04 January 2009

Beware The Religious Right Boogeyman

It's the bedtime story liberals use to frighten their fortunate-to-be-born. The terrifying tale told to temper their tendency toward independent thought. "Beware, my children," they say in the dark of night. "Beware, beware, the Religious Right. They'll force you to birth your babies. They'll tell you there's such a thing as right and wrong. They'll talk, talk, talk about God. Beware their numbers, for they are legion."

Admit it, scary stuff, eh? The problem is that there is no such thing as the "Religious Right." Yes, there are religious voters. Yes, there are right-wing voters. But an organized Religious Right? It's a figment. A modern day boogeyman created to do what all boogeymen are created to do: Frighten, form and fixate all those who believe.

I'm not the first to make this observation. In her bestselling book, Slander, Anne Coulter explains:

Like all propagandists, liberals create mythical enemies to justify their own viciousness and advance their agenda. There is no bogeyman that strikes greater terror in the left than the apocryphal “religious right.” The phrase is a meaningless concept, an inverted construct of the left’s own Marquis de Sade lifestyle. It functions as a talismanic utterance to rally the faithful against anyone who disagrees with the well-organized conspiratorial left.
OK, so she spells "boogeyman" differently than I do, but lose the Marquis de Sade hyperbole and she has rightly identified liberals' foremost windmill to joust . . . wait, I'm mixing hyperboles. Regardless, rest assured that when the Left needs a foil to further their faith they will resurrect the fictitious Religious Right.

Take, for example, the recent passage of California's Prop 8 that banned same sex marriage in the state. After the measure won the cry went out that the Religious Right had launched a campaign of distortion to undermine the vote. As reported in New America Media, "The Christian right out-organized the No on 8 Campaign."

The Christian right in California made a strategic shift in sharpening its “family values” focus on sexuality and marriage. This shift is likely to be effective for the long term political objectives of the right, which include an assault on the legal protections against discrimination for LGBT people. The broader agenda that the Christian right will continue to pursue will promote Christian nationalism, an ideology that seeks to use laws and regulations to promote fundamentalist Christian values on the nation. This is an agenda that seeks to eliminate the constitutional wall separating church and state.
Ooooh, that's scary.

A CBS editorial then reported that it was the "Christian-right apparatus, long hampered by nativism and racism" who were able to muster the troops and push the proposition through. Sounds convincing. Those fundamentalists (ever the description of "The Religious Right") used their enormous political machine and won the day . . . but wait, wait a minute, who actually voted for Prop 8? Was it all those white, evangelical snake charming followers of Pat Robertson (a supposed "Religious Right" leader who actually endorsed gay-rights & pro-choice Republican candidate, Rudi Guiliani)? I mean, California is more blue than Kato Kaelin on labor day. Obama crushed McCain with 62% of the vote, yet Prop 8 passed -- and it did so on the back of Obama supporters. 70% of African Americans voted yes on Prop 8, 52% of Latinos gave it the nod as did a majority of older voters, all groups that voted mostly Democrat elsewhere on the ballot. So as far as the actual vote, it wasn't the Religious Right after all.

Of course, facts don't really matter to the Left. They simply prop up their boogeyman like El Cid and claim that the nearly omnipotent Religious Right were so well organized in California that they used the old Judaeo mind trick to fool the masses (though oddly, only on this particular issue if you buy what the left is peddling). And their scary story might make sense if California were the only State where it happened. But gay marriage tends to be defeated when put to vote, even in my home state of Michigan where the Religious Right is less organized than a stoner during exam week. Need proof? The Great Lake State voted Blue for Gore, Kerry and Obama, has elected two Senators with a "D", and voted for a left-wing Governor so many times that only term limits will save us from the economic disaster she has wrought.

