Going Low

Recent events have shown that, for many on the far right, nothing-no matter how offensive, immoral, or even illegal-is impermissible in pursuit of power. But the left is not immune to such policies and tactics, often against itself. Such transgressive social rule-breaking, argues Finbarr Curtis, is particularly amenable to the analytical tools of religious studies. Religion itself is about rules, about what is sacred and what is profane, a contested binary whose differing definitions and the practices they produce, protect, and profane participate in shaping politics. According to this view, profanation is a deliberate provocation to the social order that, if allowed to stand unpunished or without apology, precipitates a crisis of authority. Liberal models of free speech and religious freedom are ill-equipped to respond to such challenges, since they classify religion (and by extension quasi-religious identity and other categories with sacred" norms) as a private rather than a public matter, unable to recognize that religious beliefs, ethics, and practices often mandate public morals and behaviors in social and political life. Insulting religious (or in-group identity) beliefs and morals--rules--has real-world consequences. The inability to prevent such acts of transgression marks a loss of power on the part of the state (or other institutional entity) and the social order and is a threat to sovereignty. The examples discussed in Going Low-including Black opposition to religious nationalism, the alt left and political correctness on campus, complicity claims, Steve Bannon's global Holy War, justified violence against blasphemy (Texas version), Nones and the spiritual marketplace, and the future of white nationalism after Trump-demonstrate how diverse political and religious groups share a commitment to winning at any cost that challenges the authority of liberalism and democratic institutions"--