In his critique of what conservatism has become in contemporary America, Andrew Sullivan argues that Christian values should not be imposed upon society by the government. Rather, conservatives of a Christian bent, if they want their values to have societal impact, should lead by example. He points out:
Christianity is best expressed by personal example, not political agendas. And a Christianity that becomes indistinguishable from partisan politics has lost its soul.
I do not share Sullivan's politics (as should be evident to anyone who reads this blog regularly) but I was struck by the Confucian resonance of this quote. One way of understanding the the Christianist (as Sullivan calls it) conservative impulse to demand that everyone follow their religious prescriptions is to see it as an embrace of Legalist ideals. In other words, it relies upon strict enforcement of narrowly prescribed laws with harsh punishments for those that stray. In a way, this is what happened to Confucianism in the Han dynasty and after. And it is a prescription for undermining the broader project of constructing and reproducing a humane society.
Confucius, by contrast, believed that a moral person's individual performance of daily social obligations (which is what is meant by "ritual" below) is what matters most. Actions, not words.
The Master said: "If you use government to show them the Way and punishment to keep them true, the people will grow evasive and lose all remorse. But if you use Integrity to show them the Way and Ritual to keep them true, they'll cultivate remorse and always see deeply into things."
Analects 2.3
I think Sullivan would agree that evasiveness and lack of remorse are precisely what is infecting denialist conservatives in the wake of corruption scandals and electoral losses.
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