abu aardvark has an interesting post comparing the originalists school in american constitutional interpretation with the modes of interpretation employed by the salafi tradition in islam--the tradition that is most associated with islamic fundamentalism.
as the aardvark notes, that is not to say that originalists judges or legal scholars are religious fundamentalism. but i really think there is a personality type that finds comfort in the alleged clarity and absolutism of the past (or, more often, the imagined past). and that's a trait that seems to manifest itself in a variety of different cultures.
