A Thinking Reed

Whose Left?

Written by

Lee M.

in

Here’s an article in the Guardian (via Get Religion) by two British Anglicans urging the Left to realize that it has religious allies and not to cede religious faith to the Right:

Even comparatively recently things were looking up for the religious left. Tony Blair is a member of the Christian socialist movement and in Rowan Williams the Church of England has a self-confessed “bearded lefty” at the top. Yet instead of a renaissance there has been a decline. The Archbishop of Canterbury is now a virtual prisoner of the religious right. And Labour Christians seem silent and impotent. How did we get to here?

In the first place, the religious left has found itself constantly challenged by the secular left. Whilst the religious right and neo-conservatives have worked together, progressives have split and split again. Blair is too embarrassed to talk the language of faith because he knows it would alienate his allies. Some object to religion on principle. Others insist that a Christian response is inevitably intolerant, exclusive, even racist. So left secularists welcomed Jubilee 2000 but ignored the fact that the Jubilee is a biblical concept.

But progressive Christians also seem incapable of confronting the religious right on its own terms. Jesus offered a political manifesto that emphasised non-violence, social justice and the redistribution of wealth – yet all this is drowned out by those who use the text to justify a narrow, authoritarian and morally judgmental form of social respectability. The irony is that the religious right and the secular left have effectively joined forces to promote the idea that the Bible is reactionary. For the secular left, the more the Bible can be described in this way, the easier it is to rubbish. Thus the religious right is free to claim a monopoly on Christianity. And the Christian left, hounded from both sides, finds itself shouted into silence.

One thing that goes unmentioned in the piece is that there might be substantive differences between the “religious Left” and the “secular Left.” Abp. Williams, for instance, is probably rightly considered a man of the Left, but he also opposes abortion and euthanasia. And Williams and Tony Blair are diametrically opposed on the issue of Iraq. What is the Left-Christian position on war and intervention?

If Christians are going to enter into political coalitions (and it’s probably inevitable that they will), should they cede the determination of policy to their secular allies, with Christians just supplying a religious patina for whatever policies are adopted on secular grounds? Or should they contribute to informing those policies with a distinctively Christian vision?

Comments

10 responses to “Whose Left?”

  1. Chris T.

    I don’t know that there are differences between the secular left and the Christian left as much as there are divisions through all parts of the left. I know plenty of pro-life non-Christians, and I also know quite a few Christians who are pro-choice.

    So framing this as a Christians vs. seculars question strikes me as disingenuous. Christians have practically all the political power in this country, on both the right and the left. Looking to religion as a way of explaining the divide on issues like abortion seems like a non-starter.

    Reply
  2. Lee

    I’m not looking at it so much as a way of explaining differences, but as a way of understanding what it means to be a member of the Christian Left (or Right). If the policies one adopts are indistinguishable from one’s secular allies, what work is the “Christian” part doing?

    I think it was Stanley Hauerwas who once wrote that if we already know, on other grounds, that being “progressive” is a good thing, it’s not clear what difference being a Christian makes.

    Reply
  3. kim

    I’ve noticed a multiple personality tendency among the Religious Left or Progressive Christians that has made me hesitant to adopt that label for myself. They fluctuate between identifying themselves primarily in opposition to the Religious Right and the Bush administration (and thus identifying with the Democratic party) and trying to establish some kind of new, third way Christian worldview that is less partisan and more in-line with what they see as authentic Christianity. The political problem is that if the Christian Left can’t even figure out its message and purpose, how can the media, Republicans, or secular lefties?

    Reply
  4. Kevin Carson

    Tony Campolo is an excellent example of a “religious leftist.” Campolo is a Baptist fundie, an inerrantist, and a pro-lifer. He’s also a pacifist and a socialist.

    Reply
  5. Chris T.

    Lee, I’m not sure a Christian left should necessarily look different from the secular left. The “third way” Kim describes is more apt for me, as I’m only interested in partisan politics as long as they can serve specific moral interests, but I think a lot of secular folks think that way, too. If secular leftists are appropriately discerning the “law written on their hearts” (Romans) and doing politics that accord with Christian teaching, I’m not sure Christian leftists can do anything better but to join those movements and help provide leadership.

    Being Christian isn’t about being different. It’s not us vs. them, especially in the political arena.

    Reply
  6. Joshie

    The Christian left has been shrinking for the past 50 or more years. Many Secular leftists belive that being a leftist necessarily means being irreligious or even hostile to religion (Christianity anyway) which they see as inherently sexist, opressive, militaristic, anti-enviroment, anti-animal rights, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

    Liberals just don’t go to church any more, in large numbers anyway. There are isolated pockets of christian liberals but nothing on the scale of liberal Christianity before WW2. And I don’t think, for better or worse we will see anything like that again. When I say liberal here I mean politically liberal not theologically liberal. Theological liberalism is dead for all intents and purposes, except in the retro-18th century stylings of Spong, the Jesus seminar and their ilk.

    Reply
  7. Joshie

    Sorry I forgot the point there. The point is being a progressive or liberal Christian means being part of a dying breed, but one with a great pedigree and one that has the liberty of being in the minority and to have the chance to “prick” (to borrow a favorite term from my mentor Walter Froese) the majority to keep them honest, at least until they kick us out.

    Reply
  8. Chris T.

    Josh, I think you’re falling prey to a significant lack of historical understanding. Theological and political liberalism among religious waxes and wanes, just as conservativism does. Only thirty years ago people were lauding the death of conservative religious influences in politics, and then Reagan won the presidency, followed less than two decades later by George W. Bush. Be careful about eulogizing too early.

    Secondly, I’m wondering where you get your numbers. If you count the entire mainline as “liberal Christians”, then sure, our numbers are on a downslide. But the reality of the mainline is that most of the losses in numbers are from ordinary, moderate congregations that are growing older. Their members die, and the mainline loses members. It’s also losing conservative members to non-denominational evangelical churches, The Vineyard, and so forth.

    Theological liberalism is far from dead. Feminist theology is alive and vital. The GLBT movement is spawning new kinds of theological inquiry as well. If you think theological liberalism died with WW1, you don’t know much about theological liberalism.

    Reply
  9. Chris T.

    Oh, and there certainly is a rise in atheism. I’m apt to attribute it to the high-tension evangelical churches, which burn moderate young people, not to theological liberalism. Liberal churches as a whole are not growing as fast as they might be, but that’s a problem of methodology and getting good ministers and lay people trained and in the right places, not a problem of the allure or otherwise of liberal theology. My exceedingly liberal, pro-GLBT, anti-war, pro-environmentalist church, led by a phenomenal woman pastor, has increased its membership by 25% in the last year.

    Reply
  10. Joshie

    Thank you for setting me straight Chris. I was under the impression theological liberalism was not something that had waxed and waned over the centuries but a specific movement coming out of the 18th and 19th centuries. You are obviously much better informed than I. Thank you for enlightening me.

    Reply

Leave a reply to Joshie Cancel reply

More posts