11.1.1 A Reaction Against the Declining Role of Religion

First, religious fundamentalism is rooted in a reaction against the declining role of the religious identity in the modern world. An important attribute of modernity is secularism. This is sometimes taken to mean that religious belief as such must inevitably diminish over time. But as Charles Taylor argues, the modern secular condition – unlike that of many traditional societies – may be better understood as one in which no single religious belief system can be taken for granted as a common understanding by nearly all members of the community in that way that, say, Roman Catholicism was in Europe prior to the Reformation. (Taylor 2008). Religious believers thus find themselves sharing a society with a vast array of non-believers, agnostics, and believers of other faiths. (Just think of the average public university or college classroom in North America: you are likely to find a variety of religious backgrounds sharing the same space).

Profound religious diversity, then, is part of the modern package. Everywhere the believer turns, they find themselves intersecting with others who do not necessarily share their outlook. Sometimes, those others may even question or challenge that outlook. For fundamentalists, this is experienced as a problem: a diminishment in, or inappropriate limitation upon, the standing and power of their religious identity. They are thus always in an ‘embattled’ position against the secular nature of modernity (e.g., Armstrong, 2001).