-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The Evangelical Right arose from the moral outrage triggered by the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. That compelling portrait of their origins glosses over the movement’s less-than-heroic inception. While Roman Catholics condemned the ruling, W. Barry Garrett of Baptist Press wrote, “Religious liberty, human equality and justice are advanced by the Supreme Court abortion decision.” Wayne Dehoney, Southern Baptist Convention president in the 1960’s, noted, in 1976, the difference between Protestant and Catholic theology when he said: “Protestant theology generally takes Genesis 2:7 as a statement that the soul is formed at breath, not conception.”
The Evangelical Right did not come together in response to the Roe v. Wade decision but in response to the attempt by the IRS to rescind the tax-exempt status of private schools because of the school’s racially discriminatory policies.
In Green v. Connally (1972), the United States District Court, District of Columbia, enjoined the IRS from approving any application for tax exempt status for any private school in the State of Mississippi unless that school has “has publicized the fact that it has a racially nondiscriminatory policy as to students.”
In 1975, the IRS sought to revoke the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University because the school’s regulations prohibited inter-racial dating. It wasn’t until 1971 that African-Americans were admitted and then only if they were married. In Bob Jones University v. United States (1983), the Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision, found that:
The Government’s fundamental, overriding interest in eradicating racial discrimination in education substantially outweighs whatever burden denial of tax benefits places on petitioners’ exercise of their religious beliefs.
Paul M. Weyrich, a longtime conservative activist, and one of the architects of the Religious Right in the late 1970s, insisted that the political movement got its start when the IRS tried to rescind the tax-exempt status of schools that practiced racial discrimination. Weyrich tried for years to energize evangelical voters over issues such as school prayer, abortion, and the proposed equal rights amendment. Weyrich added: “What changed their mind was Jimmy Carter’s intervention against the Christian schools, trying to deny them tax-exempt status on the basis of so-called de facto segregation.” The 1972 Green decision and the 1975 IRS action against Bob Jones University actually predate Jimmy Carter’s presidency (1977-1981).
Discrimination based on race makes absolutely no sense based on genetics alone. Dr. Spencer Wells has traced The Journey of Man through evidence uncovered in the Y-chromosome. This evidence shows that evangelicals, and everyone else, are descended from Africans. Oh the irony! White evangelicals can trace their ancestry back to black Africans. Maybe that’s the real reason they deny evolution.
H/T: Randall Balmer, Jonathan Dudley, Bob Allen, Ed Kilgore.
MS — yep, but I kinda doubt it in Billy Sunday’s case. He had a long and storied evangelical career when many of those practitioners at the time were “somewhat shady.” There was some concern that Sunday may have misapplied contributions, but nothing came of it. Instead he lived a rather modest life free of scandal. Gotta give credit where credit is due — but it is telling when you have to give a preacher credit for not being a scalawag.
Oro Lee,
His record as an baseball player was rather mediocre when I looked it up:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sundabi01.shtml . What I knew of him came from mention in the various Baseball Encyclopedias I used to have when baseball statistics was my hobby.
He appears to be the model for Sinclair Lewis’ “Elmer Gantry” and indeed it was that book that made me skeptical of the preachers of the early Twentieth Century. From Wiki he does seems less doctrinaire than most of his peers and he did support women’s suffrage.
I’ll contact you offline.
Oro Lee,
Did you know that Billy Sunday first became notsble as a baseball player in an era of that game where players were seen as somewhat shady?
Raff,
Because I don’t think in terms of race whether I like someone or not, Anons statement was in my opinion more heckling than anything of substance. I generally like everyone until I have a reason not to associate with them any longer. Anon, is the type of person I probably wouldn’t associate with outside of this blog.
To be clear there are certain areas, white, black, Hispanic I would not go into even during the daylight…. It’s not because I’m racist or elitist…. It’s because I value my personal safety…. There are bad groups and dishonest people of any group…. That’s why I choose not to associate with them…
Think about it in the terms of gangs… Hells Angles…. MS13…. Bloods and Crips…
AY,
Sure there racists everywhere, but anon was suggesting that if you did not agree with him then you are a hater.
You know raff,
Hate comes in many forms…. Some of the most racist folks I know are from the north… At least down south, you know where you stand….. You may not agree with it, but it does not mean it does not exist…
anon,
if we don’t agree with your comments or your beliefs we are deemed to “hate” you?
What Oro Lee said.
BTW, Anon, there’s your hate.
“The [latest iteration of the] Evangelical Right[‘s involvement in politics] arose from the moral outrage triggered by the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
Christian fundamentalist involvement in politics is as American as apple pie. For example, the great evangelist Rev. Billy Sunday’s excoriating prohibition sermons are legendary. (@4:45 he starts in on the undocumented and naturalized)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvRJOSL6STY
But his disdain for the common man was matched for his admiration of the wealthy. The one percenters never had a better B.S. preacher
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-15/racist-alabama-legacy-shadows-high-court-on-voting-rights.html Just saw a list of the most religious states. Alabama and Utah topped the list followed by Mississippi.
