There is no “subtle, inclusive context” that you are missing. You openly described conservative Christians as “authoritarian bullies.” CWA makes clear on its Web page what the organization supports in terms of public policy issues. they frankly acknowledge that their positions are informed by Biblical principles, which means CWA takes its Christianity seriously. They also include a Gospel page that oulines a plan of salvation for any who want to partake. There is no linkage between particular public policy stances and spiritual salvation, other than the one you constructed, which was an illogical leap. An honest reading of CWA’s Gospel page shows this. For you to tell Times readers that CWA promises hell to people who disagree on social issues is a gross distortion of CWA’s message. ~Robert Knight

Mr. Knight writes in reply to Gary Rosen’s slap at the CWA (Concerned Women for America) in The New York Times Magazine.  (I know I read this piece earlier a while ago, but I filed it away in the back of mind as “Not very interesting Gary Rosen article,” where so very, very many Gary Rosen articles go.)  Knight wrote a column denouncing the remarks about the CWA.  Then Rosen, writing at Commentary‘s blog, replied to Knight, prompting Knight’s latest response (cited above), which has made the episode a bit more interesting. 

Now why would the managing editor of Commentary, writing for the Times, take lazy pot-shots at conservative Christians?  The two periodicals are usually so effusive in their enthusiasm for Christianity, after all, that it’s a puzzle.  Ahem.   

Mr. Rosen did some real heavy lifting in this article–he dragged out Falwell and Robertson, kicked them around for a little bit before getting to the CWA, and then praised Hart, Mac Donald and Sullivan for taking on the “authoritarian bullies” in the movement.  These three have taken on the “bullies” mostly, I’m sorry to say, by whining, calling conservative Christians names and engaging in exceedingly creative reinventions of what it means to be conservative that would have struck (and does strike) many a traditional conservative as unfamiliar and antithetical to what they believe.  Two of these three (Hart and Sullivan) do not object so much to religion in politics as the religion of most conservative Christians itself (Mac Donald seems to wish it would all go away), which boils down to a Weisbergian contempt for anyone who would be so uncouth and regressive as to take seriously the teachings of his religious authorities such that he would feel compelled to oppose policies that advance and approve profound moral errors. 

Rhetorically kicking Falwell and Robertson is virtually a national pastime, including among conservative Christians.  These days if you want to raise up a “new” kind of evangelical or Christian politician, such as Rick Warren or Sam Brownback, it is apparently necessary to tear down the Falwells and Robertsons.  I have no great admiration for either man, but there is hardly any daring or insight in taking shots at them.  In the hunt of political polemics, taking aim at Falwell is like shooting a wounded deer–there is no challenge and no great achievement in doing so.  Some of us kick them to prove to someone or other that “we” are not stupid and offensive like “those people” and some of us kick them because we find their style and their allegiance to the GOP rather dreary (and they surely are), but it is the easiest thing in the world to do, because it is essentially consequence-free.  Your liberal and moderate friends will nod in agreement, and nobody else will feel troubled to rise in defense of these two.    

But insulting and evidently misleading the public about the CWA are different matters, and Mr. Knight was having none of it.  Good for him.  Of the CWA (representatives of the “culprits” of unhealthy religious fundamentalism on the right) Rosen wrote:

For a taste of their views, you can visit the Web site of Concerned Women for America (C.W.A.), which bills itself as the “nation’s largest public-policy women’s organization.” Its mission is “to protect and promote biblical values among all citizens,” the Bible being “the inerrant Word of God and the final authority on faith and practice.” As for dissenters from C.W.A.’s stand on issues like the “sanctity of human life,” a handy link to Bible passages explains “why you are a sinner and deserve punishment in Hell.” 

