Vocabulary Lesson: Fundamentalism

[ZombieHorde]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fundamentalism">fun⋅da⋅men⋅tal⋅ism

–noun
1. (sometimes initial capital letter) a movement in American Protestantism that arose in the early part of the 20th century in reaction to modernism and that stresses the infallibility of the Bible not only in matters of faith and morals but also as a literal historical record, holding as essential to Christian faith belief in such doctrines as the creation of the world, the virgin birth, physical resurrection, atonement by the sacrificial death of Christ, and the Second Coming.

2. the beliefs held by those in this movement.

3. strict adherence to any set of basic ideas or principles: the fundamentalism of the extreme conservatives.
Origin:
1920–25, Americanism; fundamental + -ism

Related forms:
fun⋅da⋅men⋅tal⋅ist, noun, adjective

fundamentalism

A conservative movement in theology among nineteenth- and twentieth-century Christians. Fundamentalists believe that the statements in the Bible are literally true.

fun·da·men·tal·ism (fŭn'də-měn'tl-ĭz'əm)
n.

1. A usually religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism.

2.tabtabt1. often Fundamentalism An organized, militant Evangelical movement originating in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century in tabtabtabopposition to Protestant Liberalism and secularism, insisting on the inerrancy of Scripture.
tabtabtab2. Adherence to the theology of this movement.

fun'da·men'tal·ist adj. & n., fun'da·men'tal·ist'ic adj.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. Fundamentalisim: Ignorant assholes.

I'm rubber, you're glue...

How anybody in this day and age could think that they have the only way to God just astounds me.

[LARED]

10. I'm pretty sure there are lots of Christians

that do not identify themselves with Fundamentalism yet believe what Jesus says about Him being the only way to God.

[laconicsax]

2. Hmm...

By "Christian," I assume they mean both the "not true" variety...right?

[ZombieHorde]

4. By Christian, they mean not atheist, Wiccan, etc.

I posted this because every once in while, here on DU, someone calls some atheists fundamentalists.

Atheists do not equal conservative Christians.

[tblue]

3. It's a preexisting condition.

These people used to burn women suspected of witchcraft. 5150 (police code for 'danger to self or others').

[uberllama42]

5. To a certain extent, words mean what people take them to mean

Words like "decimate" and "enormity" are almost never used by their dictionary definition, for instance. I always prefer that people use words precisely, especially when they are trying to label me. But over time, certain definitions become archaic and the only way to communicate effectively is to use the commonly accepted definition of a word rather than insisting on some outdated definition.

With the "fundamentalist atheist" canard, there is no such common definition. I recall a thread about a year and a half ago in which one of the godless posters in this forum asked for definitions of the term, and three of the most vocal posters on "the other side" gave three completely distinct definitions. That, to me, was the red flag showing that this is just an ad hom they like to throw around.

[ZombieHorde]

6. "To a certain extent, words mean what people take them to mean"

Unless you are a student.

You are right about the term "fundamentalist atheist" being a meaningless personal attack, though seeing Christians calling atheists Christians as an insult is kind of funny.

[uberllama42]

7. "Enormity" and "decimate" came up in a class the other day

That was why they came to my mind.

The professor explained how both those words are frequently misused and what their dictionary definitions denote. I had done an all-nighter the previous night, so I was too tired to argue, but I wanted to point out that no one ever uses either word the way the dictionary says they ought to be used. I have heard "enormity" used correctly precisely once in my life, and I've only ever heard "decimate" used correctly in explanations of what it really means and how people tend to misuse it.

Both those words are almost universally used by the supposedly incorrect definitions. The only thing the dictionary definitions affect is the grades on English papers.

[ZombieHorde]

8. In the excellent book, World War Z, the word decimate is used to refer to an army which is reduced

by 10% through executions.

I have never seen the word http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/enormity">enormity used wrong, how have you seen it used?

[uberllama42]

9. It's too bad I never made it through World War Z

I borrowed a copy of it over the summer but didn't get a chance to read it.

As for "enormity," I have always been told that only definitions 1 and 2 are acceptable, and that it should never be used to convey definition #3. This comes up a lot in copy-editing guides and the like.

The only instance of the word being used according to the "standard" definition was here:

http://ethicist.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/can-we-talk-about-religion-please/#more-895

[MineralMan]

11. Actually, I never use the word, except when I mean

meaning 3. That's based on its etymology, which has nothing to do with evil. The etymology of the word has only to do with size.

There are plenty of words to indicated evil. Enormity is not one of the better ones.

A mass murder or genocide could be referred to using the phrase "the enormity of the evil," but even there it refers to size.

I reject the misappropriation of the word, and will use it only to refer to size comparisons.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. No, the etymology of the word is 'outside the norm' - which applies to both meanings

but the first use of the two was "a breach of law or morality; a transgression, crime" in 1475 - "Certes Madame sayd yet Jason for these enormytes know that I have left and repudied her. "; while the size meaning wasn't until 1544: "Paine of the stone is one of ye moste enormous paynes that the body of man is vexed with." And the noun 'enormity' wasn't used to mean 'size' until 1792: "A worm of proportionable enormity had bored a hole in the shell." (all from the OED)

So if you "reject the misappropriation of the word", then use 'enormity' to mean a transgression; and perhaps 'enormous' to mean 'huge'. But don't use 'enormity' to mean 'vastness'.

[Igel]

12. The dictionaries will catch up.

That's the thing about accepting language as the system used by a community of speakers. They get to define the terms, academics don't.

People are familiar with the term "etymological fallacy" when it applies to words whose meanings drifted from their etymological roots pre-Webster. They fall for it hook, line and sinker when there's some paper and ink.

"Decimate" is pretty much a "ravel" word in that it means 90% reduced or 90% left. (Just as "ravel" means the same as "unravel" or "dust" means to "apply dust" or "remove dust".)

Enormity is still often enough used of something big and bad, although I think those under 40 miss the distinction; I seldom here "enormousness" applied to big bad things.

It strikes me that language change is happening faster with those under 30 than when I was in the under-30 crowd; we played with lexis, but they seem to be altering grammar quite a bit. I wonder if it's because the norms are more fluid so the change isn't extirpated by the time they reach adulthood or whether because there really is more change--whether due to non-normative centers of prestige or language contact or some other factor.

[TZ]

13. Note to the forum

Notice that "fundamentalists" are OPPOSED to secularism, so by definition there is NO SUCH THING AS AN ATHEIST FUNDAMENTALIST. I would hope we would stop using that particular slur. And it *is* a slur.