Stop Writing Epitaphs for the 'Religious Right'
Abby Olheiser ("The Atlantic," October 28, 2013)
"Today, after more than three decades of activism, many in the religious
right are stepping back from the front lines," proclaimed a Wall Street
Journal piece published last week, documenting an apparent "trend" of
evangelical Christians stepping away from politics. The piece, framed as a
profile of
a "new" approach to activism by the Southern Baptist Convention's lead
mouthpiece, Russell D. Moore, is just one of many pieces attempting to answer
in the affirmative to a popular question: Is the religious right dying? As
the current fight over Texas's controversial abortion laws indicates, the
answer to that question is almost certainly no. But in the wake of Tea
Party's plummeting post-shutdown approval ratings, it's certainly a tempting
one, once again.
Last Thursday, for instance, Buzzfeed framed an otherwise good piece about
evangelical uneasiness towards Pope Francis around the hyperbolic idea of
"How The Pope Could Tear Apart The Religious Right." Aside from that, it's
really an interesting piece, and you should read it for a quick history
lesson on the tenuous relationship between conservative American Catholics and
the politically-engaged power players of the evangelical right. Andrew
Sullivan also took up the eulogy for the right in "The Decline And Fall Of
Christianism," which takes some encouragement from the Journal profile and the
Pope's recent comments against a political focus on issues like abortion
and homosexuality. His conclusion:
We do not yet know what a more apolitical, Gospel-centered, life-centered
Christianity will achieve, how popular it may be, or whether it will lead to
higher levels of commitment to God than at present. But I suspect even
Pope Benedict finally realized it is the only way forward – hence his
resignation in the face of his papacy’s near-total failure. What matters now
and
always is truth, not usefulness, faith, not politics. The next generation
gets this.
As we've urged before, it's always a good idea to pump the brakes on
statements from religious conservatives on stepping away from politics, or
issues like abortion and homosexuality. Because unless the speaker is
specifically announcing a dogmatic shift, those statements are rarely what they
seem
to be, espeically to liberal ears. After all, even as Pope Francis tells
Catholics to focus on poverty, and not politically popular social issues, he
still affirms the church's unchanged conservative stance. And his statements
don't represent an actual shift on the ground: American Catholic
organizations are far from pulling out of the state-by-state fight on
contraception,
abortion, and homosexuality. Both religion journalist Sarah Posner and
Washington Monthly's Ed Kilgore have sounded alarms of caution for liberals
over recent reports of the Religious Right's demise. Posner, for instance,
writes that even evangelicals like Moore, currently calling for a lighter
political touch "still see these as cultural issues, and still see their
essential role as engagement in the public square as witnesses for (their view
of) Christ’s teachings."
Likewise, the SBC's Moore disputes the Journal's characterization of his
remarks. His response in the Christian Post is extremely useful here. "If
anything, I'm calling for more engagement in the worlds of politics, culture,
art, labor and so on," Moore writes. "It's just that this is a different
sort of engagement. It's not a matter of pullback, but of priority." Moore
goes on to outline that he's looking for Christian social engagement to
become more like current evangelical anti-abortion activism, which has
attracted
substantial youth involvement:
What I'm calling for in our approach to political engagement is what we're
already doing in one area: the pro-life movement. Evangelicals in the
abortion debate have demonstrated convictional kindness in a holistic ethic of
caring both for vulnerable unborn children and for the women who are damaged
by abortion. The pro-life movement has engaged in a multi-pronged strategy
that addresses, simultaneously, the need for laws to outlaw abortion, care
for women in crisis pregnancies, adoption and foster care for children who
need families, ministry to women (and men) who've been scarred by
abortion, cultivating a culture that persuades others about why we ought to
value
human life, and the proclamation of the gospel to those whose consciences
bear the guilt of abortion.
In other words, Moore is calling for Christians to circle back to a
familiar concept: hate the sin, love the sinner. It's an idea heard more in
evangelical church sermons than in heated political debates on controversial
topics, and it's much more PR-friendly. Rather than asking Christians to dial
down activism on social issues, Moore is asking adherents to take on a
different tone, even while continuing to advocate for, say, the same
controversial laws restricting women's access to abortion. This is the same
attitude
that pushed a wave of anti-abortion restrictions in the wake of the Kermit
Gosnell trial: by relying on a Gospel-based approach, evangelical activists
are hoping to set an example that the rest of America will take up. Moore,
along with the rest of the religious right, is still hoping and pushing for
a pretty literal "come to Jesus" moment, where the evangelical view on
these issues becomes the only one. It's similar to a recent comment on the
abortion fight by Paul Ryan: "our task isn't to purge our ranks. It's to grow
them....We don't want a country where abortion is simply outlawed. We want
a country where it isn't even considered," he said.
Even if Moore did speak for the entire Religious Right (which, as Posner
notes, he most certainly does not), his take on evangelical engagement is far
from a retreat. To hear that in Moore's remarks merely indicates the power
of progressive wishful thinking.
--
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
