Dumpster Bust Keeping It Real Politik: Religion, Religiosity, & the New Culture Wars
Published December 21, 2004
Exit polling from the last two presidential elections tell us that the Blue State / Red State split, the liberal / conservative split, the men / women split, and a few other splits all pale in comparison to the religious split. And no, the United States isn't about to implode along Protestant-Catholic or Christian-Islamic lines or anything like that.
But the fact is that one of the most important trends in politics is that those who regularly attend church or a house of worship prefer the Republican Party by a wide margin while those who don't attend regularly prefer the Democrats by a similarly wide margin.
Why is this so? There are many reasons, but the fact is that this religious divide may define American political and cultural life for some time to come.
Just check the front lines... at cable news, anyway. The folks at Fox and Pat Buchanan over at Scarborough Country seem to be using the Season of Good Cheer as a political weapon of sorts against the ungodly masses. To wit:
"Last week on Scarborough Country, there was Pat Buchanan's distinctly testy-sounding 'Merry Christmas' in answer to a guest from the American Atheists association who wished him a happy 'winter solstice.'"
Meanwhile, the President of all of the religions of the United States wants us to "remember the humble birth of our savior." This was uttered during a Christmas in Washington variety special.
In this new environment and with a conservative across-the-board government, the religious right is looking to get theirs. Example: Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas will push to "oppose Supreme Court nominees friendly to abortion rights."
So where does this leave us? I'm not entirely sure. But look for religion and religiosity to be a key wedge issue in national politics for some time to come.
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Eric Berlin is the Executive Producer of Blogcritics.org and publisher of Online Media Cultist. He's also prone to referring to himself in the third person in author bios in an attempt to make it look like someone Less Important wrote it for him.
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- Dumpster Bust Keeping It Real Politik: Religion, Religiosity, & the New Culture Wars
- Published: December 21, 2004
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- Section: Politics
- Writer: Eric Berlin
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Eric - You seem to imply that some great backlash is forthcoming. What evidence do you see of that?
I see religion as playing a greater role in public life today and for the foreseeable than at any time in my (relatively short) lifetime.
This manifests itself in political strategy: who possesses the most Family Values, the most Faith. And it will also play a large role in public policy during the next four years (or 48.5 months, as I like to say): abortion rights, court appointments, same-sex partner rights, faith-based initiatives and on and on.
I see a weakening of church and state, which I'm very concerned about.
Today's Quiz:
Christian Fundamentalists...
Islamic Fundamentalists...
What do they have in common?
=======
Bonus (Rhetorical) Question:
*Can humankind survive on this planet as long as they dominate?
*hint: the answer is "No."
Have a nice day!
All a matter of perspective: look at all the complaints right here about the secularization of Christmas and the fact that even saying "Merry Christmas" is questionable in the public arena. And the current debate, raised by a relatively small minority of maybe 20% is focusing the attention of the other 80% on the matter and galvanizing opinion.
I think that opinion can and will galvanize all it wants. However, political strategists, pundits, and policy makers will continue to use the Religion Card and, at times, push a religious agenda until election results tell them different (or tell them that they've been retired).
This debate is also a manifestation of the erosion of the Great Middle in American politics. Karl Rove smartly picked up on this political polarization and used it to slightly widen Bush's margin of victory by going after regular church attendees.
So what I'm saying is that I see a continuation of this trend. Will there come a point where people say enough-is-enough and we'll see some kind of normalization? I really hope so.
What I want to know is, where are all the left-leaning Christians? Why are they not challenging the 'God is a Republican' meme? Why aren't more people questioning the 'prosperity gospel' and Millenial Dispensationalist heresies?
I don't understand how anyone can read the New Testament and come to the conclusion that Jesus Christ was a conservative.
Since I'm Jewish, I'm probably the wrong person to ask that question of, Tim! But as I stated, across all denominations, regular house-of-worship attenders have preferred the GOP in increasing numbers. So this is by no means a Christian-only phenomenon. Indeed, many Jews, including outspoken liberal actor Ron Silver, supported Bush this time around based on security concerns (I could counter-argue that one, but I won't here) and the staunch support of the Bush Administration for Israel.
Given the Exited States is becoming known as a theocracy, high-lighted by a "I'm with stupid" t-shirt instead of the burka or a turban, all of this quibbling over the proper way to observe a pagan feast is just further evidence that you really need to pay attention to real problems.
Jim - I'm afraid I don't know quite what you mean. Can you elaborate please?
Don't feel bad,Jim don't either.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/23493)
good points Eric, thanks, but I see all of this attention on the place of religion in Amerian society and politics as ending up strengthening the boundry between church and state, which is a basic founding principle of our nation and an issue that needs to be seen as separate from religiosity