Features » May 16, 2006

Saving Secular Society

By Michelle Goldberg

A parishioner sings a song of worship in the 7,000-seat Willow creek community church during a Sunday service in South Barrington, Ill.

Whenever I talk about the growing power of the evangelical right with friends, they always ask the same question: What can we do? Usually I reply with a joke: Keep a bag packed and your passport current. I don’t really mean it, but my anxiety is genuine. It’s one thing to have a government that shows contempt for civil liberties; America has survived such men before. It’s quite another to have a mass movement—the largest and most powerful mass movement in the nation—rise up in opposition to the rights of its fellow citizens. The Constitution protects minorities, but that protection is not absolute; with a sufficiently sympathetic or apathetic majority, a tightly organized faction can get around it.

The mass movement I’ve described aims to supplant Enlightenment rationalism with what it calls the “Christian worldview.” The phrase is based on the conviction that true Christianity must govern every aspect of public and private life, and that all—government, science, history and culture—must be understood according to the dictates of scripture. There are biblically correct positions on every issue, from gay marriage to income tax rates, and only those with the right worldview can discern them. This is Christianity as a total ideology—I call it Christian nationalism. It’s an ideology adhered to by millions of Americans, some of whom are very powerful. It’s what drives a great many of the fights over religion, science, sex and pluralism now dividing communities all over the country.

I am not suggesting that religious tyranny is imminent in the United States. Our democracy is eroding and some of our rights are disappearing, but for most people, including those most opposed to the Christian nationalist agenda, life will most likely go on pretty much as normal for the foreseeable future. Thus for those who value secular society, apprehending the threat of Christian nationalism is tricky. It’s like being a lobster in a pot, with the water heating up so slowly that you don’t notice the moment at which it starts to kill you.

If current trends continue, we will see ever-increasing division and acrimony in our politics. That’s partly because, as Christian nationalism spreads, secularism is spreading as well, while moderate Christianity is in decline. According to the City University of New York Graduate Center’s comprehensive American religious identification survey, the percentage of Americans who identify as Christians has actually fallen in recent years, from 86 percent in 1990 to 77 percent in 2001. The survey found that the largest growth, in both absolute and percentage terms, was among those who don’t subscribe to any religion. Their numbers more than doubled, from 14.3 million in 1990,when they constituted 8 percent of the population, to 29.4 million in 2001,when they made up 14 percent. “The top three ‘gainers’ in America’s vast religious marketplace appear to be Evangelical Christians, those describing themselves as Non-Denominational Christians and those who profess no religion,” the survey found. (The percentage of other religious minorities remained small, totaling less than 4 percent of the population).

This is a recipe for polarization. As Christian nationalism becomes more militant, secularists and religious minorities will mobilize in opposition, ratcheting up the hostility. Thus we’re likely to see a shrinking middle ground, with both camps increasingly viewing each other across a chasm of mutual incomprehension and contempt.

In the coming years, we will probably see the curtailment of the civil rights that gay people, women and religious minorities have won in the last few decades. With two Bush appointees on the Supreme Court, abortion rights will be narrowed; if the president gets a third, it could mean the end of Roe v. Wade. Expect increasing drives to ban gay people from being adoptive or foster parents, as well as attempts to fire gay schoolteachers. Evangelical leaders are encouraging their flocks to be alert to signs of homosexuality in their kids, which will lead to a growing number of gay teenagers forced into “reparative therapy” designed to turn them straight. (Focus on the Family urges parents to consider seeking help for boys as young as five if they show a “tendency to cry easily, be less athletic, and dislike the roughhousing that other boys enjoy.”)

Christian nationalist symbolism and ideology will increasingly pervade public life. In addition to the war on evolution, there will be campaigns to teach Christian nationalist history in public schools. An elective course developed by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, a right-wing evangelical group, is already being offered by more than 300 school districts in 36 states. The influence of Christian nationalism in public schools, colleges, courts, social services and doctors’ offices will deform American life, rendering it ever more pinched, mean, and divided.

