AMERICAN FUNDAMENTALISM: HISTORY AND PRESENT DAYS

Abstract

The term "fundamentalism" generally refers to adherence to a doctrine or ideology to "fundamental" principles, ideas or texts that form the basis of a doctrine or a current. With regard to religion, the term has received a narrower meaning: fundamentalists tend to call supporters of "cleansing" the creed of later innovations, layers and borrowings and return to the "origins", "roots" of a particular creed. Despite the fact that fundamentalism in the modern world is associated with extremist religious movements and teachings, religious fundamentalism was born, developed and quite successfully thrives in the United States. Globally, there is a clear inverse relationship between the level of economic development of a society and its level of religiosity, but the US is a distinct exception to this rule. Fundamentalism appeared as one of the possible answers to the challenge of modernization, it is associated with the development of the Protestant movement and was formed among American Protestants in the late XIX – early XX century. American fundamentalism has undergone a significant evolution. Fundamentalists were able to master the media and the Internet space and are now a significant force in American public life. A common mistake is to regard fundamentalism as a form of conservatism. In fact, these two concepts are fundamentally different.