If you ever watch a Republican debate, the RNC, CPAC, or any other conservative event, you will most likely hear some reference to God, Jesus, or prayer. It’s almost a default presumption that a politician on the right side of the isle is religious to some extent; if they’re “born again Christians” that’s even better. This phenomenon is so normalized, very few people stop to think in depth about the prominence of a belief in a higher power in conservative thought. As I am personally, like Mike Pence, Christian, conservative, and Republican (in that order), I will attempt to bring the connecting fibers between these two distinct ideologies to light. Conservative thought is informed by a belief in absolute human rights and morality, a belief that logically implies some arbiter of these absolutes: God.
Even in the very beginning of American conservatism, God was central to the entire ideology. In the Declaration of Independence, an all-powerful Creator is cited as the origin of the unalienable rights of human beings that are protected by the laws of the nation. Although the mention of God is absent from the Constitution, the Bill of Rights acknowledges unalienable rights of American citizens. The document itself does not grant the rights, and it is up to the reader to determine the source of these rights. Many conservatives and many who aren’t conservative consider a divine power to be the origin of the rights protected by and from the government. The ideas of the founders of rights above government are reflected in modern conservatism’s resistance of the centralization and empowerment of government and the championing of the individual.
A belief in a higher power also contributes to conservatives’ strict traditionalist stereotype. Many conservative stances such as opposition to abortion and euthanasia, support of traditional families, and valuing of personal responsibility is a belief in absolute morality dictated by this deity, a standard that has been remarkably consistent throughout the centuries. Conservatism advocates tolerance of all ideas and beliefs, but the morality of religion, usually one of Judeo-Christian association, plays a part in the lawmaking and stances of many on the right because that is what their morality is based upon and laws must be absolute. This stands in contrast to many secular lawmakers who often believe in moral relativism, that actions are not inherently right or wrong, and have totally different personal moral bases for legislation. I personally don’t understand how a person with no faith can believe in absolute human rights and moral law, and welcome anyone from that background to explain their positions to me.
Conservative ideas are built on the foundation of an absolute moral truth determined by a higher power. This moral truth includes inalienable rights of human beings that are acknowledged, not given, by the Constitution. Belief in such absolutes inevitably contributes to policy making and legislation, and many examples of this can be seen in the Republican party. I, as a Christian conservative, follow my faith first, and this informs all of my political opinions and has, along with my own logical processes, led me to subscribe to conservatism. In no way am I implying that persons cannot take faith and end up with a totally different ideology, as this is undeniably true. I hope that our nation can remain tolerant of all religions and beliefs, but that we also strive to find the truth, wherever it may lie, and base our laws and government upon it.
I really like this post
For whatever reason each word of my response is automatically capitalizing the first letter of each word, and I do not like that at all. Anyway, I think that a lot of people, mostly the left, don’t really understand the stregnth of faith and that leads them to think we’re all bigots for believing in a higher power. In reality, it’s humility in the face of the lord that drives us to act the way we do. Nobody seems to respect that.