The triumph of the religious right

摘要

In A novel, set in the 1960s, by John Ken-nedy Toole, "A Confederacy of Dunces", the hero, Ignatius Reilly, goes to a gay party to drum up political support. In the centre of another knot [of guests] stood a lout in a black leather jacket who was teaching judo holds, to the great delight of his epicene students. "Oh, do teach me that," someone near the wrestler screamed after an elegant guest had been twisted into an obscene position and then thrown to the floor to land with a crash of cuff-links and other, assorted jewelry, "Good gracious," Ignatius spluttered. "I can see that we're going to have a great deal of trouble capturing the conservative rural red-neck Calvinist vote." Now, it seems, the conservative rural red-neck Calvinist vote has captured America. A plurality of voters, emerging from poll booths, said that the most important issue in the campaign had been "moral values", ft was not, it seemed, Iraq or the economy. And eight out of ten of these moralists voted for George Bush. The thought that the anti-gay, anti- abortion Christian right had decided the election dismayed left-wing Americans. Garry Wills in the New York Times suggested that a fundamentalist Christian revival was in revolt against the traditions of the Enlightenment, on which the country is based. "I hope we all realise that, as of November 2nd, gay rights are officially dead. And that from here on we are going to be led even closer to the guillotine," said Larry Kramer, a playwright and AIDS activist.