It is true that there has been a recent upsurge in religious fundamentalism, particularly in Islamic and Christian countries. Such fundamentalism is far from any real spiritual regeneration. It is a reaction to the modern Western popular culture that is sweeping over the planet and threatening the existence of old cherished belief systems. Christian fundamentalism in America itself is a pop religion of TV preachers accompanied by Country and Western singers, with instantaneous conversion at football stadiums or even in front of the television, with wild prophecies, and make believe miracles. 

Its preachers are often found to be involved in financial and sexual improprieties of various types. Such religion is hardly the piety of the Middle Ages and is accompanied by little soul searching, and no real spiritual practices, much less any asceticism. It appears as much as a modern distortion as any traditional religiosity. For most people it is a temporary or occasional fad, not anything really enduring or profound.

Islamic fundamentalism is more militant and traditional, and perhaps more dangerous as it does not hesitate to resort to violence, not only in Islamic countries but all over the world. Yet it also appears to be colored by the age of technology into as much a media show as a religious reaction. One wonders if the terrorists it has produced would be so active, if the mass media did not so well broadcast and thereby sustain their cause.

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