Duane Oldfield, associate professor of political science
at Knox College and the author of The Right and
the Righteous, has written a special report on the Christian right
and the unilateralist foreign policy of the present administration.
We welcome comments on this article,
to be shared here.
(Especially if you've looked at the whole essay!) Just send a note!
[4-5-04]
The Bush administration's unilateralist foreign policy is
consistent with the preferences of the Christian right. President Bush does
not hesitate to use a moralistic, implicitly religious language in defense
of his policies. (See Rosemary Radford Ruether's
"call to the churches" to offer theological critiques of this kind of
quasi-religious rhetoric.)
While much attention has been given to the influence of
the Christian right on "hot button" domestic issues such as abortion, gay
rights, and prayer in schools, less attention has been paid to the religious
right's influence on American foreign policy.
Oldfield argues that criticizing the Christian Right as
"extremist" may well be a mistake, because it ignores the rationality of the
right, while ignoring also the irrational elements in current mainstream
thinking, since "the ideology of American unilateralism draws on a variety
of sources from mainstream popular culture and civil religion."
The Christian right can no longer be regarded as a
"fringe," for its assumptions and values have become central to present
administration policy. Therefore any effort to resist the religious right
must focus on the inherent contradictions within that alliance and within
the Christian right itself, such as on issues of globalization, religious
persecution, and tension with its partners within the increasingly global
alliance of social conservatives. And finally, any such effort must affirm
efforts for progressive internationalism, i.e., the use of international
institutions to promote equitable economic development rather than
neoliberalism. This will reveal the tensions among various conservative
religious groups, both in the U.S. and around the world.
We welcome comments on this article, to
be shared here.
(Especially if you've looked at the whole essay!) Just send a note!
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Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you.
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community.
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY.
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up.
