Whither America's religious right?
With gay marriage accepted even within the GOP, one battle in the 'culture wars' has been won. But new fronts are opening
Katherine Stewart
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 7 April 2013 09.04 EDT
Is there a Reformation taking place in the Republican party? The word on the street that the party of "straights" is starting to bend, especially on the issue of same-sex marriage.
In February, 131 noted Republicans signed an amicus brief submitted to the US supreme court arguing that marriage is a fundamental right that should not be denied to gay and lesbian Americans. RNC Chair Reince Priebus has said that the party should not "divide and subtract" members who support marriage equality. Senators Mark Kirk and Rob Portman are the most recent GOP politicians to come out in support of marriage equality. Even Bill O'Reilly, who as recently as 2009 compared same-sex marriage to marriage between people and turtles, now appears to be backtracking, accusing its opponents of lacking "compelling argument(s)" and merely "thump(ing) the Bible".
At the same time, there seem to be an awful lot of people in the GOP who haven't gotten the message. Last week, rising star Dr Benjamin Carson compared same-sex relationships to pedophilia and bestiality; Kansas's Tim Huelscamp claims that "redefining matrimony will destroy the family"; the Republican marriage equality group GOProud was banned from co-sponsoring this year's CPAC. Newt Gingrich predicts that the GOP will be "torn" over the issue.
Whoever wins the debate over same-sex marriage – and it does seem to be a matter of when, not if, a more moderate stance will prevail – it would be a mistake to suppose all of this portends an end to the culture wars. The idea that a shift in Republican positions on an issue like this signals a major underlying transformation of the party overlooks a lot of history. It confuses the alleviation of a symptom with the treatment of a cause.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/07/whither-america-religious-right
(Sorry for the "Whither" but it's from Britain.)
