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Compassion Campaigns and Antigay Politics: What Would Arendt Do?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2009

Cynthia Burack
Cynthia Burack*
Affiliation:
The Ohio State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Cynthia Burack, Department of Women's Studies, 286 University Hall, 230 N. Oval Mall, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH43210-1311. Email: burack.1@osu.edu
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Abstract

Compassionate conservatism is usually dismissed on the American political left as an empty slogan intended to mystify the real roots and aspirations of conservative politics. However, conservative Christian organizations and churches now conduct well-coordinated compassion campaigns on contested social issues such as sexual and reproductive rights. Through compassion campaigns, the Christian right also disseminates particular forms of political pedagogy regarding sexuality and compassion for followers who are subject to the movement's influence. Here, I turn to Hannah Arendt to analyze the politics of compassion at work in the ex-gay movement and in antiabortion projects such as Silent No More. This article presents evidence for a turn to compassionate pedagogies on the Christian right, analyzes these projects, and suggests ways that Arendt's political thought can inform our readings of conservative Christian compassionate discourse and political practices.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 2 , Issue 1 , April 2009 , pp. 31 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2009

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