Religious fundamentalism has its origins in early 20th century America. The term was coined to describe people in the protestant community who had a set of well-defined values. These people were against modernistic beliefs and ideas and believed it was important to stick to the bible so they would never have to change their beliefs. In the modern era the term is used a lot more generally and people who study religious fundamentalism see it as an escape for people from modern society. There are many differences in society now than there were in the early 20th century. There are constant changes and this can make people wary and feel unsafe. This in turn forces people to search for a permanent, unchanging lifestyle with rules that remain the same. People look to religion for this kind of lifestyle. Religion becomes absolute and uncompromising and is then referred to as fundamentalism.
             It is possible to be a fundamentalist in any religion. Some of the more well-known groups throughout all religions would be Al-Qaeda, Christian fundamentalist groups most notably in America and the Islamic fundamentalist group, the Taliban. Both Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are infamous for their links to violent activity. However the Christian fundamentalist group in America would not be known for violence but rather for their political activity and their views on certain aspects of the Christian faith. When answering the question it is important to have an understanding of what it means to be totalitarian. Totalitarian control is a political idea where the state has complete control over all aspects of public life in a society. As Mussolini said in a speech "Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state" (Pipes 1995, pp. 240–281). Totalitarian behaviour would be more linked with violent religious fundamentalist groups rather than peaceful ones. However there has been significant political activity by rel...