CHAIN 6
LENGTH 3 REPETITION 0.0 SCORE 0.0
christian-population 1 christian-denomination 1 islamic-revivalist-movement 1
In the past decade almost all Islamic revivalist movements have been labeled fundamentalists , whether they be of extremist or moderate origin .
The widespread impact of the term is obvious from the following quotation from one of the most influential Encyclopedias under the title ' Fundamentalist ' : " The term fundamentalist has ... been used to describe members of militant Islamic groups. "
Why would the media use this specific word , so often with relation to Muslims ?
Before the term fundamentalist was branded for Muslims , it was , and still is , being used by certain Christian denominations .
Most of them are radical Baptist , Lutheran and Presbyterian groups .
The Southern Baptist Convention is one such group , they take pride in being called the Fundamentalists .
Because , according the them , they have gone back to the fundamentals of Christianity .
They preach absolute Biblical inerrency and Millenarianism ( belief in the physical return of Christ to establish a 1000 year reign ) .
These radical groups form only a minute minority of the total Christian population , although they may be the most vocal .
They want the Church to be the only authority .
This reminds the modern man of the Dark Ages in Europe when the Church was in fact supreme .
What most of these groups do not realize is that the term Fundamentalist is actually derived from a series of essays published from 1910 to 1915 under the title The Fundamentals by British and American evangelists .
The purpose of this 12 - volume collection was to determine which churches , according to the authors , held up to genuine Christian doctrine and the ones that did not .
Nevertheless the term Fundamentalist , in the Christian world , is synonymous with the ' Bible Thumpers ' and the tele evangelists .
To apply the same terminology to Muslims is neither fair nor valid .
Because in the case of Islam all Muslims believe in absolute inerrency of the Quran , since it is a basic Islamic tenet .
Therefore the media would have to use the word fundamentalist for all Muslims! which it does not do .
It only uses the word Fundamentalist for both the extremist and terrorist groups , and the true moderate Islamic revivalist movements .
Both these definitions are incompatible with each other .
Using the word fundamentalist for the former may be acceptable , since it does have some parallel to the Christian definition .
But if that definition is to be used , however , then using the same word to describe the latter would be erroneous and completely unacceptable .
It is this dual definition that is unfair to the Islamic faith .
Therefore the media should either stop using the word Fundamentalist to describe any and all Islamic organizations , or be much more careful in its usage .