# Is the American Religious Right rooted in racism? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 24, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006 "2016-02-24T18:50:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/41 "2016-02-29T19:24:12Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Or how Reagan opened a campaign at Philadelphia, MS? Which is covered in the article linked in the OP, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/42 "2016-02-29T20:58:20Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > That point is quite laughable. > > I think a lot depends on what part of the RR you happen to subscribe to. If you’re otherwise open-minded but honestly feel that abortion is murder, I don’t see a racist motive. But if you believe in Supply Side Jesus and that people are poor because of their moral inferiority, yeah maybe there is a bit of that there. I also point out that the Bible Belt is pretty deep red and that Republicans have been blowing the racist dog whistle for years- that overlap is not accidental. Remember how the presidential candidates used to appear at Bob Jones University? Or how Reagan opened a campaign at Philadelphia, MS? Do you remember how Mike Dukakis campaigned at the same place, or how Carter opened his campaign at the birthplace of the KKK? And Reagan did not open his campaign there, he opened his campaign in New Jersey, hit the Neshoba county fair, and then went to NYC to announce his plan for the inner cities. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/43 "2016-03-03T17:29:34Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > Since we have established that the Democrat party is rooted in racism, we can see that they have been using this dog whistle for years. Howard Dean wrote a book called “Winning our Country Back”, obviously back from black people. Hillary Clinton kicked off her Senate re-election bid in 2006 with a call to"take our country back". Chuck Schumer from the same year said “We really care about taking our country back”. Clinton strategists Begala and Carville wrote a book called "Take It Back: A Battle Plan for Democratic Victory. In 2014, Joe Biden said “It’s time to take back America”. The liberal Campaign for America’s future has a conference called “Take Back America” that it throws every year where Obama and Clinton have both spoken. Bernie Sanders has also made “Take Back America” his slogan for his facebook page. Obviously, the only difference between the Democrat party and the KKK is choice of wardrobe. > [@Stringbean](#): > > You can either respond to post #22, which utterly obliterated you, or ignore it hoping the rest of us didn’t notice. > > Hint: we noticed. I feel obliterated. its especially crushing that you noticed my obliteration.:rolleyes: In what way is “take back America” dog whistle for anything other than take back America from the Republicans? I can cite article after article that says that Republicans blow dog whistles at the racists that everyone knows are in the republican party but no one wants to openly acknowledge. Trump is doing the same thing but he is using a trumpet rather than a dog whistle. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2016, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/44 "2016-03-03T17:31:20Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Is Donald Trump’s strength concentrated in the South? NO!!! If anything, his appeal is stronger in the Rust Belt. > > Is Donald Trump especially popular among religious conservatives? No- the polling shows his followers are NOT particularly religious, for the most part. > > Trump has said all kinds of things to alarm or anger Mexicans and Muslims, but has he said ANYTHING negative about black Americans? NO! He’s not even using any racist “dog whistles” or “code words” in his campaign? Shoot, he’s even talked about having Oprah as his running mate. He’d definitely get more black voters than any Republican candidate in ages. > > Sorry, but Trump’s campaign offers NOTHING to a devout Baptist Klansman (who would freak out if he knew that Trump has always been a strong gun control supporter). He’s also been pretty pro-choice his entire life but that’s not stopping allegedly single issue voters from voting for him. And you can be racist without being racist against blacks. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/45 "2016-03-04T15:43:31Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > I feel obliterated. its especially crushing that you noticed my obliteration.:rolleyes: > > In what way is “take back America” dog whistle for anything other than take back America from the Republicans? > > I can cite article after article that says that Republicans blow dog whistles at the racists that everyone knows are in the republican party but no one wants to openly acknowledge. > > Trump is doing the same thing but he is using a trumpet rather than a dog whistle. You are the one who claimed “Take back America” was a racist dog whistle. It is obviously not a dog whistle and it is ridiculous to think so. The idea that politicians are sending out secret signals to people via coded language in their speeches is a stupid conspiracy theory. I’m sure you could find lots of articles that make that claim just like I could produce alot of articles that show Hillary Clinton had Vince Foster murdered. What you have failed to provide is any actual evidence of these secret messages because there is no such evidence except in the minds of the gullible. