Looking left

President Bush's vocalization of his religious beliefs while in office has increased the visibility of the religious right. MSNBC has credited this group with securing Bush's 2004 reelection — evidence of its burgeoning social influence. The media coverage of religious conservatism is disproportionate, however. Globally, as well as on this campus, the breadth of middle ground between the left and the right stretches so much that the extremes are a minority. Additionally, there is an active, if less vocal, religious left at work.

Identifying and defining members of the latter group can be difficult, especially because it is hard to do so except in relative terms. On this issue, Presbyterian Reverend Peter Hazelrigg said, "As for the 'religious left,' I think the problem with the term is that it indicates that it's the exact opposite of the 'right.' Part of being in a liberal or a progressive tradition is that it's less black and white. And so to just say 'religious left' is too simple."

Take, for example, Elizabeth Jemison '08. Though friends might define her as liberal, Jemison hedges, saying, "I don't know that I could position myself exactly on the left [or] right. In some ways, I have trouble understanding exactly what people mean by the religious left ... opposing the right and the left doesn't really do much."

Similarly, Andrew Matthews '06 identifies himself as actively religious but takes issue with the definitions of right and left, saying, "I try to get away from labels because people have a lot of preconceptions."

Still, there are some clear differences. Many politically conservative Christians embrace evangelical Christianity that focuses on whether or not an individual is "saved." Hazelrigg explains that this is not the case with more left-leaning religious denominations.

"My tradition falls much more in terms of the theological concept of grace; that we are saved not by anything of our own doing or by our own choice, but because of what Christ has done for us," he said of Presbyterianism. "I'm less concerned as a pastor about the saving of an individual's soul and more about responding to this grace."

"I think it's kind of like Nixon's 'Silent Majority' speech," said James Williams '06, an active member of the Religious Life Council and one of only approximately 120,000 Zoroastrians in the world. Williams added, "I consider myself religious and I'm liberal." He also said that his religion plays into his politics. "The reason I'm ... active in politics is because I believe I have a religious calling to do public service," he says. "For me, public service is about government as a social contract, and politics is about making society a better place."

In Williams' experience, there is "a pretty decent split" here on campus between religious conservatives and liberals but a clear conservative majority when it comes to speaking out. Williams added that religion is also important to Democratic policy, though it is perhaps not as explicitly stated as in Republican policy.

"If you look at any of ... JFK's, Robert Kennedy's, FDR's or Martin Luther King's [speeches, they] are peppered with religious references grounded in moral and ethical beliefs," he said.

The religious left is, of course, not restricted to those of Christian faiths. Former president of the Center for Jewish Life, Jonah Perlman '06, said that he was "born a card-carrying Democrat." He is quick to disprove the stereotype of Jews as completely liberal, however. Perlman noted that the more religiously conservative or Orthodox Jews can be drawn to the supposedly traditional family values that conservatives tout.

It is important to remember how much of the religious world and the world at large are not made up of extremes. The real "left" and "right" are simply the fringes of an entire spectrum of beliefs. Jemison said, "I think there's substantially more middle ground between the devout people of this country than is commonly [noted] in depicting the religious right."

Blair Moorhead '07, who considers herself "quite liberal," added in an email, "I do believe that the conservative Christian groups are talked about more and therefore, they seem to be the majority. But I bet people would be surprised at how many liberal Christian students there are on campus."

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As Williams pointed out, religion often influences politics no matter how conservative or liberal a person is. While some Republicans may have a more defined agenda influenced by their religious preferences, many Democrats are also religiously inclined. Williams said, "I actually think that certainly the majority of Democrats are religious, and my guess is that perhaps even the majority of Democratic elected officials are religious."

"Government is in place for our survival and to hopefully promote justice and peace," Matthews added.

Perhaps the pluralistic tendencies of Democrats and the quiet faith of religious liberals are overshadowed by the honed focus of Republicans and the vocal tendencies of conservative religion. In the end, it is the gray area — composed of the shared beliefs of both Left and Right — that encompasses the vast majority of the country and this campus.