The term refers to central elements of the traditional Christian teaching, such as the divinity of Jesus Christ, the Second Coming, heaven and hell, and inspiration and authority of the scriptures. It holds firm its belief in the doctrine of personal salvation and literal interpretation of the scriptures.
Because of its insistence that the scriptures are the word of God, fundamentalism stands in radical opposition to Roman Catholicism, and the historical-critical method of biblical interpretation. The roots of fundamentalism go back to the denominational orthodoxies of the 17th century and the revivalist movements of the 18th and 19th centuries. The conservative evangelicals or fundamentalists of the present era share with their forbears an apologetic mode of theology reflecting an historicist notion of truth as well as an insistence on the "fundamentals", especially creation, sin and redemption, the second coming, the Virgin birth and the divinity of Jesus, and the literalist interpretation of miracles. Their point of view is represented through preachers such as Billy Graham and Herbert Armstrong, Pat Robertson, and most of the American televangelists, as well through the press, for example, Biblioteca Sacra, the Evangelical Quarterly, and the publications of the Intervarsity Press.*
But many of their constituents are becoming more enlightened and they move out to seek other progressive church groups. One other reason they leave their church is they discovered their church leaders as involved in extra-marital relationships, and they also are secretly using their church funds for their own personal use to enrich themselves. That's why most of them have become multi-millionaires.
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*Source: The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology. Alan Richardson and John Bowden, eds.
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