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/46 "2016-03-04T15:51:57Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > It is obviously not a dog whistle and it is ridiculous to think so. To the extent that it implies America (or anywhere) is being run by the wrong people and “our sort” (whoever they are) need to be in charge, it is a dog whistle, because it doesn’t spell out in detail who the wrong people and “our sort” are, but leaves it open to the listener to guess. It doesn’t need to be some sort of conspiracy, just carefully suggestive - rather than explicit - advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/47 "2016-03-04T17:26:21Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > You are the one who claimed “Take back America” was a racist dog whistle. It is obviously not a dog whistle and it is ridiculous to think so. Can you point to the post where I say “take back america” is a racist dog whistle? In post 21, I say: "I can see how MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN could be dog whistle. " And phrases are dog whistles depending on who is saying the phrase. A guy who keeps talking about keeping out Muslims and deporting 11 million illegal Mexican immigrants is probably trying to appeal to a different audience when he says “make america great again” than the guy who keeps talking about free college education. > [@](#): > > The idea that politicians are sending out secret signals to people via coded language in their speeches is a stupid conspiracy theory. I’m sure you could find lots of articles that make that claim just like I could produce alot of articles that show Hillary Clinton had Vince Foster murdered. What you have failed to provide is any actual evidence of these secret messages because there is no such evidence except in the minds of the gullible. > **[Dog whistle (politics)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics)** > > In politics, a dog whistle is the use of coded or suggestive language in political messaging to garner support from a particular group without provoking opposition. The concept is named after ultrasonic dog whistles, which are audible to dogs but not humans. Dog whistles use language that appears normal to the majority but communicates specific things to intended audiences. They are generally used to convey messages on issues likely to provoke controversy without attracting negative attention. > A... Its not conspiracy. Its political fact. Republican politicians use racist dog whistles to appeal to racist that they know exist but cannot openly acknowledge. Or are you under the impression that the Republican party doesn’t deliberately try to appeal to racists? Its like you never heard of the Southern Strategy. > **[Southern strategy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy)** > > In American politics the Southern strategy was a Republican Party electoral strategy to increase political support among white voters in the South by appealing to racism against African Americans. As the civil rights movement and dismantling of Jim Crow laws in the 1950s and 1960s visibly deepened existing racial tensions in much of the Southern United States, Republican politicians such as presidential candidate Richard Nixon and Senator Barry Goldwater developed strategies that success The phra... Before that the dixiecrat arm of the Democratic party used the phrase “states right” > **[States' rights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States%27_rights#States.27_rights_as_.22code_word.22)** > > Defunct > Newspapers > Journals Its hard to see how any rational person would put theories about Hillary’s role in the death of Vince Foster in the same category as dog whistle politics. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/48 "2016-03-04T17:27:45Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > The idea that politicians are sending out secret signals to people via coded language in their speeches is a stupid conspiracy theory. The notion that they DON’T is naivete bordering on idiocy. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/49 "2016-03-04T17:52:47Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > Do you remember how Mike Dukakis campaigned at the same place, or how Carter opened his campaign at the birthplace of the KKK? And Reagan did not open his campaign there, he opened his campaign in New Jersey, hit the Neshoba county fair, and then went to NYC to announce his plan for the inner cities. Dukakis erred in appearing at Philadelphia, MS and not speaking of the civil rights murders that had taken place there. He should have been criticized for that. With Reagan, it’s semantics. [Reagan’s appearance](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13herbert.html?_r=0) was the first stop of his campaign. If you want to quibble and say that’s not where he said “I’m running”, go ahead and quibble. > [@](#): > > That was the atmosphere and that was the place that Reagan chose as the first stop in his general election campaign. The campaign debuted at the Neshoba County Fair in front of a white and, at times, raucous crowd of perhaps 10,000, chanting: “We want Reagan! We want Reagan!” > > Reagan was the first presidential candidate ever to appear at the fair, and he knew exactly what he was doing when he told that crowd, “I believe in states’ rights.” > > Reagan apologists have every right to be ashamed of that appearance by their hero, but they have no right to change the meaning of it, which was unmistakable. Commentators have been trying of late to put this appearance by Reagan into a racially benign context. > > That won’t wash. Reagan may have been blessed with a Hollywood smile and an avuncular delivery, but he was elbow deep in the same old race-baiting Southern strategy of Goldwater and Nixon. With Carter, you’re giving him a [bad rap.](http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2014/11/dispatches_from_the_reddest_of.html) > [@](#): > > What had happened was this: After the Democratic convention, Jimmy Carter opened his run for re-election with a speech in Tuscumbia, turning out a crowd of 25,000. At the Michigan State Fair, Reagan, picking up on a barb of his press secretary, but stretching it beyond the truth, declared that Carter had begun his campaign in the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan. > > In fact, the Klan began in Pulaski, Tenn. Tuscumbia is the birthplace of Helen Keller. > > “I think Lee Atwater realized we’d screwed up,” Connors said. “They knew Alabama was in play, so they sent $700 down, and I got a two-month job stuffing envelopes and writing press releases.