The Fundamentalists (2004)
Channel 4

Description

Today the word 'fundamentalist' conjours up images of suicide bombers but its origins are in the American Bible Belt. Here, in the aftermath of the First World War, when science and social patterns were changing fast, traditionalist Christians attempted to impose biblical standards on their society. Despite the official separation of church and state, Christians who believed in the literal truth of the Bible – including the story that the world was created in seven days – brought charges against John Scopes for teaching evolution. That battle is still going on.

Mark Dowd travels across the world to trace the origins of fundamentalism and find out how it developed into the global phenomenon it is today. He discovers fundamentalists of all religious persuasions across the world – Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims and, unexpectedly, Buddhists.