Rough Country: How Texas Became America s Most Powerful Bible-Belt State, by Robert Wuthnow

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Rough Country: How Texas Became America’s Most Powerful Bible-Belt State,
by Robert Wuthnow

Reviewed by Rick McClatchy

Robert Wuthnow’s Rough Country: How Texas Became America’s Most Powerful Bible-Belt State surveys the interaction between politics and religion in Texas from the Reconstruction to the present. This book is not a casual read and has enough substance to engage any historical scholar, with the text covering 484 pages and the end notes another 106 pages. Wuthnow’s scholarship has done a great service to the understanding of religion and politics in Texas, which will be of great interest to religious leaders, historians, sociologists and political junkies.

As one would expect on the Texas religious scene, Baptists play a significant role in Wuthnow’s book. One will find mention of many key Baptist leaders, e.g. R. E. B. Baylor, B. H. Carroll, S. A. Haden, J. B. Cranfill, J. Frank Norris, George W. Truett, J. M. Dawson, Jimmy Allen, W. A. Criswell, Billy Graham, Jimmy Carter, Bill Moyers and others. Attention is given to Baptist denominational bodies as well as to Baptist institutions and publications. Wuthnow’s thoroughness also covers other major denominations, such as the Methodists, and even smaller denominations, like the Quakers. The reader is provided a broad general feel of what was happening among various religious groups in Texas.

On the political front, Wuthnow was equally thorough, covering the actions of national, state and local political leaders. Demographic analysis of political elections is provided and he goes into the underside of politics that can be quite ugly at times. Perhaps one of the most disappointing aspects was the way in which race was used by politicians to get votes. Wuthnow tells of a 1981 interview with Lee Atwater, a political consultant for the 1980 Reagan campaign, who explained the race and politics issue this way:

“You start out in 1954 by saying ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger.’ By 1968 you can’t say ‘nigger’—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, state’s rights and all that stuff.”

But by the 1980s that language was also becoming unacceptable. “You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that was part of it,” Atwater acknowledged. “I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me—because obviously sitting around saying, ‘We want to cut this’ is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than ‘Nigger, nigger.’ ” (p. 378)

Most readers will not be convinced by Atwater’s logic any more than Wuthnow was. He states, “Atwater was correct in arguing that it was unacceptable in mainstream political campaigns to engage explicitly in racially prejudiced language. Race nevertheless remained an important part of the cultural and political landscape” (p. 378).

In the introduction, Wuthnow lays out his scholarly goals and, in the last chapter, uses a sociological study of religion to assess various theories to interpret the events that he has discussed in the rest of the book. While these beginning and ending chapters probably will not be of interest to the average reader, the rest of the book has a wealth of information that even the general reader will find interesting.

One of the interesting themes in the book is the strength of the conservative political and religious establishment throughout the history of Texas. Yet, when the conservatives would rise up on a number of historical issues—e.g. segregation, race, temperance, women’s roles, evolution, labor reform, abortion, poverty, immigration—they could not maintain the status quo over the long haul. The things that progressives advocated, while publicly maligned and belittled by conservative religious leaders and political leaders, ultimately changed the culture. This, of course, raises serious questions about how societies work. Apparently, conservatives are always placed in the inevitable position of trying to stop something that society is moving toward. This social momentum cannot be stopped—delayed, yes—stopped, no. Conservatives are capable of slowing down the social efforts of progressives, but it appears that they are not able to stop them permanently. This observation is this reviewer’s major take-away from the material in the book. There is much more to digest and speculate about Wuthnow’s findings in this rich book.

Rick McClatchy is Field Coordinator, CBF-Texas.