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/50 "2016-03-04T18:44:26Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > You are the one who claimed “Take back America” was a racist dog whistle. It is obviously not a dog whistle and it is ridiculous to think so. It very obviously is, if you think for even five seconds about who is to take America back from whom in this slogan. Hint: It ain’t the 99% taking it back from the 1%. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/51 "2016-03-04T18:57:29Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > To the extent that it implies America (or anywhere) is being run by the wrong people and “our sort” (whoever they are) need to be in charge, it is a dog whistle, because it doesn’t spell out in detail who the wrong people and “our sort” are, but leaves it open to the listener to guess. It doesn’t need to be some sort of conspiracy, just carefully suggestive - rather than explicit - advertising. A dog whistle is a secret signal that only certain people can hear. When Hillary Clinton said she wanted to take America back she meant that she wanted to take it back from the Republicans. When a Republican says they want to take American back it means they want to take it back from Democrats. There is no hidden meaning, it is out front and obvious. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/52 "2016-03-04T19:09:55Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Can you point to the post where I say “take back america” is a racist dog whistle? > > In post 21, I say: > > "I can see how MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN could be dog whistle. " > > And phrases are dog whistles depending on who is saying the phrase. > > A guy who keeps talking about keeping out Muslims and deporting 11 million illegal Mexican immigrants is probably trying to appeal to a different audience when he says “make america great again” than the guy who keeps talking about free college education. > > [Dog whistle (politics) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics) > > Its not conspiracy. Its political fact. Republican politicians use racist dog whistles to appeal to racist that they know exist but cannot openly acknowledge. Or are you under the impression that the Republican party doesn’t deliberately try to appeal to racists? > > Its like you never heard of the Southern Strategy. > > [Southern strategy - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy) > > Before that the dixiecrat arm of the Democratic party used the phrase “states right” > > [States' rights - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States%27_rights#States.27_rights_as_.22code_word.22) > > Its hard to see how any rational person would put theories about Hillary’s role in the death of Vince Foster in the same category as dog whistle politics. YMMV I am aware of the racist Southern Strategy and Cinderella and that they are both stories that never happened. If you have evidence of such a thing as a racist dog whistle existing beyond some liberal claiming that they do go ahead and produce it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/53 "2016-03-04T19:17:27Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > I am aware of the racist Southern Strategy and Cinderella and that they are both stories that never happened. The [Southern](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy) [Strategy](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Southern_strategy) is as real and well-documented as anything in the history of American electoral or partisan politics. Its only relevance to Cinderella is that both offer you a moral lesson: If the shoe fits, wear it. See also [here](http://www.salon.com/2016/03/04/why_republicans_blaming_democrats_for_the_kkk_are_profoundly_wrong/). ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/54 "2016-03-04T19:20:07Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Dukakis erred in appearing at Philadelphia, MS and not speaking of the civil rights murders that had taken place there. He should have been criticized for that. > > With Reagan, it’s semantics. [Reagan’s appearance](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13herbert.html?_r=0) was the first stop of his campaign. If you want to quibble and say that’s not where he said “I’m running”, go ahead and quibble. > > With Carter, you’re giving him a [bad rap.](http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2014/11/dispatches_from_the_reddest_of.html) It was not the first stop in his campaign, New Jersey was. The fact that Civil Rights murders happened seven miles away 16 years before does not turn a county fair into a meeting of racists. That is like saying any politician who speaks in Dallas is signalling their approval of the Kennedy assassination. Mississippi was an important state in the election of 1980 that Carter had won the previous election and that Reagan wanted to win. Reagan spoke at the fair for the same reason Dukakis did, to try to win votes. The question is one of standards, if Reagan is a racist for speaking at a county fair near where a civil rights killing had happened 16 years before than Carter is one for speaking at the town where the KKK was formed. I happen to think both appearances mean nothing and that having something bad happen in a place in the 1960s does not forever mark anyone who speaks there as tainted. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/55 "2016-03-04T19:32:05Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > If you have evidence of such a thing as a racist dog whistle existing beyond some liberal claiming that they do go ahead and produce it. [Lee Atwater ain’t no liberal.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics#United_States) ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/56 "2016-03-04T19:32:19Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The [Southern](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy) [Strategy](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Southern_strategy) is as real and well-documented as anything in the history of American electoral or partisan politics. > > Its only relevance to Cinderella is that both offer you a moral lesson: If the shoe fits, wear it. > > See also [here](http://www.salon.com/2016/03/04/why_republicans_blaming_democrats_for_the_kkk_are_profoundly_wrong/). [No](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/04/30/southern_whites_shift_to_the_gop_predates_the_60s_118172.html) [it](http://www.claremont.org/crb/article/the-myth-of-the-racist-republicans/) [isn’t](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/magazine/10Section2b.t-4.html?