There’s still a long way, though, between this damaged version of democracy and real theocracy. Tremendous crises would have to shred what’s left of the American consensus before religious fascism becomes a possibility. That means that secularists and liberals shouldn’t get hysterical, but they also shouldn’t be complacent.

Christian nationalism is still constrained by the Constitution, the courts, and by a passionate democratic (and occasionally Democratic) opposition. It’s also limited by capitalism. Many corporations are happy to see their political allies harness the rage and passion of the Christian right’s foot soldiers, but the culture industry is averse to government censorship. Nor is homophobia good for business, since many companies need to both recruit qualified gay employees and market to gay customers. Biotech firms are not going to want to hire graduates without a thorough understanding of evolution, so economic pressure will militate against creationism’s invading a critical mass of the public schools.

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It would take a national disaster, or several of them, for all these bulwarks to crumble and for Christian nationalists to truly “take the land,” as Michael Farris, president of the evangelical Patrick Henry College, put it. Historically, totalitarian movements have been able to seize state power only when existing authorities prove unable to deal with catastrophic challenges—economic meltdown, security failures, military defeat—and people lose their faith in the legitimacy of the system.

Such calamities are certainly conceivable in America—Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath offered a terrifying glimpse of how quickly order can collapse. If terrorists successfully strike again, we’d probably see significant curtailment of liberal dissenters’ free speech rights, coupled with mounting right-wing belligerence, both religious and secular.

The breakdown in the system could also be subtler. Many experts have warned that America’s debt is unsustainable and that economic crisis could be on the horizon. If there is a hard landing—due to an oil shock, a burst housing bubble, a sharp decline in the value of the dollar, or some other crisis—interest rates would shoot up, leaving many people unable to pay their floating-rate mortgages and credit card bills. Repossessions and bankruptcies would follow. The resulting anger could fuel radical populist movements of either the left or the right—more likely the right, since it has a far stronger ideological infrastructure in place in most of America.

Military disaster may also exacerbate such disaffection. America’s war in Iraq seems nearly certain to come to an ignominious end. The real victims of failure there will be Iraqi, but many Americans will feel embittered, humiliated and sympathetic to the stab-in-the-back rhetoric peddled by the right to explain how Bush’s venture has gone so horribly wrong. It was the defeat in World War I, after all, that created the conditions for fascism to grow in Germany.

Perhaps America will be lucky, however, and muddle through its looming problems. In that case, Christian nationalism will continue to be a powerful and growing influence in American politics, although its expansion will happen more fitfully and gradually.

The country’s demographics are on the movement’s side. Megachurch culture is spreading. The exurbs where religious conservatism thrives are the fastest growing parts of America; in 2004, 97 of the country’s 100 fastest-growing counties voted Republican. The disconnection of the exurbs is a large part of what makes the spread of Christian nationalism’s fictitious reality possible, because there is very little to conflict with it.

A movement that constitutes its members’ entire social world has a grip that’s hard to break. In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt put it this way: “Social atomization and extreme individualization preceded the mass movements which, much more easily and earlier than they did the sociable, non-individualistic members of the traditional parties, attracted the completely unorganized, the typical ‘nonjoiners’ who for individualistic reasons always had refused to recognize social links or obligations.”

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Those who want to fight Christian nationalism will need a long-term and multifaceted strategy. I see it as having three parts—electoral reform to give urban areas fair representation in the federal government, grassroots organizing to help people fight Christian nationalism on the ground and a media campaign to raise public awareness about the movement’s real agenda.

My ideas are not about reconciliation or healing. It would be good if a leader stepped forward who could recognize the grievances of both sides, broker some sort of truce, and mend America’s ragged divides. The anxieties that underlay Christian nationalism’s appeal—fears about social breakdown, marital instability and cultural decline—are real. They should be acknowledged and, whenever possible, addressed. But as long as the movement aims at the destruction of secular society and the political enforcement of its theology, it has to be battled, not comforted and appeased.

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• Reader Comments

  In this article it is mentioned that combined a few red states have 7 more electoral votes than Massachusetts and New York.  It goes on to state that these red states have an “unfair” advantage because Mass & NY have a bigger combined population.  Do these population counts include non-citizens, i.e. immigrants?  The last time I checked, the electoral college must represent citizens, not just gross number of people in some area.

  I don’t see how the electoral college can really be argued against, it is a pretty simple formula.  If you have more citizens, you get more votes.  Where is the harm in that.  Oh, NOW I remember!  The Democrats are also the party that adamantly oppose voter IDs for registration, thus making it harder for non-citizens (dare I say illegal immigrants) to vote.  This is the “victim” class Dem policies mostly appeal to, hence your “base.”  I understand it would be nice for Dems for them to have disproportionate weight in our electorate, but keep dreaming.

  As for the Senate, it was debated EXTENSIVELY at our founding as to the makeup of the legislature (New Jersey & Virginia Plans).  The only plan that guarenteed that the smaller states would not be consistently roled by the larger ones and their interests and simultaneously guarentee that larger states would have their say was the construction of the bicameral legislature.  This is something that should never be screwed with, it is undoubtedly a wise and fair system.

  In conclusion, just because you “better than everyone else” urbanites haven’t gotten your way in the last 15 or so years doesn’t mean its time to knock all the pieces off the board and go home.  Here on the other side, we were patient with the absolute failed welfare state for 50+ years before we finally had our chance to change policy.  We didn’t want to remake representation.  Now it is your turn.  I did not say I agree with the nuttiest of the right, as they are pretty nuts.  But I think our democratic apparatus is sufficient to buffer against truly extreme views from becoming completely dominant.

  Recently Newt Gingrich proposed an interesting concept, open “townhall” style debates throughout the country, venues large and small where both parties would come together for open (unmoderated) debate.  No media asking questions, no 30 second sound bites just a true test point-for-point on ideas.  Just like they did before the days of television, and during the foundation of this nation.  I hope this happens.

  Posted by Hyjinx22 on May 16, 2006 at 3:46 PM

  Excellent piece.  Another avenue that absolutely needs to be advocated and pursued by those of us who profess to be “main-stream” traditional Christians is to challenge the beginnings of extreme fundamentalism in our own churches when it rears its ugly head.  Don’t let your own church be hijacked by the fanatics.  If you believe in true Christian values, respect the beliefs of others,and advocate the necessity of separation of church and state in a healthy democracy, volunteer to serve on your church’s boards, and help to steer policies away from the fanatics.  Challenge those who would advocate bigoted, narrow views of false Christianity.  Those people are no more Christian than Osama is a Muslim.  Unfortunately, all too many people are more than willing to take on the role of “sheep” while those who profess to be shepards of the faith are instead the wolves.

  Posted by bootsrey on May 16, 2006 at 4:10 PM

  The bottom line is that the US is one crisis away from foundering.

  Posted by electriclady281 on May 16, 2006 at 4:16 PM

  Hijinx22

  First let me thank you for including your IQ in your name. It helps me tailor my response to ensure you understand. LOL

  It is absolutely idiotic that Wyoming’s electoral vote reflect only 166,000 voters, and each of California’s electorial votes represent 616,000. We know the reasons why the electoral college was created, but not every original idea our founding fathers had was a good one. Several have been modified or completely replaced. The electoral college is one such idea that has outlived its usefulness. Either it should be modified to ensure it is more balanced by making sure each electoral vote at least represents the same amount of people OR just plain eliminated. The electoral college is not democratic, and the fears of small states have long since proven groundless, thanks to our federal system. Which gives our “states” so many rights that in other countries, such an entity would be considered an “autonomous region” just below being outright independent.

  You need to get your hearing checked.. “Last I heard” the electoral college originally counted NON-citizen black slaves as 3/5 a person to give the southern states a greater say. Citizenship is still not an actual requirement to figure a state’s population. And the the bigot states otherwise known as the red states should feel lucky. Since they are garnering a far larger share of illegal immigration than ever before. So every illegal immigrant pads their already unfair representation.

  I am so tired of hearing the idiocy defining phrase ” -failed welfare state-!
  Um thanks to that failed program, infant mortality dropped dramatically. Seniors got medicare. Laws and regulations were passed forcing businesses to adhere to standards and safe practices Etc. The only way it failed was explaining to everyone just how dramatically successful it was.

  Yes, it is time urban/large states demand their rights. It’s time the smalltown/rural parasites understand that their high-living courtesy of outrageous subsidies from larger states must come to an end. Only then will those red state leaches realize that their selfish, self-centered ways are possible ONLY because the blue staters have been picking up the tab for their upkeep. States like Alaska, which produces oil, but gets cash from the Feds. like the proverbial welfare mom with a dozen babies all conceived to increase her pay. States like Texas which has highway developments totalling 4 lanes each way in the middle of absolutely nowhere serving a population base of 100,000s paid for by Californians who struggle on 2 lane roads serving communities of millions. States like Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana where the parasite ranchers demand the right to destroy and ruin vast stretches of wilderness and park areas that belong to ALL Americans, because then all of America subsidizes their dismal animal husbandry techniques that use huge amounts of resources to produce relatively small amounts of usable product. But what do they care, it’s not their dime. So they spend like the welfare queens they are.

  The real irony is the liberals and urbanites were too confident that everyone knew the truth, and didn’t call them what they were corporate profiteers sucking the life out of this nation in a hundred different ways by demanding and using their representation in our legislature to get all sorts of “set asides” directed to their state to benefit a few businesses and individuals by giving them free or pay them to exploit the natural riches of this nation that belong to ALL of us, and NOT to the state such properties happen to be located.

  Posted by johnnyincentx on May 16, 2006 at 5:01 PM

  Not living in USA, it would be disrespectful of me to mingle in your internal affairs, but nevertheless I can’t help feeling astonished at the spreading of wrongly called Christianity and their fanatical views. You find sheperds all over Latin America taking advantage of ignorant people, even selling them contracts for 100 Dls. between them and God in which they are promised prosperity, healing, and all kinds of blessings. They are supposed to pay 10% of their earnings to the sheperd who, in turn, has the ability to talk to God and decipher for them different parts of the bible, which, as every other religious book was written by men in different times of history. There are several TV channels, with base in different parts of the USA where “miracles” are proclaimed, menaces are proferred and it’s all lilke a nightmare, a return to the Middle Ages. What’s going on? We used to look up onto our Northern Brother for enlightment, free-thinking , workers rights, freedom in all senses, and all we get now are these type of messages plus eternal excuses to start wars and deprive other countries of their riches. At the end of 19 century, an Argentine president, by the name of Sarmiento hired a group of American teachers to give shape to argentine school system, and they proved to be so helpful that we had, until around 1970, free education for all with humanistic contents and freedom of thinking. Then the neo-con nightmare settled down and we have now this monstrosity growing, dividing people, and preaching absolutely false values.
  to johnnyincentx: If you feel America’s riches belong to all of you, you should also consider that LatinAmerica, Irak, Iran, Syria and many other countries have the right to their own undersoil riches, n’est ce pas?
  I have also read that much of the money collected by so-calkled churches is directed to Israel, where supposedly the big battle will take place and where only the chosen people and so-called christians will be saved and will inherit the earth. Seen from the outside, it looks like holy madness.

  Posted by Maria on May 16, 2006 at 6:19 PM

• extended discussion >>>Continued...

  Discussions with more than 5 comments are continued on our special discussion page to encourage continuity and ease of use. There are currently 54 posts.

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