Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Who are the Religious Right?
Hugh Hewitt is running an essay contest. The first of his two questions is one that I think must be answered so the new cycle can gain more clarity-- Who are the Religious Right?
The term “Religious Right” gets used a lot in the media. Just in the articles since Sunday news.google.com returned 167 seperate hits that included that phrase. Using the phrase is easy. Telling others what it really means? Now that is hard.
Does it include me? I am pro-life, against homosexual marriage, a registered Republican, but also hold two graduate degrees and am close to completely a doctorate (granted in theology). I am also a vegetarian, environmentally conscious, and a devotee of popular culture. So, am I part of the Religious Right???
Defining this population wasnt easy for me either. It clearly includes White Evangelicals, but now increasingly conservative Catholics and socially motivated Black Protestants. Today’s Religious Right simply isn’t the Moral Majority of yesterday. Click the link below for my attempt to at least put some demography to the caricature of the term Religious Right.
