Neo-Conservative Christianity as Bioethics' Future Interlocutor

The future of religion and bioethics is unfortunately a return to the past. Because public health and health policy have become pivotal sites of contestation in the U.S., dominant methods of empirical reasoning and knowledge production are coming into increasingly direct tension with populist anti-intellectualism, distrust of expertise, and conservative theological moral reasoning as seen in the U.S.'s foreign policy decisions (WHO, USAID, Davos). The contemporary entrenchment of neo-conservative Christianity and the Trump administration requires bioethicists to engage conservative Christian ideology if we desire to reclaim the positive efficacy of public health and health policy as measures aimed at improving communal health outcomes. Understanding these organizing logics and their role in this administration’s public health approach helps us better craft new ethical arguments to help others rethink the negative actions against public health within and beyond our borders.