Journal: Eikon
Volume: EIKON 01:2 (Fall 2019)
Article: Natural Law And Protecting The Innocent: On Drag Queen Story Hour, Liberal Democracy, And Public Morality
Author: Andrew T. Walker

Eikon 1:2 (Fall 2019) p. 82

Natural Law And Protecting The Innocent:
On Drag Queen Story Hour, Liberal Democracy, And Public Morality

Andrew T. Walker

& Josh Wester

Andrew T. Walker is the Executive Editor of Eikon and Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Josh Wester is Director of Strategic Initiatives at The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and a ThM student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Recently, there has been no small amount of fervor and controversy over the subject of Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) among religious conservatives in the United States. Indeed, the preceding months have seen this controversy develop into something of a firestorm over the future of the conservative movement. It has become an avatar through which conservatives are refracting many issues related to public engagement; among them, determining to what extent the state can privilege certain viewpoints to the exclusion of others. And, ironically, at the center of this controversy lies a moral debate altogether unlikely to divide religious and social conservatives: drag queens reading to children in public libraries. No one engaged in the so-called “French-Ahmari” debates insists that such gross demonstration of personal liberty is actually praiseworthy.

At this point, there is little need to revisit the genesis of the French-Ahmari debate. Nor is there a compelling reason to consider in detail the various points and counterpoints that have been made along the way by both sides. Summaries of each are readily available. Instead, it is desirable to focus solely on the root issue of the debate precisely because the question at the center of this conflagration remains unresolved.

Social conservatives in America are hardly divided over the virtue of grown men dressed in drag reading to children in public libraries. To say the least, our contempt for such an activity is universal. But despite our unity at this juncture, there is an enormous divide over a related question: is it appropriate for government to prohibit such activities in public spaces?

Eikon 1:2 (Fall 2019) p. 83

Baptists Take Up The Question

At a recent private convening of Baptist scholars, that question drew forth responses in both the negative and the affirmative. Moreover, it introduced no small amount of uncertainty for others in attendance who remained undecided. But even so, it would be wrong to conclude from this apparent lack of unity that these Baptists lack any consensus on the current debate.

The principle of religious freedom is a key distinctive of the Baptist tradition. Indeed, it might be the defi...