Good article David…..
If you don’t want to dance with the beast don’t take their money….. That’s the philophsy of Hillsdale college in Michigan…. They take no federal funds…. Not even student financial aid…..
I agree with you about the evangical right…. There are evangelicals that don’t even have a faith… But want to belong to something….
Wow! I thought the left was not supposed to be all about the hate. Go figure. What is your mantra, “That which we do not agree with, we must hate.”
Great article. It is amazing that it took a money issue to get the religious wingnuts on their feet to complain. I can only hope that the IRS goes after the status of any church that has been practicing politics from the pulpit. That includes the Catholic Church whose pasters were very involved in this past Presidential election.
This is so true. When I worked at the legislature in the late seventies for the health and welfare committee, the evangelicals were not yet showing up at the hearings on abortion and family planning.
These folks love to rewrite history … from human evolution to their own movement’s beginnings. It’s what they do; it’s who they are … fantasy folk.
Also just another example of the death throes being experienced by the Republican Party as its different factions fight to remain relevant.
”Wayne Dehoney, Southern Baptist Convention president in the 1960′s, noted, in 1976, the difference between Protestant and Catholic theology when he said: “Protestant theology generally takes Genesis 2:7 as a statement that the soul is formed at breath, not conception.”
David,
The opening shot – Good (The truth of the religious hypocrisy)
“The Evangelical Right did not come together in response to the Roe v. Wade decision but in response to the attempt by the IRS to rescind the tax-exempt status of private schools because of the school’s racially discriminatory policies.”
The defining proposition – Better (Cogent exposition)
“Paul M. Weyrich, a longtime conservative activist, and one of the architects of the Religious Right in the late 1970s, insisted that the political movement got its start when the IRS tried to rescind the tax-exempt status of schools that practiced racial discrimination.”
The argument clincher – Best (One has only to know Weyrich’s high status”)
The entire Guest Blog – Brilliant
Your summation of this bogus movement is elegant in its brevity. I can only add the obvious which is these religious-based private schools were being established as a tax free answer to Brown v .Bd.of Ed. and it mandating desegregation. The only thing religious about them was that their religious backers still believed the old Southern Baptist teaching that Black people were inferior to White people and should thus be segregated from them. Pious pablum from racists who wanted their “glorious” tradition of “Jim Crow” and murderous repression to continue. Abortion was a convenient attention grabber because it ostensibly had to do with cute little babies. Naturally, the phony “Right to Life” Movement could care less about babies when they’re born. God Damn Them for their hypocrisy.
Whatever they are, they are not in any way christian. Neither am I, but still…
In a more recent context, The Evangelical Right’s Roots are traced to Oil-Qaeda:
(False Spontaneity of the Tea Party).
On a related note, the modern doctrine on corporate personhood also has its origins in tax law, and, specifically, statutes related to ending racial discrimination.
The Southern Pacific Railroad didn’t want to pay taxes for fenced land bordering their routes, and found a loophole under a California law mean to to protect black litigants post Civil War.
The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, and decided on the basis of the 14th Amendment, meant to ensure that freed blacks were also given the rights of citizens.
And now corporations are immortal scrooges.
Nal,
I know that you are focusing on U.S. political / legal machinations as they intersect with “The Evangelical Right’s Roots“, but then you go into following the genetic trail, so I think you opened up a valid comment on another macrocosm which is applicable here too:
(Weekend Rebel Science Excursion – 15, quoting Charles Darwin). Darwin is still right up there with the Pope in perceived infallibility, even though rank racism had infected him to the point of saying natural selection would rid the world of inferior races sooner than later.
Following that, since natural selection seemed to be moving to slow for some folks, came social natural selection:
(Eugenics in the United States). The current politics is a muddled mishmash of evolutionary eugenics mixed with holier than thou religious fundamentalism not unlike its secular counterpart.
The twist can easily be seen by noting the eugenicists once touted sterilization and other population diminishing practices directed at “lower races.”
Roe v Wade is an event that not only could cause a leak where other than “lower races” could suffer population decrease, but it also took place when the personal nature of that dynamic rose to the top, and individualism was seen as a better way to deal with the issue.
In other words, any white woman, along with her significant other, working with the medical professional, could decide what is best for her personal life path at a given time.
The mass-production ideology of getting rid of entire races via eugenic madness gave way to the personal touch.
The problem the event presented was that white women would diminish the population of the white race, which is against one particular denomination of the natural selection religion.
Natural selection of the social-Darwinian sort is the way of saying the superior white race is the fittest to survive, so abortions by white women is heretical.
NO! Thaht can’t be possible! Since the world is only 6000 years old (having been created in late August(the 23rd I believe) of 4004 BC) there is not nearly enough time for humans to spread out as this scientific theory states. Besides, my bible says that “God created all the races of the world” not one race.