The Secularization of Modern Conservatism

Traditional conservatism has long-held religion to be foremost of man’s vital institutions, both the source of his good and of the end for which he was created. It has likewise held that society, and man himself, cannot flourish without faith. In the words of Russell Kirk: 

“A society in which men and women are governed by belief in an enduring moral order, by a strong sense of right and wrong, by personal convictions about justice and honor, will be a good society—whatever political machinery it may utilize; while a society in which men and women are morally adrift, ignorant of norms, and intent chiefly upon the gratification of appetites, will be a bad society—no matter how many people vote and no matter how liberal its formal constitution may be.” 

Yet, today’s modern culture rejects the concept of religion with gusto. What ought to be viewed by conservatives as the preeminent institution of life has seen marked decline, a fall beginning in the 1960s and continued without much hindrance into the modern-day. America has, and often still is, labeled as one of the most religious countries in the world. Yet this is quickly becoming an antiquated descriptor. A 2019 American Enterprise Institute study showed that one in five Americans raised in religious traditions now do not practice at all, while Pew Research reports the number of religiously unaffiliated adults has increased by over 50 percent in the past decade. It is virtually undisputed that secularization is on the rise in America. For conservatives, there ought to be no trend of greater concern than this. However, modern conservatism remains tolerant—and sometimes even participatory.

Secular Conservatism

Secularization is overt among modern progressive circles—this should be expected from those who subscribe to the atheistic tenets of Marx and Lenin. Yet so too does it exist within conservative demographics. Though many of these “secular conservatives” affirm faith in God, and indeed possess the strong conviction to do good, conventional religious practice has been rejected. Author J.D. Vance describes this reality in his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, describing the practices of his conservative Appalachian family: 

“We never went to church, except on rare occasions in Kentucky or when Mom decided that what we needed in our lives was religion. Nevertheless, Mamaw’s was a deeply personal (albeit quirky) faith. She couldn’t say ‘organized religion’ without contempt.” 

Despite their awareness of God, Vance’s family represents but one example of American religiosity’s diluted state, particularly among conservatives: that religion, if even practiced at all, is an extracurricular—a matter of the self, with church an afterthought at best. Indeed, church attendance has fallen off a cliff in recent years. This serves as a warning signal to an increasingly troublesome reality: that secularization is today’s cultural dictator, including within conservative circles.

From Hillbilly Elegy’s illustration, we begin to see what is perhaps the greatest problem within American secularization: the relativization of religion into something subjective and emotive. Religion has taken on an on-demand, oddly therapeutic role—oriented at good feelings rather than any supernatural end. It has created a priesthood of all believers, demoting God from omnipotent creator into a construct of man’s individual preferences and desires. The saying that one is “spiritual but not religious” demonstrates this phenomenon most clearly. Relativized, religion has left the realm of Heaven and the communion of saints, instead of residing solely in the mind of the individual—downstream of passions and temporal pursuits. Religion today is largely personal psychology, one with neither the guidance of an organized theological tradition nor the strong supportive attachments of a faith community—leaving it in a very tenuous place.

Some might view the secularization of America as a relief, the triumph of man over superstition and archaic ritual. Yet religion, and particularly God Himself, is the crux upon which all human flourishing depends. Indeed, churches serve as hubs for community life, moral formation, charitable work, and the common good. Bearing this in mind, it makes sense why religious people who regularly attend services are routinely found to enjoy lasting marriages, hold stronger parent-child relationships, participate in more community activities, fall into fewer negative behaviors, and make more money. All else being equal, they are also happier than irreligious people and give more to others around them. 

But faith’s necessity derives from beyond the goods of “civil religion.” To lose faith is to lose the most explicit pathway to man’s ultimate end and perfect happiness. Without religion, man loses his connection to God, distanced from perfect Good, Truth, and Beauty. For the conservative, this means losing sight of our purpose, the foremost goal to which our conservation is oriented. It disorients, leaving man unfulfilled and searching with futility for something new to replace the void. Without sight of his proper ends, discerning how to live a good life becomes impossible. A domino effect occurs as other structures in the family and community lose the source which gives them direction and significance. 

Thus secularized culture is the greatest threat to human flourishing facing America. Yet modern conservatism has become participatory in this degeneracy. Just as much as progressives have perverted and rejected religion, conservatism has relativized the term into an individualistic, shallow, insignificant construct. It has isolated the temporal goods of “civil religion” from the supernatural ends which properly give faith its significance, intentionally isolating church from state. Conservatism, the disposition meant to promote and preserve those socially vital institutions, has lent a hand in destroying the most vital of them all.

Which God Do You Serve?

