ABSTRACT
The apparent resurgence of conservative or fundamentalist religion in various parts of the world calls into question sociological orthodoxy about secularization. This essay uses the example of the failure of the new Christian right (NCR) in America as an opportunity to reconsider the relationship between religion and modernity. In addition to assessing the career of the NCR, it argues that there are obvious reasons why fundamentalist movements will not succeed in establishing an imperium. Although the cognitive threats to supernaturalistic religion of science and technology can be readily neutralised, the problems of adapting to social, cultural and religious pluralism cannot. In the language of church, sect, and denomination, fundamentalism can maintain itself in a sectarian form but given that the cultural homogeneity required for a church no longer exists, expansion into the wider society brings pressure to shift to a more denominational self-image.
