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Over the last four months you can’t listen to a news broadcast without hearing about Muslim fundamentalists. Here in the Bible belt there have been times in the past couple of decades when you couldn’t turn on the television without seeing a Christian fundamentalist preaching away. Our nation has seen the rise of multiple fundamentalist “mega churches.” On my fiftieth birthday my brother gave me this book. Written by Karen Armstrong – a British ex nun, now a journalist and author, Oxford educated. It took me awhile to get around to starting it. Then I plodded through the first half of the book, which is largely historical. Very slowly. The second half is much more interesting. I really started reading quickly when Jim Spears called and asked me to teach. What is your notion of the meaning of fundamentalism? Generally? (Blocking, tackling, rebounding) As it applies to religion? While she gives no strict definition, Ms. Armstrong implies that in the context of religion, fundamentalism is a reversion back to earlier, more basic beliefs. The book follows the rise of fundamentalism in the three great monotheistic faiths – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. She also calls these the three “confessional