Ross Douthat: belief

Transcript context

…Here’s a question from a reader, and I’m stringing together a few different sentences — something like, “Is conservatism always particularist and local? Can there ever be a universalist conservative position? Is the phrase ‘Christian conservative’ an oxymoron, because Christianity (like Islam) is a universalist faith that seeks to convert every soul on earth? Isn’t the word ‘conservative’ better suited for more aloof, inegalitarian, less-aggressive religions, such as Hinduism, which are less insistent on ‘natural right’?” How would you respond to that? I think conservatism is particularist, sort of by the definition, yes. And I think that every form of conservatism is going to be different depending on the cultural context. I think conservatism in America at its best is trying to preserve a kind of American exceptionalism that doesn’t sort of have applications really when you’re thinking about what a German conservatism would be, or a Russian conservatism, and so on. And, in that sense, Christianity can only be conservative in sort of provisional and context-bound ways, right? In a culture that was universally Christian and is in the process of ceasing to be so, then Christianity — then the phrase “conservative Christian” makes a lot of sense, in the sense that you have a universal faith that has taken over a particular piece of the world, and you’re trying to sort of preserve its influence and power over that piece. But that’s always contingent and temporary. And, yes, Christianity is at its root a more radical religion. Now we have two porcelain bunnies here on the table with us, and those are to refer to a novel, Watership Down, that you once called “the best modern novel about politics.” Why is this the case?…

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