“Jesus no longer saved … George Bush did.”

Over at The New Republic , Alan Wolfe has some nice things to say about Rick Warren. But then, he gets hysterical:

Even as recently as the Jimmy Carter presidency, evangelicals put God before party. But starting with the Reagan years, they increasingly reversed their priorities. Jesus no longer saved; Ronald Reagan and George Bush did. Our sins were no longer a matter between us and our God, but involved us and our State. Transgression was criminalized. Courts and politicians judged us, not a Supreme Being.

The sins of the Christian right are, no doubt, many. But that Falwell and Dobson (who Wolfe expressly mentions) and other leaders of the Christian Right came to believe that “Jesus no longer saves” is preposterous. As is the suggestion that they came to believe that “sins were no longer a matter between us and our God.”

But let’s be charitable. Maybe analytical rigor is not Wolfe’s strong suit. Maybe he was just a tad sloppy.  Maybe he meant to criticize Falwell and Dobson and other evangelicals for coming to believe that “sins were no longer only a matter between us and our God.” That would be odd, however, since there’s nothing particularly objectionable about the notion that we can sin against both God and neighbor.

So, it’s hard to understand just what Professor Wolfe is all worked up about. I suspect that it has something to do with the actual political and public policy positions emphasized by Falwell, Dobson, and the Christian right.  Fair enough, but why mask it behind a disingenuous rhetorical temper tantrum?