`The Christian Right’ scholarly, but unsatisfying

BOOKS IN REVIEW

THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT AND CONGRESS, by Matthew C. Moen, University of Alabama Press, 234 pages, $32.95.

In “The Christian Right and Congress,” Matthew C. Moen, assistant professor of political science at the University of Maine, seeks to answer questions concerning why the Christian Right arose suddenly in the 1970s, how it focused attention on its issues and pushed its agenda, what that agenda revealed about the movement’s nature, and its relative success.

According to Moen, “The Christian Right is composed of citizens who are appreciably more conservative than the rest of the public on a wide range of political issues … who have historically eschewed politics, preferring to concentrate their energies on their own spiritual lives and salvation.”

The book is divided into four major parts:

Why the Christian Right arose and how it placed its concerns on the systematic and congressional agendas;

Examination of the players of the Christian Right as well as the politicians who promoted its agenda;

Examination of the Christian Right’s activities and influence on Capitol Hill;

An evaluation of the movement.

It is unfortunate that a book containing inherently interesting material should be written in such a pedantic manner. The reader is not allowed the freedom to become immersed in the subject; instead we are enveloped in formal outline structure. Moen never seems to figure out that he is writing a book, not an extended research paper.

Moen does make numerous interesting observations concerning the nature and character of the movement, particularly concerning the role of liberals — who were “simply oblivious” to the fundamentalists — and the constant disagreement and lack of mutuality that kept the Christian Right a group of groups, rather than one effective unit.

He also points out that although the Reagan administration often verbally agreed with issues on the Christian Right’s agenda, in practice it made sure that these issues would not come under serious consideration until the White House was ready.

Only during the first Reagan term did the Christian Right make any real impact in Washington, and very little of that was legislative. Moen reminds us, however, that “most interest groups lobbying on the Hill would be pleased with a track record even approaching that of the Christian Right during the first Reagan term.”

By the summer of 1984, it was obvious that the movement had developed serious problems. Its reputation had been damaged in numerous ways, and “members (of Congress) wondered if it was not prone to factionalism, and certainly believed it was belligerent and somewhat irresponsible.” It often attempted to win unwinnable struggles, was politically unsophisticated, and evidenced a “less than complete understanding of the issues.” By January 1986, the Christian Right’s “reputation on the Hill was in tatters; its agenda was no longer welcome.”

It is a shame that Moen chose to impose such stringent parameters on his work. As Jeffrey Hadden and Anson Shupe point out in their 1988 “Televangelism: Power and Politics on God’s Frontier,” “The `big picture’ of evangelicals-and-fundamentalists-turned-political cannot start with the Washington for Jesus rally in 1980 or the Moral Majority in 1979. Most journalists and commentators make that mistake. They stop short of looking beyond the immediate scene to answer the question: `Where did all this activism come from?’ The fact is that the roots of the cultural revolution now under way … are sunk deep in the history of belief, specifically the belief that America is a special nation holding a covenant with God, with dominion as the payoff for faithfully honoring it.”

Moen also stopped short. The result is a book which is scholarly, but unsatisfying; competently written, but dull; adequate, but without vision.