Fundamentalism
The emergence, growth, and entrenchment of fundamentalism as an active ideological stance in the course of the twentieth century became a major source of social and cultural controversy within the United States. As the twentieth century began, the effects of modernism and secularism on American culture produced a growing sense of alarm among conservative Protestants, who believed that these innovations threatened to undermine the traditional values and moral authority of evangelical Christianity. They responded by reasserting their unyielding commitment to certain fundamental beliefs, such as the divine authorship and literal truth of the Bible, and by working toensure the survival of those beliefs in American institutions and public life. By the 1920s, this movement came to be known as fundamentalism, and, since that time, its views have permeated swathes of the social and cultural fabric of America. The fundamentalists' stand against innovations in theology and their strict adherence to Biblical doctrine have repeatedly placed them in conflict with mainstream trends in American popular culture—not only in religion, but in the realms of education, politics, entertainment, and the arts. In resisting such trends, fundamentalists have also engaged in various forms of activism, from public demonstration to political organization, and in the process have made their influence felt throughout American society.
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