La Repubblica, Italy

In South Carolina, the Religious Right Base Stays in College. 

At Bob Jones University.  “Bush has let us down.  This time we’ll avoid the campaigns.”

By MARIO CALABRESI

Translated By Michael Devine

January 18, 2008

Italy - La Repubblica - Original Article (Italian)

Greenville (South Carolina) – “Four years ago, moral values were the cake, today they’re at most the icing on the cake,” says Jonathan Pait, spokesperson for Bob Jones University, the cradle of fundamental Christianity, the theatre where a young George W. Bush, in 2000, honored his connection with the Religious Right, the arena that gave birth to the venomous campaign that destroyed the presidential aspirations of John McCain, the location that for many symbolizes the hope of transforming the U.S. into a Christian nation. 

On campus, which is formed by small buildings of yellow brick built in 1940s style, it is prohibited to smoke, drink alcoholic beverages, listen to rock, rap or country music, to dye one’s hair or to wear short shorts.  Every girl wears her skirt below the knees, even better if it reaches the ankles.  The 5000 students cannot go to the movies, watch DVDs on their computers, play violent or vulgar video games.  Internet access is limited, and the lights go out at 11 pm every night.  Yet the students are all smiling and talking at the cafeteria tables, with the image of the student with the Ipod in his ear and his head in his computer not the style here.  Indeed, it’s prohibited. 

Eight years after the great mobilization, four years after the strategy that Bush’s chief strategist Karl Rove defined as “the fire of the lowlands” with the word ‘values’ of utmost importance, the desire to become involved in campaigns has faded.

The University does not support any candidates, with the only one to speak here this afternoon being Ron Paul, a minor character with libertarian and radical ideas.  The rest of the day will be filled by lessons and prayer, with the surprising absence of politics.  

“Today the fundamentalists – they explain – are skeptical of the role of politics…..in 2004 Bush wanted to be reelected and constructed a campaign based on ‘moral values’: a rejection of same-sex marriage, abortion, and stem cell research, which succeeded in creating an extraordinary mobilization.  Today these issues aren’t heard of anymore….they are themes that have left the agenda.”  Walking around campus no one shows remorse when they say that the presidency of George W. Bush has not delivered on what they were promised, that the people who were galvanized by the idea that they could effect real change are now disappointed – it has become clear to them that it was all a power game.

“The moral and cultural changes – Pait stretches his arms, showing us the incredible collection of religious paintings that includes canvases of Veronese, Guido Reni and Rubens – will not come from politics or from those in power; it is better that we dedicate ourselves to our young people, help them to grow in the image of Christ so that they will be able to carry themselves as Christians every day of their lives.”

The politicians and the media are focusing on other issues.  Polls are no longer asking for opinions on gay marriage; instead they are now looking for opinions on who is most capable of fixing the country, its economy, and the war, so much so that even Huckabee, the former Baptist minister, says: “It is useless to deceive yourselves.  A President is not equipped to transform the U.S. into a Christian nation.”

So much so that Bob Jones III, the grandson of the founder of Bob Jones University, and the man that welcomed George W. Bush, has lined up with Mitt Romney, a Mormon.  It would seem to be an impossible and unnatural alliance – with Bob Jones famous for his denunciations of Catholics and Mormons – but it came to be in the name of realism: too many taxes, too much government, the need for a manager, someone capable of making decisions, someone who may not be an evangelical but at any rate is opposed to abortion and is a staunch supporter of ‘family values.’

Eight years later in South Carolina – where tomorrow the Republican primary will be held – John McCain is here again in search of a victory that would propel him towards the nomination, and this time he is at the top of the polls; while they still don’t love him here at Bob Jones, this time they won’t be jumping into the fray.  It is eight years after the mailings of Professor Richard Hand, which accused the heroic veteran of the Vietnam War of having dedicated his life to partying, to games, to alcohol, to women, and of fathering a black child out of wedlock.  These unfounded rumors were pumped out in 2000 by George W. Bush’s campaign to every conservative and bigoted corner of this State and destroyed McCain and his hopes of winning.  The University kept its distance from the controversy but did not take any action against the teacher.

Even today the rumors have returned, but they don’t come from these classrooms: the people of Bob Jones University are now convinced that all politicians are the same and that time would be better spent committing oneself towards changing the individuals that make up society and towards continuing to train the thousands of pastors of the Church of America.

In truth, something else has changed in this place, where blacks were first admitted only in 1971: now interracial marriages are no longer prohibited (thus averting the risk of a return to the Tower of Babel) and everywhere it’s written that Bob Jones does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or birthplace.  The word gender is missing and homosexuality is not accepted.  Definitely not.

In the small museum of memorabilia, next to the photograph of Ronald Reagan, there is the advertisement that the University placed in Time Magazine in 1967: “Yes, we are squares,” went the slogan.  “Why be a square?” concludes Jonathan Pait.  “Because in a world that chases doggedly after the latest Britney Spears gossip, it is a gift.”  Not Fox, CNN, nor even the candidates are coming here anymore; no one here believes any longer in a redemption that must pass through Washington. 

ORIGINAL ITALIAN TEXT HERE