Varieties Of Irreligious Experience: Schoolmarmery, Success-Mongery, And Sycophancy This presentation analyzes three varieties of irreligious experience, that is, spiritually immature attitudes, that have become preoccupations of conservative Christians (as well as conservative Jews and Muslims) and have achieved cultural prominence and political dominance. These are: (1) the lust for sexual purity (what I call “schoolmarmery”), (2) the obsession with material success (“success-mongery”), and (3) the demand for infallible leadership (“sycophancy”). How did puritanical attitudes and religious sex taboos come to eclipse American concerns for individual civil liberties and tolerance? How can these damaging irreligious obsessions be exposed and opposed in the public sector?

Paul Toscano