To get any hope of knowing Christian extremism, we have to start by reviewing the definition for Christian fundamentalism. What will we signify by Christian fundamentalism, and what conditions identify a Christian fundamentalist? Drawing on many scholarly sources, we can easily make use of the next criteria:
Biblical Inerrancy/Literalism (at the very least regarding development)
Evangelism
Premillenialism (expectation of 2nd coming, rapture, and many others.)
Separatism/Perception of Persecution
The Christian extremist shares each of these attributes With all the fundamentalist but fulfills some more conditions not achieved by the fundamentalist. That's, fundamentalism subsumes extremism so that all extremists are fundamentalists but not all fundamentalists are extremists. The next are the additional requirements fulfilled by Christian extremists:
Exclusivity (conviction that people that never share their spiritual viewpoint are usually not "real" Christians)
Other-Condemnation (intolerance and condemnation of the other)
Anti-Intellectualism (especially with regard to science)
Social Conservatism and Anti-Liberalism
Theocratic Strivings (biblical regulation usually takes priority about secular legislation)
Opposition to Modernism
As a result, we will look at Christian extremism to get an exaggerated kind of Christian fundamentalism, which includes further attributes beyond fundamentalism. We also needs to remember that only a little subset of Christian extremists will qualify as Christian terrorists (i.e., people that dedicate acts of terrorism during which the Christian worldview serves as justification).
The American media largely ignores Christian extremism. Sure, they eagerly provide extremists which include Pat Robertson and James Dobson that has a System, However they refuse to characterize this kind of figures as extremists. Why?
It is tempting to right away place to Christian privilege as the principle culprit of the media's neglect of Christian extremism. In fact, the American media (and its viewers) are so totally saturated with fundamentalist Christianity that it is reasonable to guess that it only may not happen to them to cover it. With Christianity given that the dominant faith in America, lots of People absence the perspective to consider solutions or to request the tough questions on the extremists between us.
Christian moderates have had relatively very little to mention on the subject with the vocal extremists who dominate the conversation. In part, This can be American Media Response because the media refuses to provide them with the same platform. On the other hand, I often think that no less than a number of the blame rests with the moderates by themselves. It is difficult for them to criticize their extremist colleagues devoid of sensation that their own individual religious beliefs may be weakened in the method.