A recent Heather Cox Richardson piece (April 18, 2022) discussed how Russian and Hungarian leaders assert high moral principles as justification for harsh policies limiting freedom to defend what they call traditional values. With no apologies, they condemn all things tolerant of LGBT persons, and the general moral degeneracy of Western liberal democracy. Only the firm hand of authoritarian government can restore moral order, according to them.
HCR went on to note that the same line of reasoning has gained ground in the American right wing and among conservative Christian evangelicals who would like to codify their social values as the law of the land.
It’s a frightening scenario for at least two reasons. First, as a Christian theologian I find it appalling that the title Christian can be attached to what is clearly not Christian. So called traditional values about gender, sex, marriage, reproductive rights, race and class are social conventions of recent origin having but marginal connections to the moral imperatives given to us by God through Christ Jesus. In every age, no matter what the social norms have been, they have always been challenged by and in conflict with God’s moral imperatives.
Even the diligent work of discerning what it means to follow in the way of Jesus in a rapidly changing world has to stand in judgement by the law of love. If less conservative Christians are certain that the Authoritarian right is wrong and cannot legitimately claim the name of Christ to justify their beliefs, it is equally true that more liberal Christians can claim no more than provisional faith that they are on a more Christ like path. Neither conservatives nor liberals can take social values, slap the name of Christ on them, and call it Christian. New England Puritans tried. It didn’t work. It should have been an easy lesson to learn. Apparently not.
Second, since the end of WWII, mainline conservatives have defended the rights of individuals from what they believed to be excessive governmental intrusion into personal ives. As they leaned further into libertarian ideology they entered a revolving door that led to favoring government that would no longer regulate business or protect human and civil rights, but would impose a puritanical moral code on all persons and institutions. It would have the odd effect of creating a nation with no moral standards for business, industry and governmental operations, but strictly enforced moral standards on the lives of individuals. A mutant form of Orwell’s 1984 would be in place; one in which autocratic rule, oligarchical corruption, and a servile population would be deprived of nearly all of its personal freedom.
In a bizarrely curious way, significant elements of right wing America believe that would be a good thing. Through strangely colored glasses they think it would maximize their rights and freedoms. Those that believe it is the Jesus thing to do are the most deluded. If by chance any of them read this column, they will not believe it and accuse me of being the worst kind of heretic. I fear they are in a box from which there is no way out. Moreover, they have demonstrated the political acumen needed to impose the box on the populations of several states, intending to do the same for all. What could kill liberal democracy in the end is not the radical right wing, but the complacency of the voting public that takes freedom for granted, and Christian leaders unwilling to boldly proclaim the way of love as the way of Jesus Christ.
All I can say is, Right on Brother.