Religious identity politics is a more recent development, but one which is growing rapidly thanks to a ruthless juggernaut called Christian Reconstruction (another link here — and here is a statement of some of the core beliefs of the Committee on Reconstruction).
Getting unbiased information is problematic, because Christian Reconstructionists believe in obtaining power through stealth, and conservatives are loathe to criticize those who help them. Especially fellow travelers. This brings up a central point: the similarity of Christian Reconstructionists to Communists. I have been around Communists and worked with them, and it amazes me how similar they are in their methods:
While there appears to be somewhat of a genuine theological split between Christian Reconstructionists and other fundamentalist sects, the stealth nature of the Christian Reconstructionists tends to obscure its nature. (All the more reason to promote not only the First Amendment, but the reasoning behind it.)
But stealth and hidden agendas are what give these minorities the power to dominate majorities. Through stealth, minorities on the left and the right are able to dominate most of the American political process. Americans do not especially like identity politics, because it is profoundly un-American. But when the fanatic identity politicians are able to grab control of each major party, they can then pose as representing the entire country by pointing to each other as "alternatives" — to the exclusion of the majority.
A lot of people have been talking about third parties. Arnold Schwarzenegger might as well have been a third party. In a normal election, the Republican minority activist consensus would have guaranteed a primary victory for McClintock (whose campaign, not coincidentally, was run by a Christian Reconstructionist) — and, ultimately, another Democratic victory, not because the voters love the Democrats, but because the Democrats' version of rule by multiple identity politics groups is less threatening than the Republicans' "Party of God."
Article comments
1 - debbie
Very thought provoking piece.
I have listened to Dr. James Dobson, he comes up on our local Christian radio station, I have never heard him say that homosexual should be imprisoned. I don't know the other two that you mentioned.
I would have to agree that there are fanatics in any organization, people that believe that they have the insight and thus this gives them permission to ride roughshod over everybody else to get them to see "what is right". There are people in the Green party, Libertarian party, in you local groups, etc. That is the nature of things. There is always a bell curve, and there will always be extremists at both sides of an issue.
2 - Eric Olsen
pretty amazing Eric, very important. I think you are doing the very best thing you can do in shining a light onto these processes. Thanks!