How SoCons Can Win the Culture Wars - Lessons from Ultra-Orthodox Judaism

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Lately I've become concerned with how Evangelical culture war methods have failed; not creating major change in the culture at large and even failing to prevent liberalism from growing within evangelicalism itself. This got me thinking about what alternative strategies might be pursued. An article about Ultra-Orthodox Jew's political influence in liberal NYC was published in the New York Times a few weeks ago. Here are some relevant snippets.

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This article highlights a few key lessons socially conservative Christians can take from this.

1) If you want to win the cultural war, you need soldiers, and that means babies. Lots of them, birthed young, with subsequent generations following in the same path. Women will need to marry men and start having babies at a much younger age than normal.

2) You need to minimize population losses, which means
a) Running your own schools is essential as the public schools with preach values contrary to your own.
b) Having a rituals and/or clothing that set the group apart from the general population, encouraging solidarity and making the transition out of the faith more difficult than it is for your typical lapsed Catholic or Evangelical.

3) Concentration for political purposes is important. Politicians follow votes, even though pastors cannot tell people how to vote from the pulpit for fear of losing tax-exempt status. But what the Ultra-Orthodox do is particularly notable: rather than worry about national politics where their votes are diluted in a sea of others, they care and focus on local politics, and get results for it

The Ultra-Orthodox Jews have had success with this strategy, but not every conservative Christian group will be able to apply it. Evangelicals lack the church polity and discipline to implement the strategy. Too many Evangelicals are wedded to aspects of the "liberal" lifestyle, like having 1-2 kids, and it's too easy for them to drop out of the community. In my view Evangelicals are prime candidates for liberalizing and have already begun to do so.

More likely candidates are smaller, more disciplined groups that are already acting in a very conservative manner. Fundamentalist Protestants (the real kind, not the atheist slur kind), orthodox Calvinists, and very conservative Catholics (the ones who eschew birth control and/or like their masses in Latin) all possess high birth rates and avoid public schools a bit already. Groups like this can create pockets of conservatism where they are already concentrated.

Thoughts?

First of all, Hasidic Jews have a well-defined culture. Christian Protestant fundamentalists have nothing so distinctive. Second, they do not consider themselves ultra-Orthodox. They don't go 'beyond' Orthodoxy.

 But point by point --

1) Those babies don't get to vote until they are 18.  If Hasidic Jews can get away with early marriage and childbirth they still have a rich cultural and educational heritage. For most others, early marriage and childhood implies the end of any intellectual development.

2a) That is costly. Private schools make sense if one is above average in income, but not if one's group is poorer than the average. Private schools with a strong ideological bent imply that one must recruit teachers from outside. Some of them might subvert the thoughts of some of their students in the interest of their welfare.

2b) Christian Protestant fundamentalists would need to develop their own tailors to create distinctive clothes not available at Wal*Mart, JCPenney, etc.

3) The Hasidic rabbis act as power-brokers and go for whoever serves the concern of the day. Christian Protestant fundamentalists have largely sold out to the GOP and have little left to offer.     

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Orthodox Judaism and "conservative Christianity" (how vague can you get?!) of course have precious little in common theologically, historically, or culturally.

Indeed, Orthodox Judaism has its traditions, but although it has stuck to some very strict rules on ritual and dietary practices, it has been extremely permissive on technological innovations. It allows extensive freedom on what the Torah and Talmud does not specifically prohibit. But it has very old traditions. In contrast, "conservative Christianity" is mostly "conservative" on political issues and has at most a century and a half of existence in theology.

With 'conservative' Christianity, Biblical inerrancy mandates the denial of scientific discoveries that in any way contradict the literal WORD in any detail -- including the chronology and the extreme ages of early characters of the Bible. This, contrary to its claim to tradition, is comparative novelty. Even the word Fundamentalist dates from 1922. In contrast to Orthodox Judaism, which is the original Judaism (and both Modern Orthodox and Reform Judaism recognize Orthodox Judaism as the original Judaism), Fundamentalist Christianity is a break from older Christianity.

The 'conservatism' is more on politics than on ritual or even living ways.

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If Protestants wish to rediscover the old Christianity whence Protestantism appeared, then the Roman Catholic Church awaits them. 

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All current Protestant denominations are either heresies of the Roman Catholic Church or are heresies of other Protestant denominations.

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First of all, Hasidic Jews have a well-defined culture. Christian Protestant fundamentalists have nothing so distinctive. Second, they do not consider themselves ultra-Orthodox. They don't go 'beyond' Orthodoxy.

 But point by point --

1) Those babies don't get to vote until they are 18.  If Hasidic Jews can get away with early marriage and childbirth they still have a rich cultural and educational heritage. For most others, early marriage and childhood implies the end of any intellectual development.

2a) That is costly. Private schools make sense if one is above average in income, but not if one's group is poorer than the average. Private schools with a strong ideological bent imply that one must recruit teachers from outside. Some of them might subvert the thoughts of some of their students in the interest of their welfare.

2b) Christian Protestant fundamentalists would need to develop their own tailors to create distinctive clothes not available at Wal*Mart, JCPenney, etc.

3) The Hasidic rabbis act as power-brokers and go for whoever serves the concern of the day. Christian Protestant fundamentalists have largely sold out to the GOP and have little left to offer.     

Indeed, which is why I suggest that groups with a slightly more distinct heritage would be ideal candidates for this route (Mormons, strict Calvinists, certain Catholic groups etc.)

1) It's a long term project and many other groups have similar heritages.

2a) Part of the church's ministry in this scenario would go towards running/subsidizing these schools. The sect would surely push for vouchers as well. Also, ideologically impure teachers hasn't really been an issue in the Christian schools in my area at least. They all seem to be staffed by nuns/devout laypeople from the sponsoring church.

2b) Pretty small issue. Tailor shops/sewing at home isn't that hard to set up or do.

3) If Evangelicals stopped showing up at the polls, the GOP would be screwed. Plus they still have the pull to primary people.

A big point -- the Hasidic Jews have a glorious intellectual tradition. They have something to keep the people capable of thinking in the fold, namely a respect for secular learning.  A Christian Protestant fundamentalist who develops a curiosity about the world beyond the pat answers must either abandon the quest for knowledge or break ranks.

Roman Catholics and Mormons have no such problem. The Catholic Church has plenty of excellent universities and colleges; Jesuit education of youth is very good. Mormons have Brigham Young University, a fine institution -- if one can adhere to Mormon strictures.

Being distinct from the rest of humanity as defined by attire is a fortress -- and a barrier to success. Hasidic Jews, the Nation of Islam, and the Old Order Amish have their own worlds, nearly-complete economic universes. Christian Protestant fundamentalists don't have that yet and are far from achieving that.