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Irish, I agree with your specific definition of fundamentalism, however the term has a wider meaning in America now, which tends to indicate religious extremism, backwardsness, and self-imposed ignorance.



I think that was one of the 'textbook definitions'. In a wider social context, this seems like its starting to be considered the general definition.

I consider myself a fundamentalist, according to one definition of the word. But I don't think I'm extreme, I haven't even been to church (regularly) in many many months. I read the bible most nights before I go to bed, shut off the lights and pray, and usually pray several times during the day. But I've been lazy about finding another church after moving several times. Which, at least to me, doesn't sound very extreme.

Anyway, I don't know if its my perception being changed by media, but it seems like the more negative type of fundamentalism is growing. Which, frankly, doesn't surprise me. Though I think its not so much the growth of this kind of fundamentalism as it is a larger focus on the fundamentalism. After all, there's a general mistrepresentation in the media, news, movies, tv, etc.

"The task force finds that...the unborn child is a whole human being from the moment of fertilization, that all abortions terminate the life of a human being, and that the unborn child is a separate human patient under the care of modern medicine."