[vacri]

Fundamentalism in Christianity stretches at least as far back as the Spanish Inquisition. Modern Europe has been shaped by centuries of infighting over the fundamentals of the religion. Similarly, Galileo is frequently proffered as an example of the church demanding its holy book's passages over actual observation.

To describe fundamentalism as modern is flat-out bizarre.

[rdouble]

The term 'Fundamentalism' refers to a specific American religious movement that took off around 1920. It has it's roots in a series of essays called "The Fundamentals" which were published in 1909-1910.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fundamentals

[vacri]

Perhaps as a label, which I guess is what's being referred to here, but the ethic goes back a much longer way.