In the Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas Aquinas states that men “attain to their last end by knowing and loving God.” It is through the theological virtue of faith, practiced in religion, that we first begin to intellectually perceive this end. The absence of religion thus leaves a God-shaped hole in man’s heart, one that he desperately seeks to cram with something else. He blindly grasps for meaning, latching onto the first thing resembling fulfillment. For the political Left, this is the pervasive progressive culture—a pseudo-religion in itself, one whose scripture is enlightenment philosophy, whose liturgy is hedonistic pleasure, and whose end is the all-encompassing State. Yet, as we have seen, modern conservatism participates in the very same secular mindset—albeit perhaps less overtly. What emerges as a consequence is conservatism’s very own pseudo-religion, one less observable than its Leftist counterpart, but one equally dangerous and destructive.

So which god does secular conservatism now serve? While the Leftist secular religion serves the State, that on the Right serves mammon—namely material wealth, pleasure, and profit. In line with modernity’s hedonistic tendencies, conservatism sees material accumulation and comfort as the highest achievement one can gain, taking such as a license to enter a ravenous pursuit of wealth and profit. Nowhere has this been seen more clearly than in modern conservatism’s shilling out to a radical concept of laissez-faire economics and its affinity for community-destroying corporate conglomerates.

Modern conservatism has placed economics firmly in the driver’s seat of its political agenda, tax cuts, and corporate bailouts, an always more immediate necessity than addressing society-destroying cultural atrocities like abortion, the LGBT movement, and fatherlessness. This has made the free market into a “conservative deity,” the thing which ought to be pursued and preserved at all costs. Any attempt to restrict or moralize the market is berated as an evil, socialist, totalitarian inhibition of liberty.

The spawn of this laissez-faire religion is the giant, monopolistic, dominant corporations that we see today—gobbling up market share and suffocating those small, local businesses so vital to the health of communities. Social media giants now control the public square, becoming the necessary third party in every interpersonal interaction. Amazon, inc., has become the real-life equivalent of WALL-E’s “Buy n’ Large:” the faceless, insidious gateway to all human products and needs. Even our food production has been corporatized, local farmers being bought out or squashed by industrial food processors. The rise of corporate collectivization is dystopian in nature. However, it is but a mere product of the secular conservative religion—a consequence made from the worship of profit and the demon of materialism.

And make no mistake, conservatism has its own form of State-worship, too. National pride—properly a mere temporal good—along with the military, the abstract “conservative movement,” and political leaders—namely a certain 45th President of the United States—have been elevated to their own pseudo-divine stature. Secular religion worships things of the earth, and modern conservatism is wholly participatory.

Returning to Faith

In his treatise Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville states: 

“Religion in America takes no direct part in the government of society, but it must nevertheless be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of free institutions.” 

However, today’s modern culture has emphatically rejected conventional religion—regardless of politics, demographics, or station. From both Left and Right have emerged futile attempts to replace religion through the construction of new deities. The Left owns their secularization, but conservatives deny it, hiding behind the paper wall of biblical rhetoric and claims of moral high ground. Yet the reality remains, as indicated by its embrace of secularization, that modern conservatism exists fully downstream of culture, possessing its attributes and engaging in its practices.

So how might we, as conservatives, return to authentic faith? The answer is simple, but it might be difficult for some to hear: conservatives must realize that it’s not about you. Religion is not therapy, nor does it exist in one’s mind. It is a living, breathing, all-encompassing reality, our participation in the creation, and our striving towards our created supernatural ends. 

Therefore, if conservatives seek to rebuild religion, the idea of the self must be rejected, and the idea of charity embraced. This means getting back to the pews—building up our physical churches through service and participation. It means re-installing faith as our guiding compass, allowing the Truth to inform our politics and worldview rather than the other way around. It means engaging our intellects in theological contemplation and living out the virtues of Christ in our vocations. It means promoting man’s vital institutions—faith, family, and community—as the things which we ought to pursue and support. It means fostering the beautiful—be it in liturgy, rhetoric, or architecture—a deliberate distinction of time and space for the Divine. These actions are a general starting point, but their implementation is of utmost urgency.

And as we grow our faith in God, we ought to remember that above all, we are commanded to work with love. It is love that binds us together as families and communities, which gives us the strength to sacrifice ourselves, reject the allures of vice and sin, and persevere to build anew. We can serve these secular gods no longer. To do so is contrary to the essence of conservatism and more importantly, wholly unfulfilling to our human nature. All wealth and pleasure we accumulate in this world will inevitably die away, all that men construct will eventually crumble. Therefore, we must reset our sights upon the good, true, and beautiful, building with love, and orienting our entire lives towards that ultimate end for which God created us.

“Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.” – John 14:6 (Douay-Rheims)