington Hills, Mi |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA |year=2005 |volume=10 |entry-url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/north-american-indian-religions-new-religious-movements |via=[[Encyclopedia.com]]}}
* Caplan, Lionel. (1987). "Studies in Religious Fundamentalism". London: The MacMillan Press Ltd.
* Dorff, Elliot N. and Rosett, Arthur, ''A Living Tree; The Roots and Growth of Jewish Law'', SUNY Press, 1988.
* Gorenberg, Gershom. (2000). ''The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount.'' New York: The Free Press.
* {{cite book |surname=Heilman |given=Samuel C. |authorlink=Samuel Heilman |surname2=Friedman |given2=Menachem |year=1991 |authorlink2=Menachem Friedman |chapter=Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Jews: The Case of the Haredim |chapter-url={{Google books|id=qd5yzP5hdiEC|plainurl=y|page=197|keywords=|text=}} |editor-surname=Marty |editor-given=Martin E. |editor-link=Martin E. Marty |editor-surname2=Appleby |editor-given2=R. Scott |editor-link2=R. Scott Appleby |title=Fundamentalisms Observed |series=[[Fundamentalism Project|The Fundamentalism Project]], 1 |place=Chicago, Il; London |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=197–264 |url={{Google books|id=qd5yzP5hdiEC|plainurl=y|page=}} |isbn=0-226-50878-1}}
* Hindery, Roderick. 2001. ''Indoctrination and Self-deception or Free and Critical Thought?'' Mellen Press: aspects of fundamentalism, pp.&nbsp;69–74.
* {{cite book |last1=Kay |first1=David N. |title=Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantation, Development and Adaptation |date=2004 |publisher=RoutledgeCurzon |isbn=978-0-415-29765-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gv_QmAEACAAJ |language=en}}
* Keating, Karl (1988). ''Catholicism and Fundamentalism''. San Francisco: Ignatius. {{ISBN|0-89870-177-5}}.
* Lawrence, Bruce B. ''Defenders of God: The Fundamentalist Revolt against the Modern Age.'' San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989.
* Marsden; George M. (1980). ''Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth Century Evangelicalism, 1870-1925'' Oxford University Press.
* {{cite book |editor-surname=Marty |editor-given=Martin E. |editor-link=Martin E. Marty |editor-surname2=Appleby |editor-given2=R. Scott |editor-link2=R. Scott Appleby |title=Fundamentalisms Observed |series=[[Fundamentalism Project|The Fundamentalism Project]], 1 |place=Chicago, Il; London |year=1991 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-50878-1}}
* {{cite book |editor-surname=Marty |editor-given=Martin E. |editor-link=Martin E. Marty |editor-surname2=Appleby |editor-given2=R. Scott |editor-link2=R. Scott Appleby |title=Fundamentalisms and Society: Reclaiming the Sciences, the Family, and Education |series=[[Fundamentalism Project|The Fundamentalism Project]], 2 |place=Chicago, Il; London |year=1993 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |url={{Google books|id=Ye7DYE39tf8C |plainurl=y|page=}} |isbn=0-226-50880-3}}
* {{cite book |editor-surname=Marty |editor-given=Martin E. |editor-link=Martin E. Marty |editor-surname2=Appleby |editor-given2=R. Scott |editor-link2=R. Scott Appleby |title=Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies, and Militance |series=[[Fundamentalism Project|The Fundamentalism Project]], 3 |place=Chicago, Il; London |year=1993 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |url={{Google books|id=doCmVaOnh_wC|plainurl=y|page=}} |isbn=0-226-50883-8}}
* {{cite book |editor-surname=Marty |editor-given=Martin E. |editor-link=Martin E. Marty |editor-surname2=Appleby |editor-given2=R. Scott |editor-link2=R. Scott Appleby |title=Accounting for Fundamentalisms: The Dynamic Character of Movements |series=[[Fundamentalism Project|The Fundamentalism Project]], 4 |place=Chicago, Il; London |year=1994 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |url={{Google books|id=XTDteHrDgfAC|plainurl=y|page=}} |isbn=0-226-50885-4}}
* {{cite book |editor-surname=Marty |editor-given=Martin E. |editor-link=Martin E. Marty |editor-surname2=Appleby |editor-given2=R. Scott |editor-link2=R. Scott Appleby |title=Fundamentalisms Comprehended |series=[[Fundamentalism Project|The Fundamentalism Project]], 5 |place=Chicago, Il; London |year=1995 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |url={{Google books|id=GFMx4bT1nNQC|plainurl=y|page=}} |isbn=0-226-50887-0}}
* [[Mark Noll|Noll, Mark A.]] (1992). ''A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada''. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
* Ruthven, Malise (2005). "Fundamentalism: The Search for Meaning". Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-280606-8}}
* {{cite book |last1=Schaik |first1=Sam van |title=Tibet: A History |date=28 June 2011 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-15404-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=La1CWinaDR4C |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Schirrmacher |first1=Thomas |title=Fundamentalism: When Religion becomes Dangerous |date=2013 |publisher=VKW |isbn=978-3-86269-054-1 |url=https://www.academia.edu/36807042 |language=en}}
* Torrey, R.A. (ed.). (1909). ''The Fundamentals''. Los Angeles: The Bible Institute of Los Angeles (B.I.O.L.A. now [[Biola University]]). {{ISBN|0-8010-1264-3}}
* "Religious movements: fundamentalist." In Goldstein, Norm (Ed.) (2003). ''The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law 2003'' (38th ed.), p.&nbsp;218. New York: The Associated Press. {{ISBN|0-917360-22-2}}.
 
==Further reading==
* {{cite book |editor-surname=Marty |editor-given=Martin E. |editor-link=Martin E. Marty |editor-surname2=Appleby |editor-given2=R. Scott |editor-link2=R. Scott Appleby |volume=1–5 |year=1991–1995 |title=Fundamentalisms... |series=[[Fundamentalism Project|The Fundamentalism Project]] |place=Chicago, Il; London |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}
 
==External links==
{{Wiktionary|fundamentalism}}
* [https://archive.knoxnews.com/entertainment/family/terry-mattingly-can-anyone-define-fundamentalist-ep-404467959-357836791.html Can Anyone Define Fundamentalist?] Article by [[Terry Mattingly]] via [[Scripps Howard News Service]]
* {{In Our Time|Fundamentalism|p00545gy|Fundamentalism}}
* [https://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1004/p25s1-wosc.html Q & A on Islamic Fundamentalism]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111119100448/http://www.fas.harvard.edu/home/news-and-notices/news/press-releases/release-archive/releases-2007/fundamentalism-11072007.shtml Roots of Fundamentalism Traced to 16th Century Bible Translations], [[Harvard University]], November 7, 2007.
 
{{Political ideologies}}
{{philosophy of religion}}
{{Philosophy topics}}
{{Religion topics}}
{{World view}}
{{Religious slurs}}
{{Authority control}}
 
[[Category:Fundamentalism| ]]
[[Category:Barriers to critical thinking]]
[[Category:Religious persecution]]
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