_r=0). [Repeating](http://townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/2014/07/03/nixons-southern-strategy-and-a-liberal-big-lie-n1858667/page/full) [a](http://www.redstate.com/diary/Dan_McLaughlin/2012/07/11/the-southern-strategy-myth-and-the-lost-majority/) [myth](http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2012/01/25/the-truth-about-the-southern-strategy-the-msm-doesnt-want-you-to-know/) [does](http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mlassite/risen.html) [not](http://newsninja2012.com/setting-history-straight-how-did-the-southern-strategy-myth-begin/) [make](http://stacyswimp.net/2011/10/03/another-liberal-lie-exposed-the-myth-of-the-southern-strategy/) [it](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/394137/landrieus-loss-end-epoch-kevin-d-williamson) [true](http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/did-the-southern-strategy-really-exist/question-3816929/). The Southern Strategy myth is sour grapes, the South does not vote for Democrats anymore so they call southerners names. You have also missed the point of Cinderella. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/57 "2016-03-04T19:34:53Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Lee Atwater ain’t no liberal.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics#United_States) The Lee Atwater quote means the opposite of what you think it does. He is saying that since appeals to race backfire candidates have to talk about other issues. Yet you are claiming that by saying that appeals to race backfire candidates should appeal race.It makes no sense the way you interpret it. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/58 "2016-03-04T19:42:46Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Of course. My point is that divorce is not an strong moral indicator in the protestant RR. Remember that their demigod Reagan was divorced, serial marriage is well accepted in America, there really isn’t a question of why they would support a divorced candidate. It was the Reagan Revolution that got the Religious Right to drop divorce as an issue. Prior to that, being divorced was looked down upon in that society. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/59 "2016-03-05T15:40:15Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > No, it’s not clear to me at all. Consider the position of the “Christian Left”, far less judgmental, far more inclusive, resting their life philosophy on “Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself” and “Do Unto Others…” The Christian Left rely on the words and actions of Jesus as their guideline. The Christian Right rely on their dogmatic rejection of Homosexuality and Abortion. There is very little tolerance there, and, thus, very little Christianity, as defined by the life of Christ. I think Sanders outlined this position quite adequately at that RR university – Liberty? whatever. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006/60 "2016-03-08T17:07:53Z")
[Valerie Tarico writes:](http://www.alternet.org/belief/why-people-dont-take-right-wing-evangelicals-so-seriously-anymore) > [@](#): > > The Evangelical brand is so depleted and tainted at this point that Russell Moore, a prominent leader of the Southern Baptist Convention recently said that he will no longer call himself an “Evangelical Christian,” thanks—he implied—to association between Evangelicals and Trump. Instead he is using the term “Gospel Christian”—at least till the 2016 election is over. While Trump has received endorsements from Evangelical icons including Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Pat Robertson, other Evangelical leaders (e.g. here, here) have joined Moore in lamenting the deep and wide Evangelical attraction to Trump, which they say is antithetical to their values. > > But how much, really, is the Trump brand antithetical to the Evangelical brand? Humanist commentator James Croft argues that Trump _is_ what Evangelicalism, in the hands of the Religious Right, has become: > > “The religious right in America has always been a political philosophy based on bullying, pandering, projecting strength to hide fear and weakness, and proud, aggressive ignorance. That’s what it’s been about from the beginning. Trump has merely distilled those elements into a decoction so deadly that even some evangelicals are starting to recognize the venom they have injected into American culture.” > > Croft says that Pastors like Joel Osteen and Rick Warren use Jesus as a fig leaf “to drape over social views that would otherwise be revealed as nakedly evil.” > > As a former Evangelical, I have to side with Croft: the Evangelical brand problem is much bigger than Trump and his candidacy or the morally-bankrupt priorities and theocratic aspirations of fellow Republican candidates Cruz and Rubio. Evangelicals may use the name of Jesus for cover, but even Jesus is too small a fig leaf to hide the fact outsiders looking at Evangelical Christianity see more prick than heart. > > Here is what the Evangelical brand looks like from the outside: > > \ > > **Evangelical means fearful and bigoted.** While more secular Europeans and Canadians offer aid to Syrian refugees, Evangelical Christians have instead sought to exclude Muslims. They have used their vast empire of telecommunications channels to inspire not charity but fear of imminent Sharia in the U.S. and of refugees more broadly. They have urged that Latin American refugees be sent home so that we can build a wall across the southern border before they come back. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-american-religious-right-rooted-in-racism/747006.md?page=4)