November 29, 1998

Political Religiosity Is Alive And Well On Right And Left

Despite efforts of centrist Americans to keep religion out of politics -- or, is it politics out of religion? -- the mixture persists.

Liberals have been quick to assert the “religious right” suffered a setback in this month’s elections because Republicans lost five seats in the House of Representatives and held even in the Senate.

Conventional wisdom going in was that the Grand Old Party would strengthen its political majorities -- as the party opposing a sitting president generally has.

Postmortem of the elections makes it clear that Democrats made a slight gain in the House because they did a better job of getting their core constituencies to the polls. This was critical because the 36 percent turnout of eligible voters was the poorest in 56 years.

Interestingly, the so-called “gender gap” favoring Democrats closed slightly as women expressed displeasure with President Clinton’s infidelity.

The number of voters describing themselves as “religious conservatives” for Republicans remained the same. Nevertheless, a case can be made that this group should have made a better showing -- as African-Americans and Hispanics did for Democrats.

James Dobson, chairman of the Focus On Family Committee, with great influence on evangelical Christians, expresses deep concern about an apparent dumbing down of morals.

“My greatest reason for being depressed is that the country has lurched to the left,” he says. “People don’t seem to care. There has been a radical change in the moral tone.”

Bill Kristol, who helped Rep. Newt Gingrich forge the huge GOP win in 1994, and now publishes the conservative Weekly Standard, is worried about the future of morality in politics.

“Every Puritan or neo-Puritan in modern history was preceded by an Edwardian (libertarian) moment,” states Kristol. “Is Clinton the wave of the future, or is he the last gasp of the 1960’s culture?”

Prof. Robert F. Fogel, University of Chicago, two years ago foresaw the recent conflict between politics and religion. Fundamentalists who previously split their votes evenly between the two major parties, moved decisively Republican during the Reagan years.

“One cannot understand current political and ethical trends without understanding the role of religiosity in American history and the social, economic and political reform movements they have spawned,” said Fogel.

“Such cycles last about 100 years and have consisted of three phases, each about a generation long.

“A cycle begins with a phase of religious revival that historians call a “Great Awakening.” It intensifies beliefs and ushers in new or reinvigorated ethics and theological principles.

“This is followed by a phase in which the new ethics precipitate powerful political programs and movements.

“The cycle ends when the ascendancy of ethics and politics of the religious awakening come under increasing challenge, and the political coalition prompted by the awakening goes into decline,” Fogel noted.

It is not a coincidence that Gov. Lawton Chiles, Gov. Elect Jeb Bush and a host of other political and religious leaders chose this Thanksgiving holiday to endorse an “Awakening 2000” program. The organizer is Jim Towney, a former top state official. He proclaims, “We can build a better Florida one heart and soul at a time by focusing on our spiritual resources.” The project will sponsor a ”Summit of Faith” next fall.

Rabbi Solomon Schiff, director of chaplaincy at the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, signed on because “the moral fiber of American society has been devastated.”

Gary Bauer, head of the Family Research Council at Washington, D.C., and a probable presidential candidate, decries a seeming acceptance of immoral and criminal acts by and for the president.

“Richard Nixon was widely and rightly condemned for covering up crimes committed by others,” Bauer declares. “Yet, many today seem willing to give a free pass to the perpetrator himself.”

It is strange that the “religious right” is castigated by White House spin-meisters and herd-media types while no one mentions the religious left. Their mantra is that conservative religionists “want to impose their beliefs on the rest of us.”

Completely ignored are the socialist beliefs assiduously promoted by the World Council of Churches, the Interfaith Alliance, Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition, Minister Louis Farrakan’s Nation of Islam, and Bishop L.E. Willis’ Third Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ.

Many African-American churches turn over their pulpits exclusively to Democratic politicians during election campaigns. Persnickety “main line” white churches keep their pulpits pure but welcome prominent political visitors to front pews and exhort social issues.

The U.S. Constitution stipulates only that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” In other words -- no official, national religion such as in Israel and Iran; but lots of free speech, including politics.

There is nothing wrong with church involvement in politics. Indeed, it is to be desired in a representative republic. To be condemned is the hypocrisy of left-wing churches and their political allies demonizing right-wing churches preaching morality.

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers