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Christian right |
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Christian rightThe Christian Right is a broad label applied to a number of political and religious movements with particularly conservative and right wing views. While such elements are found in many nations, this term is most commonly applied to groups within the United States. Sometimes the term Christian Right is used interchangeably with the term "Religious Right," although some argue for a distinction. (See the discussion on the Religious Right page).Christian Right groups consist of conservative Christians who join in coalitions around issues of shared concern. While the Christian Right is often perceived as fundamentalist by outsiders, Evangelical, Pentecostal and other conservative Protestants and Roman Catholics also are involved. Most elements of the Christian Right sympathize with, support, and sometimes influence the United States Republican Party. For example, such support provided considerable backing for the campaigns of U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. IssuesIssues which the Christian Right is (or is thought to be) primarily concerned with include: Historically, the Christian Right supported teaching creationism and has participated in broader campaigns for Prohibition, abolitionism, and civil rights. In the 19th century United States, conservative Christian groups advocated isolationism, xenophobia, and Manifest Destiny. Southern U.S. Christian Right groups generally advocated and practiced racial segregation in the past. This is not advocated by the Christian right in general, but is the de facto practice in many areas. CriticismSome critics claim that the Christian Right's political policies lead toward Dominionism, while some even adhere to the tenets of Dominion Theology and Christian Reconstructionism; the latter two are related philosophies that advocate a dissolution of democracy and personal freedoms and a push toward a theocratic or theonomic form of government that regards the Bible as the only valid reference for civics, government, scientific theory or any scholarly pursuit. Opposition groups with this point of view include the Freedom From Religion Foundation and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Critical groups identify the policies and commentaries of Christian Right leaders as being similar to those of Dominionism. For example, Chip Berlet, in an American Civil Liberties Union website interview, said in 1996 that, "Reconstructionism is a theology that argues that only Christian men should rule civil society. It has a softer related theology called dominionism. ... Dominionism in general threatens the Church/State separation so vital to our democracy as a pluralist society. Groups such as the Christian Coalition really have adopted many of the tenets of Dominionism, and some key Christian right leaders are close to Reconstructionism, which thinks that the U.S. Constitution is a sub-document overruled by Old Testament Biblical Laws." U.S. Foreign Policy and Christian ZionismMany in the Christian Right refer to apocalyptic and other Biblical prophecy in their support of Israel, and support of Israel is often seen as a matter of biblical doctrine. The school of interpretation of Biblical prophecy in which Israel figures most prominently is called premillennial dispensationalism. This has created a movement called Christian Zionism. According to Ribuffo, the Old Christian Right was generally isolationist, while Diamond notes the Christian Right since the 1950s has tended to support U.S. military intervention and covert action(see references below). After the September 11, 2001 attacks, many leaders in the Christian Right joined with neoconservatives in strongly supporting the War on Terror in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Expressing profound sympathy for Israel, some have gone so far as to advocate the "transfer" of the Palestinian population from the West Bank to another Arabnation (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt or Saudi Arabia) as the only viable long-term solution to the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. The Reverend Franklin Graham, in particular, has been noted for his strident views, drawing secular criticism for his harsh remarks directed at Islam and for his travelling to Baghdad to conduct an open-air Good Friday service primarily for persecuted Assyrian Christians and Chaldean Christians on April 18, 2003, nine days after the city had fallen to American troops. Citing these and other statements and actions, some critics have taken to characterizing the post-9/11 foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration and its most visible supporters as the Tenth Crusade. Notable members of the Christian Right in the U.S.It should be noted that more militant figures such as Fred Phelps have never had a significant following, and others, such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, who once had built coalitions, made overzealous statements that lossed a previously broader base of support.
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