What's made the Religious Right? Notes

Some recommended texts to understand the Religious Right: Michael McVicar's biography of Roussas John Rushdoony; Francis Schaeffer's Manifesto; and Jerome Himmelstein's political history.

The ‘Religious right’ is a movement defined by a doctrine that all law is religious in origin and so, if the determining law is not Christian, then the law will become anti-Christian. The role of the state is to promote and sustain Christian domination of society and culture, though in some accounts this may be accompanied by toleration of dissent (Rushdoony and Schaeffer disagreed on that point). The state has limited functions: among other things it should not interfere in the working of the free market.

Christians must engage in ‘cultural war’ against rival claims to control of law, the state and social life. This movement is also called ‘Christian Right’ or ‘Christian conservative.’ It differs from ‘conservative’ Christian thought especially in rejecting separation of church and state and encouraging the identification of the gospel with a political cause. Since its central claim is that all law is based on religion, the term ‘Religious Right’ is more appropriate than ‘Christian Right’. It often identifies itself, and its favoured legal model, as ‘Judeo-Christian,’ reflecting the eminence of Old Testament law in Religious Right thought.