Category talk:Christian fundamentalism

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[edit] Notes from Pollinator on category usage

The term fundamentalism has been redefined in recent years by the secular world to include ideas that are not favored by Christian fundamentalists, and the term is often used pejoratively. The Associated Press recognizes that and suggest in its stylebook (though this is not always observed) that the term should only be used with groups that apply the term to themselves.

Historically Christian fundamentalists believe in the defined fundamentals of faith (see link above for more detail). Christian fundamentalists are highly concerned with doctrinal and moral purity and tend to be separatists. In the United States, the secular world assumes that fundamentalists are policically active and powerful, but, except for a couple notable exceptions such as Jerry Falwell, most fundamentalists have not been polictically active, becaue it required coalition building with other conservative Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. Some have just recently been spurred by societal trends to join coalitions with other conservative Christians,

Though often confused by secularists with Christian Evangelicals and Pentecostal Christians with which they have some common heritage, the strength of the separatist ideal within a group can also be a gauge of how fundamentalist they are. For example, fundamentalists do not remain within mainline denominations, so the categorization of the Confessing Movement as fundamentalist is deeply erroneous.

For the purpose of accuracy and courtesy, it is suggested that Wikipedia editors follow the Associated Press guideline.