Don’t lump Christian, Muslim fundamentalists together

My view

The problem isn’t fundamentalism but fundamentalist Islam.
In articles on acts of Islamic terror, we often read the side-comment that “Fundamentalism is found in religions other than Islam.” Certainly that’s true. But I suspect the comment is a not-so-subtle slap at fundamentalist Christians, suggesting they and fundamentalist Muslims are similarly dangerous and distasteful.
I’m not a fundamentalist, but I have to ask: Is this lumping of Christian and Muslim fundamentalists together warranted?
Certainly fundamentalists of all religions have clear, strong opinions about truth and falsehood, right and wrong. They are often publicly vocal about their beliefs.
Fundamentalist Christians (and others) often connect their faith and politics. (There is a constitutional separation of church and state but not of faith and politics.)
But where do we see fundamentalist Christians waging violent jihad against those who disagree with them? Where have they passed a law requiring everyone believe and worship the way they do? Where do they imprison people for practicing other faiths? Where do they execute non-Christians who proselytize?
Have fundamentalist Christians outlawed possessing, buying, selling or giving away copies of non-Christian scriptures? When was the last time you heard of a school teacher being imprisoned because his or her students named a Teddy bear “Jesus”?
Those things only happen in lands dominated by fundamentalist Muslims.
Have you ever wondered why? Because a literal reading of Islamic scriptures inevitably leads to those conclusions.
Numerous passages in the Quran call for violence toward people of other faiths. Some passages explicitly name Jews and Christians as the enemy. The Quran doesn’t supply any historical context for those commands. So they are read by fundamentalist Muslims as commands from Allah for all times.
In the earliest traditions of Mo-hammed’s life, there are numerous stories of violent jihad against non-Muslims and brutal assassinations of vocal critics of the prophet. Historically, Islam has been spread by the sword. It makes sense that the fundamentalist Muslim would continue that practice.
True moderate Muslims face a very difficult situation. A few are honest and brave enough to say, “We must go beyond the Quran. That was for then, not now.” They risk their lives by saying that publicly, as the Quran is particularly harsh in calling for jihad against those who leave Islam, as fundamentalists say moderates have.
Nothing like that exists in Christianity. It is true the Bible contains descriptions of violence, murders and wars. But those passages are in specific historical contexts and never given as divine commands for all times. These passages can be used to justify violence today only if yanked from their literary and historical contexts.
In past centuries, when “Christian nations” did violence, they made very little appeal to the Bible to justify it. What appeal they did make violated the Bible itself.
The worst that might be said of today’s Christian fundamentalists is that some are narrow-minded, judgmental and condemning of those with different opinions. At that, they betray the character of the Jesus they claim to serve.
In a fascinating twist, writers who lump together fundamentalist Christians and Muslims sometimes show that very same narrow-mind-edness, judgmentalism and condemnation.
Are they, therefore, liberal fundamentalists?