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I wonder whether the predominant approach to abortion among conservative white evangelicals – i.e., vote for the explicitly anti-abortion Presidential candidate/platform – has become primarily a proxy for white evangelical identity politics. /1
I say this b/c of the irrationality evident in even private conversations – the refusal to look at hard data/historical trends, the refusal to engage w/the complexity of the issue, the uncompromising insistence on the ethical superiority of voting (not living) a particular way./2
When people so committed to an issue refuse to engage thoughtfully on the issue itself, I tend to think something else is going on. And when such a refusal is accompanied by a high tolerance for Christian nationalism and a deep disdain for the identity politics of others,... /3
I begin to suspect that the true nature of their power struggle has more (not exclusively) to do w/group identity than w/faith-driven ethics/morality. It may be difficult to recognize at first b/c the interests of the group are never articulated in racial terms. /4
But when your group's identity is an intersection of race and religion, and racial identity politics happens to be unpalatable or taboo to your group, then you'll employ the language and posture of morality to fight your identity wars. /5
What’s starting to happen is that white evangelicals are starting to break ranks with this type of groupthink, and that’s enabling very necessary intragroup confrontation/correction. /6