But gay marriage isn't the only issue where the Left eerily tells tales of the spooky Religious Right. They claim these evangelical fundamentalists are behind the anti-abortion movement, despite the fact that the Catholic Church is the loudest religious voice in that din. Liberals attempt to petrify you that the Religious Right wants to ban the teaching of evolution in schools, even claiming that this was Sarah Palin's closet skeleton, despite the fact that she proposed the teaching of evolution along with creationism, saying "Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both." It's a perspective 81% of Americans agree with . . . but again, the facts just don't matter. To the Left, it's this mythical Religious Right. And naturally, according to Liberal storytellers, it is the nefarious Religious Right who is behind prayer in public schools, despite the fact that, again, a magical 81% of all Americans endorse the idea. You see, it doesn't matter if most Americans support it, if non-evangelicals support it, if traditional Democrat voting blocks support it . . . if the liberal elite is against it they will invent a villain, and their favorite fabricated foe is the Religious Right.

I have to confess what I truly love about all of their campfire antics is that the left tends to ignore the role churches play in democratic politics. Can you imagine if Dick Cheny had given his first speech as a vice presidential nominee from the pulpit of a Methodist church like John Edwards did? And how about the fact that for the first time in history officials at the Library of Congress are soliciting churches for copies of sermons that focus on a presidential inauguration --namely, the Jan. 20 inauguration of Barack Obama? If only the Religious Right had more pull, maybe there'd be a collection of Sermons like that for Dubya. Ah, but facts don't matter.

Beware, beware the Religious Right.

11 comments :

  1. DB said...

    Oh I wish this were true, but since Anne "the Perfected Jew" Coulter, savior of the right, all that is holy, said it, it must be!

    The problem with this argument is that it is a presuppositional argument. She is framing the debate from her point of view with her goals in mind. It is like managing expectations. If she downplays the strengths of her team, then she is best able to exceed expectations. Convince your followers to argue the "myth of the religious right", you downplay the strengths. This is how she argues everything and why she seems so rational to those who read her books.

    Though you do have a convincing argument with Prop H8, and I can offer a better one with the recent failings of anti-abortion measures in strongholds like South Dakota. But I can't be fooled for a second into thinking that the religious right is a myth. Their power is fading, and it is fading fast, so perhaps this argument is merely pointing out the obvious more than playing the "left-wing conspiracy" card.

    Oh, and just because 81% of people want something doesn't make it right. What is popular isn't always right, and what is right, isn't always popular. Just remember, most of the world's population at one time was more comfortable with a flat Earth theory, or more recently, the geocentric view of the Universe. Plus I highly doubt 81% of the population knows enough about the debate to truly hold such a defining opinion. Once people on the right understand what a bs pseudoscience Intelligent Design is, they stop supporting it. But when you frame the argument as "teach the controversy", people magically jump in line because it sounds like a nice compromise.

  2. NEO, SOC said...

    Excellent post!

    DB, "Flat Earth?" People had this assumption for eons because the the goal of those in power was to keep the masses ignorant. But there is a big difference between "Flat Earth" and "Thou shall not kill".

    Romans 2:15, talk about the fact that God has placed the concept of right and wrong on the hearts of every individual. So, even if you were not exposed to the Ten Commandments and the Hebrew Bible, or even the current Christian Bible, you would still be instilled with a subconscious version of the Ten Commandments.

    Mixed in that would be the reality that marriages/unions should be one man and one woman; the reality that murdering children for convenience is wrong; cheating on your spouse is wrong.

    This is what the LEFT wants to kill. They want to kill the last bit of conscience that maintains some level order before chaos takes over. The new atheism is not the re-emphasis that there is no God. They new atheism seeks to prove Christianity as a dangerous religious sect and it must be stamped out. Check out the big proponents of atheism and see how they are attacking the Christian faith.

    In the Cincinatti Ohio region, a museum was built that shows the origin of life from the Christian perspective and the outcry was unbelievable. You would thing that they were lynching homosexuals, lighting them up like Roman Candles to hung in front. You'd think they were cannibalizing their young on open tv.

