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The New Fundamentalism: Rebirth of Political Religion in America
| Article
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11664 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1986 |
5,360 Words |
| Author
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Wade Clark Roof
Wade Clark Roof is professor of sociology at the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst. This essay will appear in a
forthcoming volume from Paragon House Publishers, Prophetic
Religions and Politics. |
Not since the Scopes trial in 1925 has there been so much public attention focused on religious fundamentalism in the United States. Emerging as a movement in the late 1970s, the "new fundamentalism" became increasingly visible in the 1980s in the form of a resurgent religious traditionalism coupled with a political activist stance: popular television preachers armed with moral agendas; ideological clashes over abortion, prayer in the schools, pornography, and the like; new alliances of conservative Protestants and Catholics calling for a return to traditional values; and finally, the embrace of Ronald Reagan by the "New Christian Right" in the 1984 presidential election as defender of God, country, and all that is good.
All this has brought about a growing awareness of the conservative religious presence in the country and raised concerns about its role in the political process. In 1925, fundamentalism was retreating in the face of modern science and thought, and thus could be written off as a force of any consequence. Now, however, there is less certainly about its inevitable demise. Recent flexing of the "old time" religious muscle and a new surge of religio-political fervor raise the possibility - and perhaps, the specter - of an emerging "right-wing" force capable of shaping the nation's destiny in the remaining years of this century.
The resurgence of fundamentalist politics caught many by surprise. American knew, of course, that conservative religion existed, but it was assumed that people holding such beliefs and attitudes generally kept silent in public and were predisposed against direct political involvement. They were supposed to be preoccupied with personal piety, with strict belief, and with moral uprightness, certainly uninterested in, and untarnished by, the practicalities of political life. After all, for almost a half century, fundamentalists had been withdrawn from public life and were anything but "noisy” in politics. Indeed, social scientific research gave every reason to dismiss them as engaging, civic-minded persons concerned with the public issues. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, many studies documented that conservative Protestants were passive in attitudes toward most social concerns and much less inclined toward political activity than were their more liberal counterparts. The prevailing scholarly opinion held that fundamentalist adhered to a narrow, sectarian theology that was at odds with a public posture, and thus it seemed quite likely they would remain a marginal and non-politically oriented religious movement in modern society.
Against this background of apathy and withdrawal, the
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