ABSTRACT
Fundamentalism has become such a loose term in public debates that some scholars have suggested that it no longer be used in serious writings. In Germany, for instance, journalists distinguish between ‘dogmatic' and ‘open-minded' green ecologists, labelling the first fundamentalists while viewing the latter as realists. To acknowledge the importance of the issue and to move beyond spurious references to fundamentalism, it is critical to resuscitate the original meaning of the term. Fundamentalism is a reference to religion and to a particular use of religion in response to challenges in politics and society. Thus fundamentalism combines political concerns with religious legitimation.
