Practice What You Preach

The political clout of the religious right has been steadily increasing, as evidenced by their decisive support of Republican candidates in the most recent elections. Leaders of the religious right promote the movement as a bulwark of morality and traditional Christian values in the midst of a decadent society. But their actions and shrill rhetoric are often at odds with the biblical principles they claim to support.

Ostensibly, the religious right is concerned with "family values." They deplore the ubiquitous sex and violence in the music, movies and TV shows that Hollywood churns out. They bemoan America's lack of respect for the conventional, nuclear family, and the prevalence of teenage sex and pregnancies, abortions, and contraception.

Yet, while paying lip service to chastity, the religious right has a voracious appetite for tawdry tales of sexual impropriety. These conservative Christians may spurn gossip about movie stars and trashy afternoon talk shows, but their interest in unsubstantiated rumors about Bill Clinton's alleged affairs is more than a healthy concern for the moral compass of the President. It represents an irrational hatred of Clinton and a perverse desire for smut.

For example, the religious right has been especially fond of "The Clinton Chronicles," a so-called religious documentary video which does not even meet the scrupulous journalistic standards set by "Hard Copy" and "A Current Affair." This video features spurious, bizarre tales about the President and finds him guilty of not only rampant philandery but drug trafficking and murder as well. In perhaps the most ironic development in tele-evangelistic history, Jerry Falwell used his "Old Time Gospel Hour" TV program as a forum to market "The Clinton Chronicles."

Also sweeping the Bible Belt is the crusade for the "truth" in the Paula Jones scandal. Conservative Christians have rallied to support Jones and her accusations against the President, and their moral indignation has been expressed in financial contributions to her legal fund. This money funds the manufacture of yet more hysterical rumors and ridiculous allegations.

The religious right's anti-Clinton fervor is matched only by their zeal for the Republican Party. Again, they seem to prefer lip-service to substance--they endorse school prayer instead of school lunches, they sermonize about family values while their arch-enemy, Clinton, promotes the Family Medical Leave Act.

The Republican agenda that the religious right endorses is characterized by assaults on civil rights, environmental protections and social welfare programs. The Republicans are not supporting improvements in education, job training or public health. Instead, they declare that the War on Poverty is over, that America must cut her losses and leave the poor (who are usually lazy and often inherently stupid) to fend for themselves. While it is difficult to find prescriptions for public policy in the Bible, the tenets of mean-spirited neo-conservatism present a stark contrast to the words of Jesus: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has annointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed..." (Luke 4:18).

The hypocrites of the religious right do not advocate freedom and liberation of the oppressed--they are the shock troops of cultural repression. These are the people that Pat Buchanan was appealing to at the 1992 GOP convention when he called for a "cultural war." They bristle at multicultural education, confuse patriotism with xenophobia and believe that morality can be legally enforced. They tremble with rage when a progressive woman like Hillary Clinton wields authority.

The leaders of the religious right are similar to the Alabama ministers Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. eloquently appealed to in his "Letter From Birmingham Jail" over 30 years ago. Instead of calling for racial, social and economic justice, today's leaders mimic their reactionary predecessors. As King wrote: "In the midst of injustices," they "stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities."

David W. Brown's column appears alternate Wednesdays.