The future of fundamentalism.

Here is a piece in the NYT Week in Review about the rise of religion everywhere in the world except Europe. But it's not fundamentalism -- which one scholar defines as "essentially a backlash against secularism and modernity."



R. Scott Appleby, a history professor at the University of Notre Dame, co-authored a book called "Strong Religion: The Rise of Fundamentalisms Around the World." That book was published in 2003. Now, he's saying:

"There is some evidence, some literature that says fundamentalism is on the decline, that it has peaked or is peaking precisely because it has a tendency toward violence and intolerance, and those ultimately don't work. They lead to bloodshed, loss of life, and no recognizable economic upturn, and there is an exhaustion with it."