Characteristics of Fundamentalism: the Findings of Four Scholars

The phenomenon of Fundamentalism has been discussed by scholars of religion, sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, and, with less exactitude, by journalists and others. There is no generally accepted list of the characteristics of fundamentalism, but there is enough agreement between experts to permit the formulation of a model that most would accept.

Before attempting such a formulation, we will review lists prepared by Marty, Nagata, Antoun, and Lifton, looking for similarities as well as differences.

In an early article on fundamentalism, the scholar of religion Martin E. Marty (1988: 20-23) lists nine things fundamentalists are not, and twelve things they are. The positive list is as follows:

(1) Fundamentalists always act in reaction to a perceived threat.

(2) Fundamentalists engage in “selective retrieval” of what they perceive to be the essentials (fundamentals) of their beliefs.

(3) Fundamentalists set rigid boundaries, using their “fundamentals” to attract some and alienate others.

(4) Fundamentalists are always exclusivist, casting out those who do not accept their dictates.

(5) It follows that fundamentalists are oppositional, seeing themselves as the children of God and the others as children of the Devil. This justifies radical action.

(6) Fundamentalists have absolutist beliefs, with no room for pluralism, variety or complexity.

(7) Fundamentalists are authoritative, never engaging in discussion with those whom they condemn.

(8) Fundamentalists are anti-evolutionary; they see no possibility of development in the teachings they claim to defend.

(9) Fundamentalists are antipermissive, taking a puritanical stand against perceived moral relativism.

(10) Fundamentalists are literalist: the sacred texts have only one possible meaning.

(11) Fundamentalists see themselves as actors in a sacred drama, the forces of light against the forces of darkness.

(12) Fundamentalists are teleological, seeing themselves as the guardians of the great cosmic purpose.

Marty’s list is comprehensive but suffers from some repetition (points 3 to 5 might be reduced to a single point; points 5 and 11 are more or less the same). Nevertheless it provides a good starting point.