Aug 10
31
Mixture of religion and politics by Beck and Palin is cause for discomfort by some
National Post – August 31, 2010
What happened to conservatism in the United States?
By Tasha Kheiriddin
This past weekend, the lawn of the Lincoln Memorial played host to the biggest tea party Washington, D.C., has ever seen. And what a wonderland it was, with the Mad Hatter – conservative commentator Glenn Beck – and the Queen of Hearts – former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin – exhorting the crowd to forget politics and focus on a higher power. According to Mr. Beck, “Something beyond imagination is happening … America today begins to turn back to God.” Interviewed after the rally, Mr. Beck got personal. He attacked President Barack Obama’s religious beliefs, stating that Mr. Obama “is a guy who understands the world through liberation theology, which is oppressor-and-victim,” and that “people aren’t recognizing his version of Christianity.” Mr. Beck’s comments come on the heels of a poll by the Pew Research Center which revealed that 43% of Americans do not know what faith Mr. Obama practices. …
But a belief in God is one of the original principles of the conservative worldview. It dovetails with other tenets, including the preference for tradition over reason. It also fits with conservatives’ exaltation of the “little platoons” of society – the family, the church, the local community organization – and, by extension, their opposition to big, godless government.
Thus over the course of the 20th century, in response to the rise of communism abroad and the welfare state at home, religion became an ally of the American right. Once the Soviet Union got its comeuppance, and welfare got term limits, Christian conservatives moved on to other issues: drugs, abortion, gay rights. Then came 9/11, the threat of radical Muslim terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now things have come full circle, as President Obama provides a new socialist, pluralist target, right in Washington, D.C.
But does loving the Lord mean that one should also legislate by Him? Don’t Americans reproach theocracies the world over? When Islamic extremists cry Allahu akhbar (“God is great”) as they carry out their murderous rampages, don’t Westerners decry them as fanatics? The answer is: yes, because they are, as are any leaders who invoke an infallible being as justification for murder or tyranny.
But a belief in God is one of the original principles of the conservative worldview. It dovetails with other tenets, including the preference for tradition over reason. It also fits with conservatives’ exaltation of the “little platoons” of society – the family, the church, the local community organization – and, by extension, their opposition to big, godless government.
Thus over the course of the 20th century, in response to the rise of communism abroad and the welfare state at home, religion became an ally of the American right. Once the Soviet Union got its comeuppance, and welfare got term limits, Christian conservatives moved on to other issues: drugs, abortion, gay rights. Then came 9/11, the threat of radical Muslim terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now things have come full circle, as President Obama provides a new socialist, pluralist target, right in Washington, D.C.
But does loving the Lord mean that one should also legislate by Him? Don’t Americans reproach theocracies the world over? When Islamic extremists cry Allahu akhbar (“God is great”) as they carry out their murderous rampages, don’t Westerners decry them as fanatics? The answer is: yes, because they are, as are any leaders who invoke an infallible being as justification for murder or tyranny.
Read the complete column here.