Basically fundamentalism is a modern phenomenon. In the same way that Hitler evoked a mythological religion of German purity and the glory of the past the Islamists use religion to evoke emotions and passions in people who have been oppressed for a long time in order to reach their purpose.
The conception that instead of this contemporary society is at or near a turning point is very prominent in the views of a school of social scientists who though they are still comparatively few are getting more and more of a hearing.
