Two Traditions
In America, there have long been two streams of thought about the nature and role of Christianity in the public arena. One stream has emerged largely among those denominations with roots in state churches, such as the Church of England, or the Presbyterians of Scotland, or the Catholics of Ireland or Italy. This stream has tended to be optimistic about human nature. It has had the sense there were ‘universal moral sensibilities on which people of goodwill everywhere could agree’ (p.146). It has assumed that rational discourse would lead to general agreement about the common good, and that this common good was roughly equivalent to ‘the will of God’. Hence, it was not necessary to impose moral order, but to educate people to acknowledge it, recognising that it is in their own interests to do so. It is believed that people whatever their racial, religious or political heritage have some ‘moral light’ and can be partners in the process of determining the common good. There is an underlying affirmation that the process of rationally discussing the common good is very important. As long as that is done well, the common good will emerge.
The second stream has had a much more pessimistic view of human nature. It has emphasised individual conversion as the first step towards discovering God’s way and God’s values. It is thus only those who have had such experiences of conversion who can claim divine insight, and they find that insight, not through the processes of rational discussion, but through some particular authority, such as the Bible or the traditions of a particular church. Many of these people believe that it is necessary to have strong churches, strong moral instruction in schools and legal sanctions to protect public decency. Many Americans with these views, also have a sense that America has some special divine mission to the world, says Wuthnow (p.148). They believe that America was founded by people who wanted to form a new society on Biblical principles in a special covenant between the nation and God, and they believe there is a special mission to fulfil.
Wuthnow says that intense competition has long been a part of American life, in the business and political arenas, and that it should be no surprise to find it in the religious arena. Weakening denominationalism led to stronger alliances being formed across denominations both among the liberal and conservative streams. Wuthnow argues that the streams began to polarize in the 1970s in that people tended to move away from middle ground towards the extremes. Certain issues helped this process to occur, including the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement.

The New Christian Right

In the late 1970s, the New Christian Right movement emerged after the Watergate affair. While supported by a minority of people, it built on the fact that a great many people were concerned about the loss of a sense of morality. It found strong support through the 1980s, during which time there was a general reaction to the permissiveness of the 1970s. Wuthnow suggests that, as many of the ‘baby boomers’ settled into family life, their values changed and more conservative values such as fidelity in relationships, become important within their
changed situations.
The New Christian Right movement took up such issues as abortion (opposing abortion on demand), pornography, homosexuality, prayers and Bible reading in public schools. While it rarely achieved its stated aims in terms of legislature, it succeeded in putting many issues on the public agenda. The media became more sensitive to these concerns, and there were changes in prime-time television, reflecting some of these values.
However, Wuthnow argues that the movement was most effective as an ‘outsider’ group lobbying for certain issues. When the movement tried to field its own political leaders or enter into the details of the legislative processes, it failed to carry much support. Wuthnow suggests that most people do not want ‘religious specialists trying to be politicians’ (p.176).
Wuthnow believes that while the New Christian Right rode a wave of public opinion in the 80s fired by particular issues, the ‘religious Right’ will continue to have an influence on the public agenda, although the groups and issues which emerge may be quite different. Wuthnow concludes,
Being able to declare that the Lord has spoken carries enormous weight, especially in a culture where the next highest authority is individual taste. Despite all the secularity evident in American culture, the future will still be a time when people yearn to hear the voice of God (p.180).

The Liberal Stream

The liberal stream within the American churches has suffered substantially from losses of membership, amounting, says Wuthnow, to one quarter or a third of total membership. He suggests that their voices have also been hidden, to some extent, within the clamour of a great variety of voices demanding public recognition. However, the inclusionist movements seeking recognition for the equality of women, homosexuals, or other particular groups, have given this stream some sense of vitality and urgency. Other issues that they have addressed include nuclear disarmament, world peace, and environmentalism.
While these issues have had global significance, Wuthnow suggests that, increasingly, liberal church leaders have approached them with increasing stridency. Perhaps the decreasing base of the liberal denominations has encouraged them to take on the role of the ‘prophetic remnant’. However, within this process, the earlier stress on rational processes of discussion is being lost.

The Australian Context

Prof. Gary Bouma has often described Australian religion as being of ‘lower temperature’ than that in the United States. There is ‘less heat’ in religious debates and issues. Perhaps because of this, and because Australia has not had a ‘Watergate’ of the same scale, there has not been the same polarisation of right and left Christian political viewpoints.
The liberal and conservative theological streams, with their positive and negative views of humanity, are present within Australia. However, the denominational divisions which have strengthened the divide in the United States have not had quite the same effect in Australia. Most denominations contain a range of theological opinion. Among evangelicals, there have been many who have taken up the ‘liberal’ issues of peace and environmental concern. Among liberals, there are many who share some of the evangelical sense of mission, and some of the traditional moral concerns of evangelicals such as the development of the gambling culture. Consequently, the involvement of Christians in the public arena has not polarised the churches to the extent that it has done in the USA. Christians come with different emphases, but many similar concerns.
Through the 1980s, there were signs of growth in ‘the Religious Right’ in Australia. While the mainstream denominations declined, the Pentecostal groups and some fundamentalist groups grew significantly. However, the churches have not continued growing apart. Charismatic emphases have increasingly found a place within mainstream churches, while some of the Pentecostal and ‘right wing’ churches have seen it appropriate to take up social issues which have traditionally been part of liberal agendas.
It is difficult to say what will happen in the future. Australia appears to achieve a certain balance through the fact that no one minority group, either ethnic or religious, can ever gain sufficient power to make other minority groups fearful that their agendas will not be heard. Australia has a more positive attitude to compromise, and a long tradition of seeking to balance the needs and demands of its many groups. Perhaps both theological streams will continue to learn from each other.

Philip Hughes

Reference: Wuthnow, Robert, 1993, Christianity in the Twenty-first Century: Reflections on the Challenges Ahead, Oxford University Press, New York.