[Dialogue] Spong Part 4

[KroegerD@aol.com]

An Analysis of the Rise of Evangelical Religion, Part IV
If religious fervor is a response to human insecurity as I have argued, and 
if it covers prejudices with God talk and piety, then what are the specific 
internal issues that have led to its increased power in recent American history? 
This is my topic in the final essay in this series.
A quick survey of American history will reveal a periodic increase in 
conservative religious passion that seems to correlate dramatically with times of 
national upheaval. In the 50's and 60's, the major religious voices in the public 
arena were those of the religious left. That was the time when clergy marched 
in the streets of the South for civil rights, and churches throughout the 
nation offered draft counseling, and worked to end the war in Vietnam. In that 
period of our history, the Southern 'secular' press regularly attacked the 
National Council of Churches as a Communist front organization.
When Vietnam finally faded off the world stage the religious left, having 
been driven beyond its normal limits by its non-religious allies faded, 
disappearing into being a tiny segment of a new secular society. Its demise, and in 
some parts of this land the actual denigration of such stellar liberal religious 
leaders of that period as the Berrigan brothers, John Elbridge Hines, James 
Armstrong, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Pike and Eugene Carson Blake opened 
the door to a long-suppressed conservative evangelical form of religion, that 
was native to southern and rural America. Its repressed anger finally was 
transformed into political action. Indeed in every denomination of American 
religious life a backlash arose to the liberal stances their churches took during the 
50's, 60's and early 70's.
This anger had first been noticed with the Supreme Court's unanimous 1954 
decision ending segregation, which struck at the heart of the racial 
accommodation the white South had worked out following the Civil War. To enforce the 
court's ruling, federal troops once more invaded the South, re-igniting memories of 
reconstruction. The whole Southern way of life was about to be overturned. 
When that was combined with this Court's ruling against prayer and Bible reading 
in public schools, this religious system that had undergirded and blessed 
segregation was radically shaken and insecurity rose to epidemic proportions.
Next, the Supreme Court broadened the revolution by establishing a woman's 
right to choose an abortion, guaranteeing that this practice would be both safe 
and legal, thereby saving many women's lives. Conservative Catholics now 
joined the battle greatly expanding the coalition. Both groups saw abortion as an 
invitation to a culturally encouraged immorality. Now sexual activity no longer 
carried with it any serious consequences. The rampant sexual freedom of the 
turbulent sixties was thus legitimized. The traditional double standard 
disappeared and women were free to do the things that men had always taken for 
granted. The biblical injunctions for women to obey their husbands, keep quiet in 
public and never to have authority over a man were specifically being 
challenged. Not just was the Bible under attack but the authority of the Pope as well. 
It appeared that God was in danger of being expunged from national life. When 
one's religious security system is shaken, anxiety knows no bounds.
Because both evangelical Protestantism and conservative Catholicism tend to 
be the faith systems of the lower socio-economic segments of the nation unused 
to exercising real power, their first response was to turn inward. Among 
Protestants the tendency was to lean on the authority of the preacher or the 
scriptures, while conservative Catholics simply invoked the authority of Mother 
Church to quell their fears. Insecurity, however, does not stop at the edges of 
one's religious ghetto. Challenging new truths and insights continued to 
heighten the fears of the entire nation, moving insecurity into ever-widening circles.
First, there was the massive migration of black people from the South into 
the heart of America's cities. Black tenant families were being replaced by 
sophisticated farm machinery, and the resulting unemployment among these poorly 
educated people caused them to trek northward. Finding lodging first with 
relatives, this influx of unskilled labor began to place great pressures on the 
social fabric of our cities. The result was an explosion of race-tinged urban 
riots that served to spread the feeling of insecurity across the nation. In 
response George Wallace took his campaign for the presidency north and west, 
discovering surprising pockets of support.
Next, negativity toward this nation's involvement in Vietnam broke out in 
massive demonstrations with a decidedly anti-American tone to them. Flags and 
draft cards were burned, generations were set against each other and young people 
acted out their rebellion in every way imaginable. The core values of this 
nation seemed to be under fierce and constant assault.
If that were not enough, for the first time in our national history the 