    My questions to those who are so angry with Christians and the religious right: If you are so sure your view is the correct view, why are you so threatened? Why can you not allow another view to be presented?

  3. DB said...

    I'm sorry, the left wants to kill? You are drinking the juice man. I can hardly take your response seriously if you are going to start out with that. No one wants to kill. A

    And what does your response have to do with the post claim that the religious right does not exist? You ask "If you are so sure your view is the correct view, why are you so threatened? Why can you not allow another view to be presented?" You do realize that goes both ways, right?

    I can make the same arguments about the existence of "new atheism" that the post can make about the existence of the religious right. But this post isn't about atheism and how Christians are being persecuted. This is about the strength (or lack thereof) of the religious right in American politics today.

  4. Khaki Elephant said...

    DB, if the "religious right" exists, who are they?

    I would suggest that your argument is the one based on presupposition (because I'm rubber and you're glue). Once you presuppose the existence of the religious right, you can invent ways to see their wicked hands in everything that is even remotely tied to religion. Why, they're the illuminati with a cross.

    You see, I didn't point out that 81% of Americans support prayer in public schools or teaching creationism because it's right (though the latter is imho) I point it out to demonstrate that these are not issues pushed by some radical fringe group that liberals like to refer to as the religious right. Rather, it is the desire of an overwhelming majority of Americans, so stop trying to create a villian to blame.

    When you look at gay rights, abortion and the separation of church and state (all issues that liberals can't discuss without castigating the mythical religious right)you will find that the strongest political blocks are not evangelicals.

    So then who is the religious right? Well, I guess it's James Dobson and anybody who goes to church and votes republican. Oh, and if you don't go to church and vote republican you're either rich or part of an anti-government psycho militia.

    There, all the liberal boogeymen are in place. Run for the hills!

  5. Khaki Elephant said...

    Kate, thanks for stopping by and reading! And feel free to join in the discussion any time.

  6. Khaki Elephant said...

    This is what the LEFT wants to kill. They want to kill the last bit of conscience that maintains some level order before chaos takes over

    Neo, I agree (so there, DB). The philosophical underpinnings of pure liberalism are dependency and relativism. Both are dangerous if not countered.

  7. DB said...

    Fair enough. Then I offer the same argument that far-right claims of "new atheists" and the "secular-left" are merely Christian conservative's invoking their own boogeymen to instill fear in their own supporters. Now the far-right (not religious, of course) is also able to invent ways to explain their own ineptitude in politics by chastizing evil atheists and secularists who are out to destroy all that is Christian and turn this nation into a secular one. But using your argument, this is nothing more than fear as those left-wing groups do not exist either. Like Neo's argument, this one works both ways as well.

    Now I am going to go kill something because I guess that's what I do. I love war and death.

  8. Z said...

    NEO SOC, what great arguments..good comment.

    Khaki, great GREAT post, thanks for this because it's SO important.

    Every time I hear, for example, that big chain stores are saying HAPPY HOLIDAY or calling the trees HOLIDAY TREES, I wonder why the heck they're willing to tick off 80% of their buyers who claim to believe in God and probably celebrate Christmas..or MOST do, anyway. What's with that? bizarre.

    I'm blogrolling you........

    And Happy New Year~!

  9. Khaki Elephant said...

    DB, while every poll I've ever seen puts 70%-80% of athiests in the liberal camp (probably because they've bought into the whole religious right bunk)I'll grant you your argument. There are times when secularist are blamed without reason. I admit that, while I'm a Christian, I oppose prayer in public schools for a number of reason.

    So have fun killing (I always suspected that "DB" stood for Diabolical Bastard").

    Z, thanks for the word. And i'll return the favor by adding you to mine.

  10. Me, Myself, And I said...

    There are lots of boogeymen out there these days.
    Several in Obamas camp alone.

  11. WomanHonorThyself said...

    love the post my friend...the propaganda machine is soooooooo out of control!