First applied as a term in the 1920's to conservative Protestant Christians in the United States wishing for a return to what they saw as the "fundamentals" of Protestant Christianity, (see Fundamentalist Christianity) the term popularly, and within the academic discipline of comparative religion, refers to movements primarily in Islam, Judiaism and Christianity that exist as "a kind of...rebellion against the secular hegemony of the modern world." ("Fundamentalism in the Modern World," Sojornors, March-April 2002, remark by Karen Armstrong.)
usage. "Sometimes Jews and Muslims, understandably, find it slightly offensive to have this Christian term foisted upon them, because they feel they have other objectives. It also suggests that fundamentalism is a kind of monolithic movement expressing the same kind of ideas and ideals[, which is incorrect]." (Ibid.)
