Religious Right R.I.P.
Is this the end of the religous right?
TH-When Barack Obama takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009, he will do so in the 30th anniversary year of the founding of the so-called Religious Right. Born in 1979 and midwifed by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Religious Right was a reincarnation of previous religious-social movements that sought moral improvement through legislation and court rulings. Those earlier movements — from abolition (successful) to Prohibition (unsuccessful) — had mixed results.
Social movements that relied mainly on political power to enforce a conservative moral code weren’t anywhere near as successful as those that focused on changing hearts. The four religious revivals, from the First Great Awakening in the 1730s and 1740s to the Fourth Great Awakening in the late 1960s and early ’70s, which touched America and instantly transformed millions of Americans (and American culture as a result), are testimony to that.
Thirty years of trying to use government to stop abortion, preserve opposite-sex marriage, improve television and movie content and transform culture into the conservative Evangelical image has failed. The question now becomes: should conservative Christians redouble their efforts, contributing more millions to radio and TV preachers and activists, or would they be wise to try something else?
I opt for trying something else.
Too many conservative Evangelicals have put too much faith in the power of government to transform culture.
I think most Americans still view marriage as between a man and a woman. Only the judgemental folks (from the left) would read this as being “hateful”. Also there’s a wide array of people opposed to euthanasia (Terri Schiavo) and anything related to stem cell research. (Michael J. Fox, Chris Reeves) It’s about knowing where to draw the battle lines. Of course Ron Paul is pro-life and thinks this is a state issue. Personally I’m pro-choice, f.y.i. But always wind up supporting pro-life folks due to the wide array of issues.
There are three basic ways to look at marriage.
1) The religious way
2) The contractual way
3) As a mechanism for insuring the well-being of the family unit
I’m not religious at all, so I could care less who enters into a contract with who. If a man wants to call another man “wife”, what’s the big deal? Are people afraid that young folk will suddenly “turn gay”? That’s ridiculous.
I’m comfortable and confident in my sexuality and my marriage.
If two men or two women living together provide a safe home for children, and the adult couple want to call themselves “married”, what’s the problem?
The only problem is when you look at the issue through a religious lens.
And that’s why religion and governance don’t mix.
But, but, but GOD SAID !
I hope it’s the end of them. I’m a Christian and I think they have done more to damage the religion than anyone else.
Historically, this article is correct. The RR basically rises up against an issue but then drops out of the political process for decades. It seems that the conservative that wrote this article realizes that the GOP’s future is not with the religious right.
VERY INTERESTING!
NYT-Obama Made Gains Among Younger EvangePresident-elect Barack Obama succeeded in chiseling off small but significant chunks of white evangelical voters who have been the foundation of the Republican Party for decades, a close look at voting patterns reveals.
The change reflects a broader shift among religious voters in every category. Mr. Obama made gains among Catholics, Jews and mainline Protestants, compared with the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.
But the big question was whether Mr. Obama could appeal to evangelicals — born-again Christians, who make up about a quarter of the electorate and have been largely Republican stalwarts.
Early in the campaign, he mobilized a team led by the Rev. Joshua DuBois, a Pentecostal pastor, who focused on reaching out to politically moderate evangelicals, Catholics and mainline Protestants.
“The Obama campaign really made a decision to target their efforts to moderates,” said Mara Vanderslice, founder and director of the Matthew 25 Network, a political action group that ran advertisements on Christian radio for Mr. Obama. “Their plan was never to go after people who’d been voting Republican for 20 years.”
“There never was an aggressive outreach effort to white Southern Baptist evangelicals in the South; that wasn’t the focus,” added Ms. Vanderslice, an evangelical Christian who was Mr. Kerry’s director of religious outreach.
Campaign workers contacted individual ministers, even those they knew would not necessarily vote for Mr. Obama, and mailed copies of his speeches on faith and politics to thousands of them.
For some, the campaign arranged meetings or phone calls with Mr. Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois. The goal, organizers said, was to humanize him as a person of genuine faith, so that even those pastors who opposed him would be hesitant to attack him publicly.
The campaign also visited about 10 Christian colleges in swing states, often staging events with Donald Miller, a bestselling author popular with younger evangelicals and an Obama supporter. And campaign workers organized more than 900 “American values house parties,” in which Obama supporters invited members of their church to talk politics.
