Mousethief,

You wrote, "But a "fundamentalist" believes what they think are the fundamentals. If they think that Islam fundamentally forbids music, then it doesn't matter what you think or what twenty imams think are really and truly the fundamental aspects of Islam -- they are sticking to their fundamentals. Just like there are Christians who think hating homosexuals is one of the Christian fundamentals."

If a term means whatever anyone at all claims that it means, then all terms mean everything, and thus nothing means anything.

It is certainly true that "a 'fundamentalist' believes what they think are the fundamentals". However, since EVERYBODY believes what he or she thinks are the fundamentals, we can't define fundamentalism in those terms. I do not know what you believe, but I'm sure that YOU believe what YOU think are the fundamentals. Yet you are not (as far as I know) a fundamentalist.

A fundamentalist is someone who believes the fundamentals, the basics, of a faith. The fundamentals of a faith are NOT whatever anyone wishes them to be. They are defined historically and, for faiths that are based on documents, by those documents. If the faith in question is Islam, the document is the Koran.

Since the Koran does NOT say that one should deny music to children, then that idea is not, and cannot be, an aspect of Islamic fundamentalism. Whether or not anyone actually claims that denying music to children is some sort of Sixth Pillar of Islam, I don't know. I do know that, if such a person exists, he or she is not an Islamic fundamentalist, but is instead a heretic from Islam.

Similarly, I do not know whether or not anyone actually claims that hating homosexuals is a fundamental part of Protestantism. I do know that, if such a person exists, he or she is not a Protestant fundamentalist, but is instead a heretic from Protestantsim.

Kent

P.S. I have spent a lifetime among Protestant fundamentalists and I have NEVER heard anyone claim that hating homosexuals is a fundamental of their faith. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, every single fundamentalist that I have ever met has believed that hating ANYONE was FORBIDDEN by their faith. Even fundamentalists who actually do hate someone will tell you that they should not, and that their faith forbids it.

P.P.S. Those interested in what Protestant fundamentalists actually believe may be interested in this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fundamentals