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In 1925 just after the Scopes trial, social critic H. L. Mencken wrote with typical flair, "Heave an egg out a Pullman window, and you will hit a fundamentalist anywhere in the United States"—a comment implying that fundamentalism was a large and monolithic movement. But who exactly were the objects of this imaginary egg?

Some scholars have portrayed them as southern, rural, uneducated folk pitted against northeastern, urban, academic elites. Yet a number of fundamentalists, such as Presbyterian theologian J. Gresham Machen, were well educated, and some important conservative institutions and pulpits were located in northeastern cities. More recent studies stress theology as the key distinctive: early fundamentalists were primarily dispensationalists or champions of biblical inerrancy. Other studies identify still other keys.

One characteristic common to all fundamentalists was a militant opposition to modernism—which made fundamentalism as diverse as the modernism it opposed. Some fundamentalists objected primarily to the liberal understanding of the kingdom of God—the idea that Western civilization was establishing Christ's earthly rule. Others found evolutionary teaching most reprehensible. Others still were troubled by the increasing cultural disarray in the United States. Still other fundamentalists identified biblical criticism as the chief culprit.

In spite of the complexity of the movement, though, it is possible to see three major strands in fundamentalism—and each is exemplified in the life and ministry of a fundamentalist leader.

Many people think early fundamentalists withdrew from social and political concerns. But a closer look reveals that many prominent fundamentalists denounced the social engineering of liberal Protestants while promoting their own solutions for American society. One such minister was John Roach Straton.

Born in the Midwest and educated at Southern Baptist institutions, Straton made his greatest mark as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in New York City from 1918 until his death in 1929. Like most Anglo-American Protestant ministers, Straton believed the church should bring "the truth of individual salvation and that of social salvation into their right relationship." Unlike ministers of the social gospel, Straton believed genuine social reform could only come by conversion of individuals: "The leaven of individual righteousness must finally leaven the entire social lump."

Straton's interest in social reform was not rhetorical. In New York and at previous pastorates, he visited red-light districts, where he led protests against prostitution; he was a strong advocate of Prohibition, and he promoted a variety of economic reforms (e.g., the minimum wage, pensions for mothers, and profit-sharing) that he believed would equitably distribute wealth and thereby take away the appeal of many vices.

His most celebrated defense of fundamentalism came in a series of debates he conducted in 1923 and 1924 with Charles Francis Potter, a Unitarian minister in New York. Not only were they broadcast on the new medium of radio, but major newspapers gave front-page coverage, and later the debates were published in book form.

In the debate, Straton mixed scientific and historical proofs for the truth of the Bible with common sense appeals to American middle-class morality. His concluding comments in the first debate said volumes about his concerns:

"The very foundations of the American Republic were laid down upon the open Bible." This book taught nations "the value of monogamy, the sacredness of the marriage vow, the religious equality of the sexes, and the sanctity of the home." To Straton, the well-being of the United States depended on the continuing acceptance of Christianity.

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