Pulpit Bullies

Goldwater blasts New Right

Even before Barry Goldwater became his party's nominee for President in 1964, conservatives revered and respected the Senator from Arizona as the titular head of the Republican right. So it came as a rude shock to many of the faithful when Goldwater last week lashed out at the religious zealots of the New Right, most notably represented by the Moral Majority.

At an informal breakfast with reporters last week, Goldwater, 72, was asked for his views on the rise of the New Right. "I don't like what they're doing," he said. "I don't think what they're talking about is conservatism." Goldwater remarked that he had written a speech on the subject but had not yet found the right opportunity to deliver it. That afternoon he gave reporters copies and inserted it in the Congressional Record.

In the speech, Goldwater accused the Moral Majority and its kind of giving conservatism a bad name. "The religious issues of these groups [abortion, school prayer] have little or nothing to do with conservative or liberal politics," he said. "They are diverting us away from the vital issues that our Government needs to address," such as "national security and economic survival." To drag theological questions into public debate, in Goldwater's view, is dangerously unAmerican. Said he: "One of the great strengths of our political system always has been our tendency to keep religious issues in the background."

Goldwater said he finds the New Right's righteousness especially distasteful, even though he admits he shares many of their moral views. "The uncompromising position of these groups is a divisive element that could tear apart the very spirit of our representative system. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of conservatism." Said Goldwater: "I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person I must believe in A, B, C and D. Just who do they think they are?"

One of those political preachers, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, said he thought Goldwater was angry that the newly fundamentalist conservative movement had left him behind. "I still love him, respect him, pray for him," said Falwell, adding, "In his heart, he knows he's wrong."

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