Red-State PC: Why you can't call them "the Christian right." - Slate

[Bombtrack]

http://slate.msn.com/id/2109370/

Conservatives like to chortle about the ever-changing nomenclature for hypersensitive groups within the Democratic coalition. It's not Negro, it's black. No, it's not black, it's Black. No, it's not Black, it's African-American. It's not crippled, it's handicapped. No, it's not handicapped, it's physically challenged. It's not Hispanic, it's Latino. And so on. Those politically correct left-liberals! They're so busy thinking up new names for themselves that they don't have time to win elections!

But on Election Night last week, I discovered that sometime when I wasn't paying attention it had become an insult to call somebody a member of "the Christian right." Early that evening, White House correspondent Terry Moran killed some time during the wait for election results by briefing ABC News anchor Peter Jennings about Karl Rove's strategy of corralling "evangelical Christians." When Moran was finished, Jennings explained why Moran used that term:

I just want to make one observation about terminology. I'm not sure that you're gonna hear a lot of new terminology this year you haven't heard before, but "evangelical Christian" is what people used to call, unfortunately, the Christian right. Some people call them conservative Christians. But they are those from those churches in America which take the Bible literally.

Unfortunately? What's wrong with calling the Christian right the Christian right? It's unquestionably Christian and invariably conservative. I smelled a gripe session with a disgruntled minister over stale deli sandwiches around a conference table at ABC headquarters in New York.

...<rest of article snipped>...

[tanyev]

1. It's a lot nicer than

some of the other things I call them.

[DebJ]

3. like the Christian right is neither.

[pleiku52cab]

12. The Christian Wrong

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. You

got it!

------------------------------------------
Would Jesus love a liberal? You bet!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/

[smirkymonkey]

20. Hey, that would make a great bumper sticker!

[krkaufman]

2. Just another example of the media being cowed by the Right...

... and falling into lock-step.

[sangh0]

4. Because black religious conservatices think you're talking about them

Many blacks think THEY are members of the Religious Right.

[villager]

5. I call them a "doomsday cult"

It seems far more accurate, since they have nothing to do with Christ's teachings

[seabeyond]

6. i went out of thread and then came back in. why?????

because they are declaring the religion of the land. no longer simply christian, "evangelical Christian" is the only christian allowed. said they took over christianity, they are doing it totally. jesus doesnt mind if i step away from the word for now, as a matter of fact i think he would be thrilled, until this mess is cleaned up

[ithacan]

7. fuck them

They're the "Christian" right.

Or Fundies.

Why are they insulted to be called right wingers? That's exactly what they are and I'm surprised they're running away from it!

By the way, be sure to see what the "Christian" Right's been up to the past ten years, and what their plans for us are, at http://www.TheocracyWatch.org/

[Thoth]

8. The Religious Reich is more like it...

or, as Mark Crispin Miller puts it, Christo-fascists.

[ithacan]

13. Religious Reich Theocrats

I like the sound of that...

[MaryH]

9. How about the Christian Wrong

Its kind of funny when mainstream Christians just aren't Christian enough.

[carnie_sf]

10. I call them

antichrist

[FeelinGarfunkelly]

11. Maybe I'm reading this wrong...

"evangelical Christian" is what people used to call, unfortunately, the Christian right.

Isn't Jennings saying that the PC term is Christian Right, not "evangelical Christian" ?

They're one in the same to me, but I think if I were a Christian I would probably be offended that it seems like only the Right can follow a faith. That's another topic though.

[Bombtrack]

16. He's sort of mispeaking

He's meaning to say the opposite of what he appears to be saying.

But people who have a general knowledge of these things would conclude what he's trying to say.

[hobbit709]

14. Call Them the Christian TALIBAN

since that is what they want to be.

[Wright Patman]

15. I think Jennings

is saying that "evangelical" is a term connoting a positive message. It literally means sharing the "good news" of the Gospel. What I just typed is redundant as Gospel means "good news" in Old English, but I did so for emphasis.

My reading of this is that Jennings thinks evangelicals should be termed Christian right or Christian conservatives so as not to include the millions of evangelicals who are moderate or even liberal in their beliefs about social and economic issues.

[Bombtrack]

17. No, if you read the whole article, it's quite clear that Peter is giving

the kooks the gift of calling them what they want to be called no matter how misleading the term is.

[donheld]

18. The Christian Reich is what they are

they are that scary we may as well call them that.

[girl gone mad]

21. How about...

rapture rangers, evangelical jihadists, bible thumpers, christian hate groups, neo-fascists..?

[EdibleEgg]

22. You're right

I agree wholeheartedly