Of why self-appointed leaders of the American religious left - notably Michael Lerner and Jim Wallis - should not vilify "radical secularism" : that amounts to - borrowing a conservative slogan - "feeding the beast".

First of all, those on all parts of the political spectrum who excoriate "secularists" rarely, if ever, identify those so maligned.

When leaders of the religious left condemn "secularists" and even brand that poorly defined group as "radical" - without giving examples of what "radical" behavior might amount to  - they risk merely feeding the false rhetorical frames constructed by the political tacticians who helped engineer the Christian right's current political ascendancy.

Those on the religious left engaging in such attacks might do well to consider how their words feed the propositions long advanced by the religious right that 1) "god" has been driven from the American public realm and 2) that some sort of societal ills have resulted.

Now, the first proposition can be loosely tied to fact: yes, Christianity there gets conflated with "god" but at least the dubious claim has its origin in actual court decisions - banning prayer in public schools, on so on.

But the second proposition holds that after "secularists" had driven "god" from the "public square" ( whatever that is ) the resulting void in "values" led to an increase in measurable societal ills. That claim has become a cherished article of faith by the Christian right and, although factually baseless, has played a central role in animating the rise of the contemporary religious right movement.

The vilification of "secularists" -  "radical" ones at that - is integral to claims of the Christian right which allege an ongoing American moral and societal decline, and those claims - in turn -  are a critical centerpiece of the long strategy strategy for that political movement aspiring to implement an American Chrisitan theocracy.

It may indeed be the case that many leaders of the religious left have bought into the claims of the religious right on an alleged unravelling of America's moral and societal fabric. But, evidence for that case is dubious at best, and the religious left might do well to evaluate the extent to which its political positions should be based on facts or on propagandistic bluster.

by Bruce Wilson on Sat Apr 22, 2006 at 09:21:58 AM EST