Discomfort with Religious Right

by | Quotes

“My own guess is that what makes the critics of the religious right obscurely uncomfortable about its views is not that it “tries to impose them on others” (it doesn’t, save by the perfectly legitimate processes of evangelism and ordinary political lobbying) but that it harbors moral views at all—i.e., takes morality seriously, as a guide to personal conduct. Many Americans, and not merely liberals by a long shot, tend to deal with morality in very gingerly fashion—keeping it at a comfortable distance, applying it in extremely abstract ways, and taking swift refuge in a pious “refusal to judge” whenever a moral issue is raised in a concrete manner or context.”

Source: The Rise of the Right (1984)

Keywords: culture-wars,identity,public-discourse

Author

  • William A. Rusher (1923–2011), publisher of National Review (1957–1988), was a leading conservative spokesman, columnist, and author. He helped draft Barry Goldwater for the 1964 GOP nomination, shaping the party’s future. A Princeton and Harvard Law graduate, he served in WWII, worked in law, and advised the U.S. Senate. In 1989, he became a Distinguished Fellow at the Claremont Institute and remained active in conservative circles until his passing in 2011.

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