Reflections on Conservatism and Christianity
May 10, 2009
By Larrey Anderson
Are social conservatives hurting or helping the cause of conservatism? The answer to this question has not yet been decided. Christian conservatives can be the saving grace of the conservative movement — if they can step back and carefully consider how they are perceived in the abortion debate, imagined (and actual) racial and religious bigotry, and in the temptation to claim to know that these are “the last days.”
Conservative Christians love and respect the law and the Constitution. Most recognize that the Constitution was founded, at least in part, on the Judeo-Christian principle that all human beings are equal in the eyes of God, that everyone is a sinner, and that no one is above the law.
Since our country’s inception, social conservatives have helped make America a more just regime. For example, the abolitionist movement to end slavery in America was a movement lead by people who were, essentially, white conservative Christians. These pioneers of freedom recognized that slavery was not only incompatible with God’s truth; slavery was at odds with a basic premise of both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. To wit:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Though rarely recognized for their work by the mainstream media, conservative Christians in today’s America have led the continuing fight to end the slave trade in Africa and the Middle East. Conservative American Christians have contributed millions of dollars in aid to Christians in Africa who are being persecuted and murdered by Islamic extremists.
The left and the media can persist in their efforts to rewrite and deconstruct history; they cannot change the twin facts that the Founding Fathers were deeply inspired by the essence of the Bible and that social conservatives have always played, and still play, a major role in making America the greatest — and freest — nation in the world.
But there are problems. America has reached a tipping point. We are in real danger of losing our constitutional republic. Now is not the time for theological nitpicking and infighting amongst social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and libertarians. Social conservatives will determine whether or not this bickering continues.
Here is why: There are three specific issues that pose a special challenge to social conservatism. Some on the social right misunderstand the relationships of these issues to the political process and the Constitution. These misunderstandings have hampered — and may continue to impede — the cause of the conservative movement in America. Read the entire article here.
