Religious Right

(You know, it seems as if an inordinate number of my posts are about what I don't understand instead of what I do understand. I wonder if that's its own commentary on me.)

I don't understand this term: "Religious Right". You'll hear it all the time from all sides. It is typically a pejorative term, intended as an insult, as a means of sounding an alarm. Despite its overwhelming mention in print and on TV, it seems that I don't really know what it is. Here's what I've gleaned.

The "religious right" are everywhere. They run the country. They are a dangerous crowd, trying to force religion on everyone. They appear to be almost exclusively Christian in religious persuasion, but may also include a small number of Jewish and Moslem "right wingers". They are extremely small-minded, apparently focusing on only two things: ending abortion and prohibiting "gay marriage". That can't be true, however, because neither of these were of primary importance in the last major election where they took over the world (or, at least, the U.S. government). They are extremely active politically, very hateful to anyone not of their kind, and promote vast conspiracies against those they don't like.

So I try to find out exactly what this "religious right" is. Apparently I'm one of them, or so I've been told, but I don't know why. I found a "Religious Right Test" online and took it. They said, "Not a member of the Religious Right. Our advanced scoring methods suggest you are Roman Catholic (probably lapsed) with progressive tendencies." Of course, it's rather odd because I am not Roman Catholic in the first place, let alone "lapsed", and I wouldn't say I have "progressive tendencies". That can't be right.

Google offers a few helpful definitions. "United States political faction that advocates social and political conservativism, school prayer, and federal aid for religious groups and schools" says Princeton's wordnet. Religioustolerance.org defines it as

A group of very conservative, politically active organizations within Fundamentalist Christianity which is attempting to implement conservative changes to society and its laws. The American Family Association, Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family form part of the religious right. Their main areas of activity are in reducing choice in abortion access, homosexual rights, same-sex marriage, physician assisted suicide, and prayer in the public school.

That's a little more helpful, except now we have to find out what "Funtamentalist Christianity" is and then ask, "Why do these two definitions differ so much?" And, of course, how am I to figure it if I'm not part of any of the organizations listed? (Note, by the way: Isn't it interesting how this definition views the "pro-life" stance as "reducing choice" rather than "defending life"?) So I'm still stumped.

Wikipedia has a nice little article on the topic, but opens with a warning that it might not be quite accurate. Here they tell me what I suspected -- the term, "religious right" almost exclusively references evangelical Christians, even though sometimes they have reached out to other religious groups that are sympathetic to their cause. Wikipedia provides more help when you link to the term "Christian right" (which they say is essentially the same thing). The "Christian right" exists in a variety of places, although they are limited to what is called "the anglosphere" - places related to Great Britian. Thus, the "Christian right" appears to only occur in five geographic locations: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the U.S. (I'm not entirely clear why.) They started in the 70's with the Moral Majority and are thus closely associated with Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell. The primary issues of the Christian right are:

*Issues about life, sexuality, and reproduction (abortion, gay marriage, family issues, divorce, euthanasia, death penalty issues, sex education, pornography, abstinence, etc.)

*Issues about the separation of Church and State (religion in schools, using the Bible for moral values, allowing funding of faith-based services by the government, homeschooling, introduction of Intelligent Design or Creationism to education with an accompanying depreciation of scientific method and critical thinking, opposition to pagan influences in schools, etc.)

*Opposition to judicial activism as it affects these issues.

*Strong support for President Bush as a man chosen by God to lead America (or whomever is in charge of the country they're in if he's conservative).

*Support for Middle East policy (support for the war in Iraq and for Israel).

I'm sorry, but I'm still not getting it. I suppose that some of these things are issues with me and some are not. I suppose that some of these things I agree on and some I don't. But what is most disturbing is the pejorative nature of the term. It's like "Arminian". No one claims to be "Arminian". I know of no one who claims to be a "right wing Christian". (That doesn't mean they're not out there; I just don't know any of them.) It's almost exclusively a term from their opponents meant to denigrate them. It is typically spit out, like "What kind of loon is on the 'religious right'?" They have no thought, no ideas, no "critical thinking", no rationale. They are intolerant and unkind. Since I know no one of that nature, I suppose I still don't know what the "religious right" is or if I'm part of it. But it sure seems a lot like what is being complained about of them is equally a problem to their opponents, so I'm just unclear all the way around.