RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM

Origins and development of religious fundamentalism is a creature of the modern age, despite its resistance to modernization. seems to appear in troubled societies undergoing crises of identity. is affected by processes of secularization, postcolonialism and globalization. can be found in certain sects of all major religions.

Principles of religious fundamentalism Religious fundamentalism is as much an ideology as it is a style of politics. It tends to recognize certain principles as essential truths, and is characterised as having the following values: religion as politics the fundamentalist impulse anti-modernisation militancy

The family of fundamentalists Although all religions have spawned fundamentalism, Islam and Protestant Christianity are most prone, as both hold that believers have direct access to spiritual wisdom. Each fundamentalist group is conditioned by the social, political and economic structures of where they have emerged. Different groups associate themselves with different political causes.

Religious fundamentalism in the global age Religions have often had a global orientation, particularly those spread as a tool of colonialism. Religions that embrace evangelicalism often have a stronger global orientation. There is little doubt that accelerated globalization has inspired fundamentalism, but this process may ultimately prove to also be the antidote to fundamentalism.