Berkley Center

“Unriddle the mysteries of human nature!” as Kafka liked to say. In last Friday’s post I asked how it was possible that Rudy Giuliani was receiving the support of White Evangelicals and Traditional Catholics. His Mario Cuomo-like refusal to transpose his private abhorrence for abortion into the register of his public policy initiatives should not sit well with these constituencies. As for “character,” his more or less standard Manhattan life style (e.g., divorce, gay friends, chicanery, recreational cross dressing) is rarely a selling point in the Red States.

Or so goes the logic. The polls, as I noted, tell a completely different story. How can this be explained? One popular approach--call it the “Hee Haw Theory of Evangelical Political Literacy”--suggests that Conservative Protestants are simply unaware of Giuliani’s record. Too busy cleaning out their guns, or chewin’ tobacco to bother learning about the candidate, they sure think they like the guy. Such ignorance is out of character for one of the most highly mobilized and politically passionate social movements in recent American history.

A more plausible, and intriguing, explanation is that Conservative Christians are prioritizing. National security, not abortion or a Federal Marriage Amendment, is what presently worries the rank and file (as opposed to the leadership). In this regard, they see Giuliani’s leadership in the aftermath of 9/11 as indicative of his ability to address their concerns. (Admittedly, his equivocation in the May 3rd Simi Valley Debate to the effect that he could live with or without the repeal of Roe may be construed by them as a knowing wink).

Whatever the case may be, the standard assumption is that so-called values voters will vote for him in spite of his allegedly imperfect morality. I want to raise the opposite possibility. What if Mr. Giuliani’s not-exactly-by-the-book Catholicism is actually part of his appeal? In a previous study I coined the term “the secularly religious” to describe believers who are at peace with modernity, respectful of Church/State boundaries and tolerant toward others all the while devoutly committed to their faith. Their motto: let’s not get too overwrought!

This description, I know, conjures up images of Reform Jews or Unitarians. But my guess is that we have underestimated the presence of these types in other groups as well. There probably aren’t many secularly religious Amish (though I bet there are a few). Southern Baptists, though, with their historical aversion to theocracy may have them in quantities that are significant for electoral politics.

The type of people I am speaking about do not require that their politicians be religious virtuosi, or decathletes of Christ. Herein lies the draw of Giuliani. His commitment to Catholicism is life- long and unquestioned. And while he may do and believe a few things that contradict Church teachings, so does every Catholic that we all know (and love). Secularly religious voters, I want to suggest, not only tolerate, but may even sympathize with his lack of saintliness because it so approximates their own.