Clearly Rosen intends to say that the CWA declares anyone who disagrees with their positions to be damned to Hell.  Besides the obvious Christian responses (we are called not to judge and sending people to Hell is not up to us), one might note that their “concerns and goals” page shows that there is no mention of hellfire anywhere in the policy section of their website.  It is specifically and strictly in their Gospel page, as Mr. Knight said, that the CWA talk about Christian teachings on salvation.  In other words, they are spreading the good news and engaging in advocacy on public policy that, if you look at their policy page, seems to be set forth in just the sort of universally accessible, secular language that critics of Christian conservatives, including Mr. Rosen, repeatedly insist they would like to hear.  In response, Mr. Rosen has told a rather big lie that can easily be checked by anyone who takes just a few minutes to do so.

Mr. Knight had explained where Rosen erred:

Rosen’s reference comes from CWA’s Gospel page, which begins by reminding us that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Nowhere does CWA state or imply that people will be sent to hell because of their views on public policy.

Rosen still didn’t seem to get it:

Clicking on these links, you quickly discover that CWA’s “Biblical principles” are exclusively concerned with winning salvation through trust in Jesus, with hellfire held out as the consequence of refusal. 

Of course, that is what Christians would be concerned with, and since Christians believe that damnation is what awaits those who are not saved it remains fairly unclear what point Mr. Rosen thinks he is making here, except that this is a Christian organisation involved in politics and that this is more or less inherently undesirable.  The implication of his statement in the article (where he begins, “As for dissenters from C.W.A.’s stand on issues like the “sanctity of human life”…”) is that the CWA responds to disagreement on policy with threats of hellfire, for which he doesn’t seem to have real evidence, when the CWA are saying very plainly what pretty much all conservative Christians believe: there is no certainty or real hope of salvation except through Jesus Christ, the salvation of our race.  That is the belief that motivates and informs their public policy advocacy, and this is the belief that they are trying to encourage and apply to the problems they see in the world around them. 

What has gotten the CWA in trouble here is that they have spoken the truth about what the Gospel teaches about soteriology, which can only strike the “vaguely impious Republicans” among us as “authoritarian” and “bullying,” because it insists that faith in Christ, or the lack thereof, has ultimate, real meaning for the fate of all people.  To say that this perspective is not widely shared by the Commentary crowd would be to understate things dramatically.

It is possible that Rosen simply fumbled badly and became confused with all of the unfamiliar references to God and the Bible overwhelming his senses, but it seems all together more likely that he distorted and conflated what he found on their website to reinforce his attack on religious conservatives, for whom he obviously has little respect or affection.  There is nothing better for Mr. Rosen’s own “vaguely impious” brand of Republicanism than to keep the Christians in the coalition in line and marginalised, where many in the elite of the party and movement seem to prefer them to stay.    

Rosen’s shots at conservative Christians were actually by way of talking about the state of religion and politics in the country with respect to the current presidential field.  He noted at the beginning the Democratic turn towards more religious language (my favourite one so far this year is John Edwards’ reference to his “faith belief”).  He concluded:

At our present cultural moment, it is hard to think of a more edifying prospect than a campaign that will feature a running debate between churchgoing Democrats and vaguely impious Republicans. 

Mr. Rosen has heroically staked out the mushy center–let us have neither Rorty nor Dobson!  Gosh, that’s a new one.  As if those were the only alternatives besides the anti-Christianity of Sullivan, the atheism of Mac Donald or the high table disdain for superstitious country folk of Mr. Hart!  But what would we expect from the managing editor of Commentary? 

Consider this just another exhibit in the long-running scapegoating of religious conservatives for Republican political woes and a move to marginalise and weaken religious conservatives still more by the secular-cons who have never much cared for their Bible-toting associates.

Back to the resistance against the “authoritarian bullies” for a moment.  Certainly, Mac Donald and Sullivan are under the impression that they, as skeptical and secular conservatives, are terribly repressed, bullied and put-upon in the present-day movement.  That must be why someone at a flagship neocon journal is taking their side–because the “Christianists” have such a death grip on the movement!