MYTH-BUSTING THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT

Authors

  • Terri Murray Brooks University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/eph.v17i1.1

Keywords:

moral relativism, Christian right, secularism, culture wars

Abstract

The aim of this commentary is to identify and assess two central myths promulgated by America’s Christian right. For the purposes of this piece, the “Christian right” is defined as a group of socially conservative, politically active organizations within fundamentalist Christianity who share the objective of implementing conservative changes to American culture and law. The movement generally rejects any modern method of Biblical interpretation and many of its adherents place far less emphasis on the Gospels than on Pauline doctrine. Its adherents are generally anti-intellectual, and hostile to science, pluralism, tolerance, and the separation of church and state. Amongst its central aims are downsizing the government, and "restoring" America as a Christian nation by imposing religion through the mechanisms of the state.1 Much of the movement's ideological strength has come from its expertise in circulating and reaffirming two powerful myths central to its image. These are: (1) That the Christian right have a monopoly on moral realism, (2) That they have a monopoly on respect for the “sanctity of life,” and The Christian right’s pundits present this set of abstract concepts – moral “values” and “sanctity of life” – as core values. Over and over again they have successfully framed complex issues as oppositions between these core values and their opponent’s position. This has worked partly because, instead of engaging in an analysis of these concepts, they equate them with a set of public policies that are assumed to meet the conditions that define them. Thus it would appear that if you do not support their policies, you cannot support moral values at all, nor can you respect the sanctity of life. A closer examination of the fallacious reasoning underpinning these two core values is long overdue.

Author Biography

  • Terri Murray, Brooks University

    Terri Murray holds a Master of Theology Degree from Heythrop College, University of London. She is co-author of Moral Panic: Exposing the Religious Right’s Agenda on Sexuality (London: Cassell, 1995). She is currently pursuing a doctorate in Social and Contextual Theology at Brookes University, Oxford. Her articles have been published in Philosophy Now magazine, Tikkun magazine, Journal of Social Philosophy, and others. She is an American who presently resides in London, UK.

References

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Published

2013-10-09

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Murray, T. (2013). MYTH-BUSTING THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT. Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism, 17(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1558/eph.v17i1.1