Conservatives, Liberals, & Demonization

In The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, Jonathan Haidt discusses how conservatives and liberals in the U.S. have become polarized – to the detriment of the common good. He says his social psychological research shows both groups sacralize different values (conservatives personal responsibility and liberals compassion for others) and so are at odds over taxation for welfare. And because politics has thus become religion, the groups demonize rather than try to understand and work with each other. Haidt hopes we can eventually adopt norms discouraging demonization just as we came to disapprove of sexual harassment.

Christians, Politics, & Faithfulness

In To Change the World, James Davison Hunter argues that in general, Christians are using politics as their primary tool to further the purposes of Christianity in the world. He thinks this is true of the Christian Right, who want to save the U.S. from secularism and liberalism, the Christian Left, who oppose the Christian Right and side with the poor and the oppressed, and the Neo-Anabaptists, who reject the government but do so for political reasons. Hunter urges against all three that a faithful public Christian witness need not employ political means or achieve political ends to be biblical.