sitting, elected incumbent was forced out of the presidency. 'Watergate,' the 
scandal was called, meant that President Nixon, who had vowed to stop the war in 
Vietnam and to uphold law and order at home, had himself been guilty of illegal 
activities that ultimately required a presidential pardon.
It was the final straw, causing people everywhere to yearn for the security 
and values of yesterday. Embodying those values was a born-again, Sunday school 
teaching Baptist from Georgia, named Jimmy Carter who won the White House in 
1976. He was, however, despite his brilliance and genuine religious piety, 
more concerned with such causes as human rights than he was about restoring 
prayer to public schools and rolling back legalized abortion. His goodness also did 
not transfer itself into security-giving strength. He looked both weak abroad 
and soft on core values at home. The evangelical South, sensing a growing 
attraction to its message across the nation, organized groups like the Moral 
Majority. Catholic bishops began a relentless political campaign against abortion, 
forming heretofore unheard of alliances with evangelical Protestants. In 
combination with old line Republican Conservatives, a coalition was formed that 
swept Ronald Reagan, claiming the status of a born-again Christian, into power 
in 1980. He repaid his indebtedness to his religious supporters by gutting the 
civil rights commission and by appointing Ed Meese to be attorney general, 
with instructions not to press issues anathema to Southern voters. He also tapped 
a born again Christian for his cabinet, making James Watt Secretary of the 
Interior. The marginalized Southern whites had entered the citadels of power.
However, Reagan pressed his own agenda of lower taxes, stronger defense and 
the deregulating of business restrictions rather than the value issues of the 
evangelical vote. Indeed he treated them as an adjunct to his real base of old 
line conservative Republicans. One of his Supreme Court appointees, Sandra Day 
O'Connor even turned out to be pro-abortion. Public school prayer was not 
reestablished. So when Reagan's eight years were over, the Religious Right 
fielded its own candidate, Pat Robertson, who made a serious run at the White House. 
America was not ready, however, to turn over its power to a preacher who 
spoke in tongues so George H. W. Bush was elected, promising a 'kinder ands 
gentler' form of Reaganism. It seemed that the evangelical fervor had been contained 
and perhaps has even crested.
The 90's brought expanding wealth as the tensions of the recent past 
subsided. One new thrust, however, was the rising demand for acceptance of 
homosexuals. This issue galvanized evangelicals as nothing else had ever done, causing 
the religious right to search for an electable candidate, who shared their 
values. In 1994, George W. Bush, whose life had been redirected in part by Billy 
Graham, was chosen to be Governor of Texas. Their star had been born.
As gay demands grew more strident, the religious right also grew in 
opposition. Then they were supplied with a new passion when President Bill Clinton's 
womanizing behavior handed them the issue they would ride into power. Clinton 
survived the impeachment charges against him, but his Vice President Al Gore 
paid the price of the public's disaffection. In the election of 2000 he lost even 
his home state of Tennessee in the now solid Republican South. George W. 
Bush, who saw evangelicals as his primary base, came into power. In recognition of 
their support, he appointed John Ashcroft Attorney General, watching 
approvingly as Bible study opened each day in America's top legal office. He stopped 
aid to clinics around the world if they did abortion counseling. He spoke the 
code words of evangelicalism, using phrases like "no child left behind," which 
comes from the language of "the rapture," and "a culture of life," a Roman 
Catholic slogan. However, for this mentality to stay in power fear, on which 
conservative religion is always built, has to be constant. The terrorist attack 
supplied that element from the outside. The Vermont and Massachusetts High 
Courts, by placing homosexual marriage squarely into the public arena, supplied it 
from the inside. Bush rode this fear to reelection in 2004. He now has a 
mandate to move America back toward yesterday's moral and religious values.
Following the election many people were shocked by the realization of just 
how much of the machinery of our nation's government is now controlled by 
religion. A newly elected Republican Senator from Oklahoma proposed making abortion 
a capital crime. Depressed non-evangelical citizens began to form a determined 
opposition. Tensions became harsh between the blue and red states. The 
religious right, enthralled with its new power, began a post-election push toward a 
full takeover by announcing that moderate Republicans, who did not share their 
values, were to be purged. Senator Arlin Specter felt the first sting of 
their lash. Others will meet a similar fate. The battle for the future of America 
is on. It should be an interesting four years. My bet is evangelism will lose, 
and when it does, America will win. Only time will tell.
– John Shelby Spong

Dick Kroeger