| The Christian Right Wants a Name Change |
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| Noticed News |
| Monday, 16 February 2009 09:37 |
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However, several politically conservative evangelicals said in interviews that they do not want to be identified with the "Religious Right," "Christian Right," "Moral Majority," or other phrases still thrown around in journalism and academia. "There is an ongoing battle for the vocabulary of our debate," said Gary Bauer, president of American Values. "It amazes me how often in public discourse really pejorative phrases are used, like the 'American Taliban,' 'fundamentalists,' 'Christian fascists,' and 'extreme Religious Right.' " Jerry Falwell, cofounder of the Moral Majority, self-applied the Religious Right label until it started taking a more negative connotation, according to John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The Zonie Report also takes a look at the discussion...
They see the polarization of religious groups as a direct result of some Christian leaders getting too involved in politics... Lewis knew that if we invite public politics to sit in the pew or take the pulpit, we shouldn’t be surprised if the church becomes divided along partisan political lines and undermines its true mission in the process. US News & World Report explores the same topic from the perspective of journalism, asking when it is appropriate or not for journalist to use "labels" for groups. Do the news media sometimes misuse terms like Christian Right or Religious Right? Absolutely. With the emergence of a more forceful religious center in recent years, it's getting trickier to use such language. Rick Warren doesn't fit into the Christian Right box, for instance. But there are plenty of folks who still do, including many of those quoted in the Christianity Today piece. Journalists should be careful about using such labels, but they shouldn't abandon them just because they don't serve the political purposes of Christian Right leaders. We're believers in the power of language to shape perceptions. We also are sober about the realities of the work of "public relations" professionals to use language to help further an organization or group's purposes. To us, we'd rather see a discussion of why the press so often seems to only poll the most strident Christian voices for comment... on the right and on the left... rather than the sensible middle of the Christian movement. UPDATE: Beliefnet posted a commentary on the naming issue. Read it here. What's your take?
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Comments (6)
  written by alexis, February 16, 2009
erm, ok, this is fine, but Christian respect would, it seems, also require that these same folk stop referring to, for example lesbians & gays as "radical homosexuals" yes?
written by Davidc, February 16, 2009
Alexis, I think you have a point... pointed language doesn't help the Christian community work together or hear each other very well!
written by droslovinia, February 16, 2009
While the Christian in me likes the idea of getting away from such pointed language, the pragmatist in me remembers that the Religious Reich brought all this on themselves. We once had a national Christian dialog where people tried to talk in moderate and respectful ways to each other, and they poisoned the waters for the sake of political and other gains. Letting them frame the issue yet again can only further the course of the disaster they've brought upon the rest of us. Why is it still okay for them to rain fire and death on the rest of us while we have to back off in favor of the more reasoned dialog that they spurned years ago? This whole conversation reminds me of listening to Martin Marty tell us that fundamentalists would be totally cooperative if we would just sat down and listened to them. When they have the bullhorn and, often literally, the guns, there is no "sitting down." They have set the terms by telling us that anyone who does not believe as they do is a threat that has to be dealt with. So be it. They're not telling us that they no longer want to condemn homosexuals; that they no longer want to take over our country; that they no longer want to take over denominations, that they want to denounce warfare against non-Christians; that they no longer want there to be war in the Mideast so that Jesus will come back; or that they no longer want to do any of the heinous things they are continuing to do. They just don't want us to label them for being what they are. At what point are we going to start heeding the New Testament's advice about "testing the spirits" or "shaking the dust from our shoes" or "knowing them by their fruits?" Even Jesus didn't always insist on being "civil" to the pharisees of his day!
written by justme, May 15, 2009
It is what it is. They can change the name but that won't change who they are and what they stand for - unfortunately. Please keep religion out of politics and politics out of religion.
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There's a public relations effort underway... some leaders of the former "Moral Majority," along with others, are calling for the press to stop using labels such as "Religious Right" or "Christian Right." Several articles have appeared looking at the reasons for their desire to adopt new language. Here's an excerpt from 
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