Old South and the Religious Right
Michael Lind, writing in the June 19, 1995 issue of
"The New Republic" makes a well documented point about the link between the new
Republican Party resurgence and the old Antebellum South.
Lind notes some
definite links with the Southern Politics of the H.L. Hunt family, Jesse Helms,
and George Wallace followers.
The writer concludes his argument by quoting
George Wallace who said, "Alabama has not joined the nation, the nation has
joined Alabama." Lind says that several Old South segregationists or Dixiecrats
are now prominent Republican figures.
To Lind, William Buckley and Barry
Goldwater's conservatism has been replaced with a Southern version that has a
different agenda. Lind claims the euphemism "School Choice" or what is actually
tax support for religious academies, is an Old South concept. He quotes Virginia
Governor, William Buckley who in 1671 thanked God for no public education.
Segregated Southern Christian schools are a vital link in the modern move to get
tax support for private education.
At the national Christian Coalition Rally I
attended, I noted a rather cold reception to the idea of support for private
education if tax support opened up the school to any who wanted to attend.
A younger Jesse Helms, who is a contemporary leader in the changing nature of the
Southern Baptist National Convention, is a prime example.
Helms used to advise
the public in political ads that voting for the wrong candidate meant Negroes
working beside you and using your toilet facilities.
An older and more
politically correct Helms joins the Christian Coalition in saying that good
Christians don't support Affirmative Action since it is unbiblical. Helms has
claimed that Christianity and liberalism are completely incompatible.
To Texan,
Michael Lind "The South has finally conquered Washington". It is no longer
Rockefeller's conservatism, it is Newt Gingrich's who is from Georgia.
When Gingrich says that Lyndon Johnson's Great Society is
a "great detour", he is appealing to a Southern bitterness over the social
changes that took place in the region.
A bitterness that will not quickly go
away. Racial attitudes have changed but, the conflict is not easily settled.
There is a sprinkling of black members in Southern right wing metro churches.
Ultra-conservative blacks have found an audience with Religious Right
subscribers. However you will never see racism mentioned as an issue in voter
guides handed out by the Religious Right.`
It is noteworthy that the father of modern day Protestant
Fundamentalism is J. Gresham Machen who was an Old South segregationists who
taught at Princeton. Machen's student, Carl McIntire, would eventually join
forces with men like Billy Hargis and claim that integration was a Communist
plot.
It is interesting that many Southern Blacks liked the idea of a separate
but so-called equal existence.
Marcus Garvey, a black man, was an earlier
forerunner of Louis Farrakhan's idea of a separate nation. Garvey often spoke at
Klan rallies.
One of the forefathers of the Religious Right was Fort Worth's own
J. Frank Norris. Norris once had the Klan into his First Baptist Church
identifying himself with the movement.
The Old Antebellum South was not totally
segregated. Blacks often attended church with whites and shared membership.
Servants worked in white homes and raised the children of the household like
they were their own. As the years passed, churches, schools, and communities
were divided along racial lines.
Southern culture has traditionally favored state's rights
over Yankee intervention. When Jerry Falwell demands the federal government get
out of the people-helping-business and allow local churches to handle it, he is
striking a familiar note in the South.
The Falwell-Dole connection in a bill
that would transfer welfare money to local churches for distribution is a
fallback to Old South attitudes.
Falwell has spoken at segregationist' rallies
and, as recently as the past decade, supported South African regimes. In the Old
South, the Anglican Church was the dominant version of Christianity. This state
supported English church passed on its roots to many religious thinkers.
Contemporary anti-public education leaders like Tim LaHaye
and Pat Robertson promote private academies claiming public education is part of
an international conspiracy against Christians. William Bennett says that public
education is gone in this country.
LaHay and Robertson feast on the anti-U.N.
sentiment found among the Fat Right. (The Texas soldier who refused to serve
under the U.N. command is a Texas cult hero among many in the Religious Right.)
LaHay quotes statesmen who claim that state-controlled education is always a
failure.
Alarmists in the South who distrust any higher authority above the
Mason-Dixon line are hearing the message.
Religious Right groups are more
prominent in the South and have given rise to The Republican Party's rekindled
presence. The neighboring county to me has for the first time voted Republican ·
The list is growing.
One of the more peculiar groups among the Religious Right
are the Reconstructionists. Sympathetic followers are on every major Religious
Right board.
The group preaches Theocracy which believes the idea of separation
of church and state is a sin. They believe that a nation is only blessed that
allows Biblical teaching to be the law of the land.
To these people,
Christianity is the official religion of America · Religious Freedom is a social
wrong. The founder of Reconstructionism is R. J · Rushdoony, a one time
John Birch Society member.
