From a friend:

Fundamentalism does not represent the whole of Christianity.

… since the 1970s … the rise of a type of religiosity that we usually call ‘fundamentalism’ in most of the major world religions, including the three religions of God. A highly political spirituality, it is literal and intolerant in its vision. …. Christian fundamentalists have little regard for the loving compassion of Christ. They are swift to condemn the people they see as the ‘enemies of God’. … this type of religiosity is actually a retreat from God … a new form of idolatry. This type of belligerent righteousness has been a constant temptation to monotheists throughout the long history of God. It must be rejected as inauthentic. … They are also denying a crucial monotheistic theme. Ever since the prophets of Israel reformed the old pagan cult of Yahweh, the God of monotheists has promoted the ideal of compassion. … All too often, conventional believers, who are not fundamentalist, share their agressive righteousness. They use ‘God’ to prop up their own loves and hates, which they attribute to God himself. … The God of historical monotheism demands mercy not sacrifice, compassion rather than decorous liturgy. … The prophets fulminated against their contemporaries who thought that temple worship was sufficient. … Ever since Moses brought the tablets of law from mount Sinai, the majority have preferred the worship of a Golden Calf, a traditional, unthreatening image of a deity they have constructed for themselves, with its consoling, time honoured rituals. Aaron, the high priest, presided over the manufacture of the golden effigy.

– Karen Armstrong ‘A History of God’ ( Vintage; London:1993) pp.447-450