Is this counterintuitive in the present moment, or what? Jeremy Lott draws attention to a new book called "In Defense of the Religious Right." Good. Somebody has to do it these days.
The terms 'right' and 'conservative' are a bit murky.
I'm all for pointing out actual moderation and reasonable conservatism among conservatives or people who are religious, because accurately reflecting the diversity is important, I don't like the caricatures and inaccuracies.
But there certainly are extremists, reactionaries, and control-freaks on the 'religious right' and I wouldn't call the 'Christian Coalition' either conservative or mainstream at all.
There are conservatives who had more mainstream political views, they do disagree with liberals, they do hold their own, they are willing to negotiate and reason, they aren't afraid of agreeing with a moderate or even a liberal position from time to time. Such used to be what conservative meant. That time has long gone, maybe it will return.
Until then, I'm skeptical about this book.>
god_is_in_the_tv
June 30, 2006 7:48 PM
Somebody has to do it these days.
The entire executive branch of the United States government and more than half of congress not enough for ya, Rod?>
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Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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The terms 'right' and 'conservative' are a bit murky.
I'm all for pointing out actual moderation and reasonable conservatism among conservatives or people who are religious, because accurately reflecting the diversity is important, I don't like the caricatures and inaccuracies.
But there certainly are extremists, reactionaries, and control-freaks on the 'religious right' and I wouldn't call the 'Christian Coalition' either conservative or mainstream at all.
There are conservatives who had more mainstream political views, they do disagree with liberals, they do hold their own, they are willing to negotiate and reason, they aren't afraid of agreeing with a moderate or even a liberal position from time to time. Such used to be what conservative meant. That time has long gone, maybe it will return.
Until then, I'm skeptical about this book.>
Somebody has to do it these days.
The entire executive branch of the United States government and more than half of congress not enough for ya, Rod?>
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.