“Fundamentalist” in the United States means “I’ve never actually read the Bible and I just make up my strident beliefs as I go.” Their beliefs are a dogs breakfast of Sunday school stories not in the Bible, Star Trek, Lord Of The Rings, The Left Behind series, Ayn Rand, and other pop culture references. And that’s why American “Fundamentalism” changes wildly from decade to decade.- It’s popular because it’s not in the least bit “fundamentalist.” Individually they tend to randomly grab bits from other fundamentalist sects, but their ministers let that slide rather than saying “Nooo! You do not believe that!”
My neighbors were all into fundamentalism and politics, but they were church hoppers. They believed one thing as hard as they could, but next year they would be in a different church. The wife taught Bible classes but knew nothing about the Bible. I asked if they were premillenial dispensationalists, and they were like “Whaaaaaat?” And I was like “Well you’re either a premillenialist or a postmillenialist, and that means - you know what, just never mind.” Because I can’t be bothered to explain the basics of their own religion to them if they didn’t care in the first place.
