Conservative is not a synonym of faithful, nor liberal an antonym
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No comments [ Add Comment ]By Steve Olsen
Guest commentary
I
have been a big fan of Neal Humphrey's "Top of Utah Voices" commentaries for years, going back to when we both appeared monthly in that space. Neal is a bright guy with a talent for making a point. I hope his work continues for many years.
Having said that, I'd like to offer a few comments concerning his April 24 piece "Why is the Religious Right, right?" To start with, I agree with one of his premises: "people looking for meaning in their lives actually welcome an opportunity to make a meaningful commitment." Some of the truest words ever spoken by Joseph Smith were, "Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation." We are in total agreement on that, including Neal's observation that the reason for the decline of many mainline Protestant denominations is because they require little commitment from their members.
My beef with Neal's analysis is when he falls back on the Right's stereotypes of liberalism and conservatism. Anyone who has read Ann Coulter knows what I'm talking about. If you're a liberal, you're supposedly anti-God, anti-church, anti-family, anti-guns, anti-business, anti-free enterprise, anti-life, and are socialist, pro-big government, pro-tax, intellectually snobbish, un-patriotic, un-American, etc.
Sorry, but I'm not buying it. For too long, Americans have allowed the Republican Noise Machine to redefine the term "conservative" to stand for everything that is good and "liberal" to stand for everything that is evil. In addition to the insinuation that liberalism is synonymous with lack of religious commitment, Neal's piece includes the obligatory stereotypical labeling of liberals as champions of sexual perversion.
I beg to differ that only faith-based groups affiliated with the Religious Right are flourishing in America today. In fact, Neal is a little behind the times. In a feature article in Time magazine in February 2007, Rev. Jim Wallis wrote the following: "In the churches, a combination of deeper compassion and better theology has moved many pastors and congregations away from the partisan politics of the Religious Right. In politics, we are beginning to see a leveling of the playing field between the two parties on religion and 'moral values,' and the media are finally beginning to cover the many and diverse voices of faith. These are all big changes in American life, and the rest of the world is taking notice. 'Evangelicals -- especially the new generation of pastors and young people -- are deserting the Religious Right in droves. The evangelical social agenda is now much broader and deeper, engaging issues like poverty and economic justice, global warming, HIV/AIDS, sex trafficking, genocide in Darfur and the ethics of the war in Iraq."
People of faith are waking up to the fact that the marriage between fundamentalist Christianity and wealthy corporate special interests in America's conservative movement is something that Jesus wouldn't have recognized. Even the Southern Baptist Conference is starting to move away from partisan politics and speaking out more on issues like world poverty, violence and the environment.
As an active Latter-day Saint, I also must respectfully disagree with Neal's labeling of my faith as "conservative." True, many Utah Mormons would embrace this label (out of cultural rather than religious reasons), but the church is a worldwide organization. A Relief Society president I knew on my mission in Sweden, a passionate Socialist and a devout Latter-day Saint, would certainly argue the point.
Here's the bottom line, Neal, my good friend: The word "conservative" is not a synonym of "faithful" or "spiritually committed," nor is the word "liberal" an antonym of those ideals. The key is that living faith requires sacrifice; both in "keeping (oneself) unspotted from the world," and in "visit(ing) the widows and fatherless in their affliction" (James 1:27).
Under the leadership of liberal evangelicals like Rev. Wallis and former President Jimmy Carter, the American Church is experiencing a rebirth of commitment toward the widows, the fatherless and the poor. That is a healthy trend.
Olsen, a candidate for the 1st Congressional District seat in 2006, is vice-chair of Weber County's Democrats.
