Posted 5:47 PM by Scoobie Davis

What's In A Name?
In my previous post, "Who Is Cooking The Data?", I used the term "sectarian right." I do this for a purpose: the commonly-used terms to describe those I refer to as the sectarian right are inapt. The commonly-used terms are the religious right, Christian conservatives, people of faith, and the Christian right. Terms with the word "Christian" are misleading because the sectarian right represent only a small percentage of American Christians. For instance, Pat Robertson once said, "You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist. I can love the people who hold false opinions but I don't have to be nice to them." I wonder if he still thinks this way toward George W. Bush, a Methodist.

"Religious right" and "people of faith" are worse because this is a movement that is almost entirely fundamentalist Christian (true, there are some Jewish supporters but they are, for the most part, marginalized). In fact, members of the sectarian right have literally demonized non-Abrahamic religions (again, Pat Robertson has called Hinduism "demonic" and suggested that they not be allowed into the United States).

I'm not the only one who has seen the inadequacy of these commonly used terms; several years ago, Playboy had a contest to give a new and more accurate name to the Christian right. I don't remember the term that won but my favorite entry was "Smuglicans."