Fundamentalism: A history lesson

So it seems the Boston Globe has written the history of fundamentalism that I had had in the back of my mind for about a year now. It's an important read, especially if you ever want to use the terms 'fundamentalist' or 'evangelical' and not be completely ignorant about what they mean and have meant.

For example, William Jennings Bryan - perhaps the most famous fundamentalist ever - while he fought to defend a ban on teaching evolution in the Scopes "monkey trial," was also repeatedly chosen as the Democratic candidate for the Presidency. He didn't even take all of Genesis literally (he thought the seven days of creation were long ages not literal 24 hour days). He opposed the greed of Wall Street with his famous "cross of gold" speech to the Democratic convention, opposed the US military imperialism of Woodrow Wilson enough to resign from his cabinet, supported the abolition of slavery and the women's suffrage movement.

I could go on about how the Scopes trial humiliated Bryan and the whole movement retreated from public view, about how evangelicals split with fundamentalists, about how political opportunists coopted fundamentalism and exploited the confusion between it and evangelicalism to broaden their base. But I had my chance, read the full article instead.

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