Christian+Fundamentalism+and+Extremism

This article discusses how fundamentalism in religion can lead to extremism and terroristic acts, with Christianity being the focus. Fundamentalist are people who practice a religion according to the book and uphold strict guidelines in regards to their beliefs. The writer breaks down fundamentalism into three phases: passive, assertive, and impositional. Passive describes personal conservative viewpoints that don’t exactly challenge the beliefs of others, assertive are evangelical type groups, such as Jehovah’s Witness, that aim to convert others into their sect, and impositional which are religious influenced groups that recruit members and organize to change a particular part of society through potential violence (ex. The Church of the Creator). The author points out how dangerous the impositional type can be because they often spread bigotry and are not satisfied unless society reflects their ideals.

This source relates back to my paper because it provides a template for how terroristic organizations can be formed. While there is a lot of information out about how an Islamic group can start out a basic or “passive” fundamentalist and progress into impositional (ex. Taliban), not many people focus on how similar things can happen within Christianity and the connection between this impositional mindset and right wing domestic terrorists.

Pratt, Douglas. "Terrorism and Political Violence." //Taylor and Francis Online //. Taylor and Francis Online, 08 June 2010. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.