Breaking down the question
The question asks whether religion is an important driver of rising fundamentalism, and the phrase "Give reasons" signals that the examiner wants a reasoned, two-sided judgement rather than a flat assertion. The key move is to distinguish religion as such from fundamentalism as a particular modern response, and then weigh how far the former fuels the latter.
Fundamentalism, following Anthony Giddens, is best understood as a defence of tradition in a traditional way — an insistence on the literal, inerrant truth of scripture and a refusal of the doubt and pluralism that modernity introduces. It is not simply intense faith but a reactive, politicised form of belief. Religion supplies its idiom, but the deeper causes are frequently social.
How to approach it
Take a balanced position. Concede that religion provides the doctrines, symbols and community that fundamentalist movements mobilise, then argue that fundamentalism is largely a reaction to modernity, globalisation and perceived threats to identity rather than a natural outgrowth of religion itself. Support each point with a reason.
Avoid a one-line yes or no. The examiner rewards a candidate who shows that religion is a necessary vehicle but rarely the sufficient cause. Our notes on religion in modern society develop this distinction between faith and fundamentalism.
Model answer
Religion does play an important role in the rise of fundamentalism, but it is more accurately understood as its vehicle than its root cause. Fundamentalism, as Anthony Giddens argues, is a defence of tradition conducted in a traditional way — an assertion of scriptural literalism and moral certainty against the doubt, pluralism and secularism of the modern world.
Religion contributes in several ways. It supplies the sacred texts whose literal reading fundamentalists insist upon, the symbols and rituals that bind followers, and the moral absolutism that legitimates uncompromising positions. Charismatic religious leaders and organised congregations provide ready networks for mobilisation, and the promise of salvation offers a powerful motivating force. In this sense religion furnishes the language, identity and community without which fundamentalist movements could not cohere.
Yet the reasons fundamentalism arises are largely social rather than doctrinal. It flourishes in conditions of rapid change, insecurity and threatened identity. Globalisation, Western cultural dominance and the erosion of familiar ways of life provoke a defensive reaction for which religion becomes the most available idiom. Steve Bruce points out that fundamentalism is a modern phenomenon, made possible by the very modernity it opposes. It is frequently intertwined with political grievance, economic marginalisation and nationalism, so that religion is mobilised for ends that are as much about power and identity as about faith. Peter Berger similarly noted that pluralism itself can provoke a hardening of belief.
The evidence therefore cuts both ways. Where religion is deployed to resist modernity and assert a besieged identity, it clearly fuels fundamentalism; but the same traditions also sustain tolerant, reformist and quietist forms of faith. What turns religion fundamentalist is the social context of threat and reaction.
In conclusion, religion plays an important enabling role by providing the beliefs, symbols and organisation on which fundamentalism draws, but it is the crisis of identity under modernity and globalisation that activates it. Religion is thus a significant but not a sufficient cause.
Examiner's perspective
Examiners reward candidates who refuse the simplistic equation of religion with fundamentalism and instead treat fundamentalism as a modern, reactive phenomenon. The strongest scripts define the term precisely — Giddens is the anchor — and then separate religion's enabling role from the social conditions that trigger it.
Weak answers either condemn religion outright or defend it uncritically. Strong answers give reasons on both sides, cite globalisation and identity threat as the deeper drivers, and close with a measured judgement that religion is a necessary vehicle but seldom the whole explanation.