Loading ...Christian Right rejects “Christian right” label
flockwoodSarah Pulliam of Christianity Today has written an interesting article about the term “Christian Right” falling out of favor among some right-wing Christians.
As Pulliam correctly notes, labels that were embraced in one age can become epithets in later years.
Early in the twentieth century, many evangelical Christians embraced the term “fundamentalist”. But it fell out of favor — especially after the media began using the term as shorthand for religious extremism of all kinds.
Now “Christian Right” is losing appeal and I think I know why.
The label, I think, has been applied too broadly, to cover anyone who is both a.) an evangelical and b.) opposed to abortion. That’s too broad a brush.
I’m less certain, though, that the label should be abandoned completely. If someone is strongly Christian spiritually and firmly right-wing politically, I’m not sure why the term Christian Right (or Christian Conservative) would be offensive.
If it walks like a duck…
February 12th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
The prevailing political mood of the country oscillates between opposite extremes like a pendulum. After the last eight years of Bush era neoconservatism, resulting in our multiple national crises, who can be surprised that liberalism is making a resurgence of popularity? Last night I heard some Democrats, without any hesitation or reluctance, refer to themselves as “liberal”. The L word used to be spit out as an insult, but that’s changing rapidly. And as the left ascends, the right declines, and fewer people want to be known as right-wingers. Wait a few more years and things will reverse.
Is the term “Religious Right” misleading? I don’t think so. To me it means those folks who meld their deep religious faith with socially conservative politics. It includes the painful issue of abortion, to be sure, but the agenda is bigger than that. Dr. Bill Martin cautions that we should not mistake their conservative politics with conservative theology, because there are many Americans who belong to very conservative denominations though they are politically liberal, moderate, or neutral.
Still, we ought to allow groups to decide what to call themselves, providing that their self-selected name is reasonably honest and accurate. And the coalition formerly known as the Religious Right should accord others the same courtesy. “Liberal” and “feminist” need not be prefaced with “radical”.
February 14th, 2009 at 6:24 am
I never really thought any of these labels were picked by conservative Christians, at least not by the groups they were applied to. Ever since the Carter years, the press has sought for a label to describe Christians who actually believe in Christianity, and admittedly, that’s a hard thing to do.
February 14th, 2009 at 7:48 am
It’s natural for anyone to want a convenient name when referring to a group. The faith-driven socially-conservative political movement was certainly well-defined enough to deserve such a name, and I don’t know of any better description that they offered up. Do you? And Frank and I think it was reasonably accurate.
Maybe they didn’t pick the “Religious Right” label, but according to the article at least some were OK with it:
“Jerry Falwell, cofounder of the Moral Majority, self-applied the Religious Right label until it started taking a more negative connotation, according to John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.”
I’ve told a story before but it bears relevance again. Once there was a very devout student and his friends. Others taunted them and called them various names. One of the labels stuck. That student was John Wesley, and his little group became known as the Methodists.
February 14th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
I don’t think “Religious Right” is intrinsically informative. It has been used to self-describe some leaders of self-identified religious and/or Christian groups whose main agenda was primarily POLITICAL. And it was quite conservative Republican politics they were/are pushing. I think it would be more accurate to call them the “Political Right.”
That may, however, be a smidgen too broad, inasmuch as a small percent of very conservative Republican political activists don’t even pretend to be religious/Christian.
Earlier in the twentieth century self-identified Christians who held to a very conservative theological perspective (with or without political interests) called themselves Fundamentalists. Apparently that term is no longer welcome by person who believe exactly what the earlier Fundamentalists proudly believed. The term soon acquired some quite negative connotations.
Later in the twentieth century self-identified members of the Religious Right who held very conservative political perspectives, along with very conservative theological perspectives were happy to be called the Religious Right. Soon enough the term acquired some quite negative connotations.
Perhaps these folks should change the reality rather than the terminology. It is what they are and what they espouse that is odious, not the name.
February 16th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Christians “who actually believe in Christianity,” Steve? Well, based on that kind of statement, the word “arrogant” might be the best descriptor, followed closely by “misinformed” and “intolerant.” Funny, all these words have been regularly used to describe the religious right.