The payoff was both generational and geographic. Mr. Obama doubled his support among young white evangelicals (those ages 18 to 29) compared with Mr. Kerry. The increase was almost the same for white evangelicals ages 30 to 44.
“There is definitely a generational division,” said David P. Gushee, professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University and author of “The Future of Faith in American Politics: The Public Witness of the Evangelical Center.”
“Young evangelicals,” Dr. Gushee said, are “attracted to a broader agenda” beyond abortion and homosexuality, that includes the environment, poverty, human rights and torture.
Nationwide, most white evangelicals remained in the Republican camp despite misgivings they voiced about the depth of Senator John McCain’s commitment to a conservative social agenda. Mr. McCain, of Arizona, held 74 percent of the white evangelical vote, compared with 24 percent for Mr. Obama — a gain of only three percentage points over Mr. Kerry.
But in most of the swing states where Mr. Obama’s campaign concentrated, like Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia, his gains over Mr. Kerry in 2004 among white evangelicals were larger.
Mr. Obama improved his standing by 10 points among white evangelicals in Colorado. The state is home to what many consider to be the capitol of evangelical America, Colorado Springs, where dozens of conservative megaministries like Focus on the Family have their headquarters and employ tens of thousands of people.
He also did well with Catholics, who make up about a quarter of the American electorate, winning 54 percent of that vote compared with 45 percent for Mr. McCain. Most of the Catholic boost for Mr. Obama came from Hispanic Catholics, who are now 6 percent of the electorate.
Mr. Obama, a member of the United Church of Christ, a Protestant denomination, managed to increase his share of the Catholic vote by seven percentage points over Mr. Kerry, who is a Catholic.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/us/politics/07religion.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
I think the war hasn’t helped the Christian right either. Many kick and scream against the Christian right due to various POLI-TI-CAL issues, which doesn’t mean they’re necessarily bashing Christianity. And of course NOBODY tells Libertarians what to do whether it’s Jerry Falwell or Barack Obama. And the Ron Paul camp has brought DECENTRALIZATION to the table which would naturally butt heads with command politics in any form from DC.
The end of the religious right? Not exactly.
California Proposition 8 (banning gay marriage) passed 52% – 48% on the same ballot as the most liberal candidate in history rec’d over 60% of the vote.
There were other ballot measures around the country that showed similar approval.
The religious right is as strong as ever and will continue to be a thorn in the side of a GOP searching for a new identity. Ficons better get used to it…unfortunately.
bb,
The problem is that lots of AA’s showed up to vote for Obama and vote down that proposition. So in effect, Obama probably is at least somewhat responsible for it’s defeat. The country is moving toward passing things like Prop 8. In Maine, for example, a similiar proposition failed in the nineties but came right back and passed a few years ago. So, while CA has failed to pass prop 8 twice, I’m sure that the numbers are a lot closer this time than they were last. Maybe the RR will get tired of losing elections and start sitting home on election day and then you can get a new coalition.
caroline…PROP 8 PASSED in California. Would you like to delete comment 8 now?
bb,
Yes, I stated it passed. Can you not read?
Bart
This issue is all about overreaching. If it was civil unions instead of marriage the bill would have failed. When the GOP focuses on Parental notification via the abortion issue they win. But when the GOP goes for banning abortion with no exception they fail.
FYI
South Dakota Abortion Ban Fails
Two years after South Dakotans rejected a nearly total ban on abortion, the early count in Tuesday’s election showed a less restrictive ballot measure also failing.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/11/04/south-dakota-abortion-ban-fails/
caroline wrote, “The problem is that lots of AA’s showed up to vote for Obama and vote down that proposition. So in effect, Obama probably is at least somewhat responsible for it’s defeat.”
and…”So, while CA has failed to pass prop 8 twice, I’m sure that the numbers are a lot closer this time than they were last.”
Neither statement says it passed…you might want to re-read your post.
John,
You’re talking about two different topics.
CA voted heavily in favor of Obama who represents the antithesis of Prop 8.
I don’t support these type resolutions, but the results show even CA has strong social conservative leanings when it comes to gay marriage.
Bart
If it was Civil Unions I think it would of passed