(The John Birch Society is highly active in the
South. The Mississippi State Fair used to have a Society booth on the campground
· ) Rushdoony's followers have promoted slavery as a Biblical idea worth
repeating · In a recent issue of Rushdoony's "Chalcedon Report", the Old South
was glorified.
Rev. Rushdoony believed the Old South was basically Christian and
was fighting a Unitarian North. He fringes upon making the Southern cause a type
of Holy War ·
He concedes the South lost the war for not following God's law
more accurately. Rushdoony is from California but glamorizes a fictional
Southern Culture.
In contrast to what many considered an outdated feudal system,
one author in the magazine calls attention to the fact that to some it "seems
the golden era in American history was the Antebellum South instead of the once
revered era of the Pilgrims and the Puritans. The magazine reads like a
journal published by the Confederates just before the war.
Rushdoony points out how the South was as he called it,
"Calvinist". This is a Fundamentalist view about predestination and conversion.
Once shunned by Southern Baptist, now many Fundamentalists Southern Baptists
want to make five point Calvinism a test of faith.
Southern Baptist's oldest
seminary has now been taken over by a president who is a Calvinist · The
story keeps unfolding.
Many political observers among the Religious Right claim the problems in the black community were brought on by the Federal government. It is a vision common to southern folklore that blacks were all right until the interventionist came South with their social programs.
Atlanta's Leo Frank lynching was an ugly reminder of the
not so subtle forms of anti Semitism. This action led to the founding of the
Anti- Defamation League, an organization which Religious Right writer, Texe
Marrs, blames for the tragedy at the Waco compound.
A more subtle form of anti
Semitism is found in Pat Robertson's Illuminate theories about European bankers
controlling the world. Or, there is Rushdoony's denial of the accounts of the
Holocaust to add fuel to the fire. Southern Klansmen often had Jews on their
"hit lists".
The fact, that Southern politicians like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton committed the unforgivable sin of forming alliances with Eastern liberals, makes a point. Perhaps, as much as anything, this helps to explain their popularity around the world and the virtual hatred by the Religious Right.
As Religious Right links with Republican resurgence
continue, there are now attempts at rewriting history. It is the
Reconstructionists' view that the Abolition movement was basically a pagan
effort that was unchristian.
Current Religious Right concepts are falling on
friendly ears in the South. Issues like public education, the U.N., and state
rights have caused some to perhaps think the South has risen again. Lind loves
his own Southern culture, but, deplores its politics.
He says Southern political
concepts are the worst thing the South has to offer. Religious Right leaders'
attempt to canonize Southern politics will do the Southern church little
good.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. David Chilton,
PRODUCTIVE CHRISTIANS IN AN AGE OF GUILT
MANIPULATORS, Inst. for Christian
Economics, Tyler, Texas, 1981.
2. Tim LaHaye, THE BATTLE FOR THE PUBLIC
SCHOOLS, Fleming Revell Co.,
Old Tapan, N.J., 1983.
3. George Marsden,
UNDERSTANDING FUNDAMENTALISM & EVANGELICALISM,
Grand Rapids, 1991, pg.
195.
4. William Pitts, Ed. TEXAS BAPTIST HISTORY Vol, VII, Texas Baptist
Historical Society, 1987, pg. 5.
5. Pat Robertson, THE NEW WORLD ORDER,
Word, Dallas, 1991.
6. Alan Schwartz, Ed., THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT,
Anti-Defamation League,
New York, N.Y., 1994.
7. Willaim Snyder, HELMS
& HUNT, Univ. of N.C., Press, Chapel Hill,
N.C., pgs. 26, 104.
8.
Jerry Falwell pub., "National Liberty Journal", Nov. 1995, pg. 2.
9.
Michael Llnd, "The Southern Coup", "The New Republic", June 19,
1995, pgs.
20-29.
10. Dr. R.J. Rushdoony, "Chalcedon Report", April,
1996.
- What Tennessee Law would be under fundamentalism.
- Catholics attacked in Sullivan County
- Debate over religion killing children in Colorado.
- God has a moral right to kill..so do we.
- More quotes from fundamentalists
- The Old South and the New Religious Right
- The Christian Right seeks dominion
- The new fundamentalist Royal Race of the Redeemed.
- Christian Reconstructionists in their own words.
- Letter to Paul Hill by Gary North on the Florida Killings
- Interview with Gary North King of Christian Economics
- There's something about Gary
- 25 Questions and answers for Creationism
- Why fundamentalists are beyond reason.
- Introduction to the scientific method.
- The scientific method.
- How Alarmists undermine Science and Theology
» Archive 6 » Archive 7 » Archive 8 » Archive 9
» Archive 10