Fundamentalism: The belief in old and traditional forms of religion, or the belief that what is written in a holy book, such as the Christian Bible, as being completely and literally true. The Cambridge International Dictionary of English

Fundamentalism: a: a movement in 20th century Protestantism emphasizing the literally interpreted Bible as Fundamental to Christian life and teaching; b: the beliefs of this movement; c: adherence t such beliefs. Webster's English Dictionary.

Fundamentalism is a religious phenomenon which has taken 20th century politics by storm. As defined by Webster's English dictionary fundamentalism has a direct correlation with Protestant Christianity; however, it has in the past, and is currently, impacting many other forms of religion. Since the 1970's many religious movements have emerged into political governments and ideologies all over the world. The dominating religion in Europe is Catholicism; Hinduism is very strong in eastern Asia; Judaism is the ranking religion in Israel and Israeli's political decision; and finally, Islam is the principal relig

In the recent decade an extreme case of Islam has emerged with a man born of Saudi Arabian decent. His name is Osama bin Laden. Saudi Arabia is a deeply religious country where Islamic practices are strictly observed. In fact they have a religious police that inforce the prohibition of alcohol and he wearing of traditional female dress, and much else makes the Saudi society very conservative. So we have to ask what would make a Saudi born man turn to an extreme form of Islam within a strict Islamic country?

Osama bin Laden believed in the idea that an extreme for of Islam needed to be established and need to break off from the western world. His extreme views and actions got him kicked out of his native country where he then found a safe harbour with an Islamic fundamentalist movement in Afghanistan known as the Taliban. The Taliban movement was created in 1994 by a senior Islamic priest by the name of Mohammed Omar in southern Afghanistan. The Taliban movement emerged after years of civil war, as well as a war between the Afghans and Soviets. The war was fought mainly by mujahiden, or guerrilla fractions with assistance from other countries and governments the soviets finally withdrew, which left the Afghans to create a government of their own. The Taliban emerged out of one of these guerrilla fractions and promoted itself as a new force for peace and unity. Since the Afghan people had suffered through many years of war many supported the early efforts of the Taliban.

When the American government was constructed by its founding fathers, the guidelines for America's laws and ideas where based on what Biblical principals, Christian values and morals. The founding fathers wanted their Christian faith to play a major role in the American government and law, but they did not want government to rule over the church or the church to rule over government. Therefore, they added a clause in the constitution that discusses the separation of church and state to ensure that the church and the people attending those churches could worship freely without the will of government hindering their worship.

The Taliban have taken 'cleansing of the Islamic world' to the most extreme. They want a society totally separate from the Western influence and try as hard as possible to rid the world of capitalism they believe that they will come into power across the world after a jihad, or holy war.

There are similarities of Christian Fundamentalism in the United States with other religious fundamentalists through the world. All fundamentalisms reject "liberal" attitudes to morality, lifestyles and politics. Fundamentalists appear to favor a more traditional view regarding social morality and social order. There continues to be a battle for fundamentalism and liberalism in the United States. Political leadership continues to try to balance decision-making on these considerations.

The definition of Fundamentalism differs even through each religion.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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