This study examined the associations between personality, identity, and protestant fundamentalism (subscales included inerrancy, evangelism, premillennialism, and separatism). 440 college students between the ages of 18 and 29 participated in the study, and self-identified as protestant. A step-wise regression revealed the following findings. Neuroticism was negatively associated with inerrancy, evangelism, and separatism; extroversion was negatively related to separatism; and agreeableness was positively related to inerrancy, evangelisms, and premillennialism. Exploration in depth was positively associated with evangelism, premillennialism, and separatism; identification with commitment was positively related with separatism; and rumination was positively associated with premillennialism, and separatism.

This thesis defends two arguments. First, it is argued that new atheism and Protestant fundamentalism in Britain and America share a common historical root in the English Reformation and its aftermath. This common historical root gave rise to two presuppositions instrumental in their genesis: a literal, univocal, and perspicuous understanding of Scripture, and a disruptive and substitutionary conception of divine activity in nature. Second, it is argued that these two presuppositions continue to structure both forms of thought, and support a range of shared biblical, hermeneutical, and theological beliefs. In advancing these arguments, a number of substantive conclusions regarding atheism, Protestant fundamentalism, and the lineage of Protestant thought in Britain and America are reached. First, it is argued that, while lacking detail, popular comparisons between new atheism and Protestant fundamentalism are cogent. Second, it is argued that atheism in Britain and America grew out of intellectual and social problems within Protestantism. Third, it is argued that Protestant fundamentalism was itself a response to the same train of problems that gave rise to atheism. Fourth, it is argued that new atheism is not an areligious movement but an atheological one, which finds it necessary to engage in the task of theology in order to reject the existence of God and the truth of the Christian faith. Fifth, this study casts doubt on the self-understanding of both Protestant fundamentalism and new atheism, showing that Protestant fundamentalism is not truly biblical, nor new atheism scientific, but that both are indebted to presuppositions that neither can properly justify, and which render both self-contradictory.

Latent Class Analysis was used to explore different subgroups of individuals based on identity processes (using the DIDS) and protestant fundamentalism. Results indicate that a 6-group solution provided the best fit for our data. The six groups differed in terms of identity process variables (especially exploration in breath, exploration in depth, and identification with commitment), but only modestly in terms of fundamentalism.