Heather Mac Donald joins the growing band of conservative skeptics, deeply troubled by what George W. Bush and Karl Rove have done to conservatism. Money quote:
Skeptical conservatives — one of the Right’s less celebrated subcultures — are conservatives because of their skepticism, not in spite of it. They ground their ideas in rational thinking and (nonreligious) moral argument. And the conservative movement is crippling itself by leaning too heavily on religion to the exclusion of these temperamentally compatible allies.
Conservative atheists and agnostics support traditional American values. They believe in personal responsibility, self-reliance, and deferred gratification as the bedrock virtues of a prosperous society. They view marriage between a man and a woman as the surest way to raise stable, law-abiding children. They deplore the encroachments of the welfare state on matters best left to private effort.
The presumption of religious belief — not to mention the contradictory thinking that so often accompanies it — does damage to conservatism by resting its claims on revealed truth. But on such truth there can be no agreement without faith. And a lot of us do not have such faith — nor do we need it to be conservative.
This is indeed one of the main themes of my forthcoming book, although my skeptical conservatism is compatible not only with atheism and agnosticism but also with a Christianity that eschews fundamentalist dogma and psychology. I have differed with Heather on issues like torture and police power – for conservative reasons. I agree with her about heterosexual marriage, but I do not see homosexual marriage as a threat to it, but rather as a compliment and complement. Still, for all our small differecnes, I am delighted that others are seeing the danger that Christianism poses to conservatism and are beginning to marshall the necessary arguments to fight back.
You can pre-order my book, "The Conservative Soul" here. It’s a manifesto for conservative reform and renewal.
The Dish 