Rise of the intolerant liberals

The highlight of the year I spent as a postgraduate at Harvard was a speech given by Tom Wolfe to the graduating class of 1988. His theme was the decline of Christianity in America and the extraordinary freedom that had given rise to. Until quite recently in American history, he argued, people’s personal behaviour had been circumscribed by their sense of right and wrong, which was largely dictated by the morality associated with various puritan sects dating back to the first European settlers. When it came to sex, for instance, their choices were limited by a fear that certain practices would cause irreparable spiritual harm. Not any more, said Wolfe. America had embraced an ‘anything goes’ philosophy and that had resulted in unprecedented levels of freedom, particularly in the sexual arena.

Wolfe predicted that puritanism would reassert itself in the form of a resurgence of Christianity, but he was only half right.