Moral Majority

==History==

===Before establishment===
The origins of the Moral Majority can be traced to 1976 when Baptist [[minister (Christianity)|minister]] [[Jerry Falwell Sr.]] embarked on a series of "I Love America" rallies across the country to raise awareness of social issues important to him.<ref name="Liebman 1983 p. 58">Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) ''The New Christian Right'', p. 58. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. {{ISBN|0-202-30307-1}}</ref>  These rallies were an extension of Falwell's decision to go against the traditional [[Baptist]] principle of separating religion and politics, a change of heart Falwell says he had when he perceived what he described as the decay of the nation's morality.<ref name="Allitt, Patrick 2003 p. 152">Allitt, Patrick (2003). ''Religion in America Since 1945: A History'', p. 152. New York: [[Columbia University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-231-12154-7}}</ref> Through hosting these rallies, Falwell was able to gauge national support for a formal organization and also raise his profile as a leader. Having already been a part of a well-established network of ministers and ministries, within a few years Falwell was favorably positioned to launch the Moral Majority.

The impetus for the Moral Majority was the struggle for control of an American [[Conservatism|conservative]] Christian advocacy group known as [[Christian Voice (USA)|Christian Voice]] during 1978. [[Robert Grant (Christian Leader)|Robert Grant]], Christian Voice's president, said in a news conference that the [[Religious right in the United States|religious right]] was a "sham... controlled by three [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] and a [[Jew]]." Following this, [[Paul Weyrich]], [[Terry Dolan (activist)|Terry Dolan]], [[Richard Viguerie]] (the Catholics) and [[Howard Phillips (activist)|Howard Phillips]] (the Jew) left Christian Voice.

During a 1979 meeting, they urged televangelist [[Jerry Falwell Sr.]] to found the Moral Majority (a phrase coined by Weyrich<ref>Lernoux, Penny. "A Reverence for Fundamentalism," ''The Nation,'' vol. 248, Issue #0015, 17 April 1989</ref>). This was the period when the [[New Christian Right]] arose.<ref name="Martin1996a">{{cite book|last=Martin|first=William|year=1996|title=With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America|location=New York|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=978-0-553-06745-3|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780553067453}}</ref><ref name="Diamond1995a">{{cite book|last=Diamond|first=Sara|author-link=Sara Diamond (sociologist)|year=1995|title=Roads to Dominion|url=https://archive.org/details/roadstodominionr00diamrich|url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=Guilford Press|isbn=978-0-89862-864-7}}</ref> Joining Falwell in the Moral Majority was Ed McAteer, who the same year, founded the Religious Roundtable in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Tennessee]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/obituaries/us/edward-e-mcateer-78-empowered-christian-right.html?_r=0|title=Edward E. McAteer, 78; Empowered Christian Right|author=Margalit Fox|date=October 10, 2004|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=May 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717053211/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/obituaries/us/edward-e-mcateer-78-empowered-christian-right.html?_r=0|archive-date=2016-07-17|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Establishment and organizational activity===
Falwell and Weyrich founded the Moral Majority in June 1979.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States|author=Hudson, D.W.|date=2008|publisher=Threshold Editions|isbn=9781416565895|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-kxKOrqtQBQC|page=15|access-date=2014-11-15}}</ref>  According to former Arkansas governor [[Mike Huckabee]], who was Texas evangelist [[James Robison (televangelist)|James Robison]]'s communications director at the time, Robison's "Freedom Rally" at the [[Dallas Convention Center]] was the genesis of the Moral Majority.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Prodigal Son |first=Ariel |last=Levy |url=https://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/06/28/100628fa_fact_levy |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=2010-06-28 |access-date=22 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122210441/http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/06/28/100628fa_fact_levy |archive-date=2012-01-22 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Moral Majority was predominately a Southern-oriented organization of the Christian Right, although its state chapters and political activity extended beyond the South.<ref name="Liebman 1983 p. 58"/> The number of state chapters grew quickly, with organizations in eighteen states by 1980.<ref>Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) ''The New Christian Right'', pp. 31–32. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. {{ISBN|0-202-30307-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Williams |first=Daniel K. |title=Jerry Falwell's Sunbelt Politics: The Regional Origins of the Moral Majority |journal=[[Journal of Policy History]] |volume=22 |pages=125–47 |issue=2 |date=April 2010 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |doi=10.1017/S0898030610000011 |s2cid=146148193 }}</ref> The variety of resources available to the Moral Majority at its founding facilitated this rapid expansion, and included Falwell's mailing list from his program, ''Old Time Gospel Hour''. In addition, the Moral Majority took control of the ''Old Time Gospel Hour''{{'s}} publication, ''Journal Champion'', which had been distributed to the show's donors.<ref>Liebman, Robert and Robert Wuthnow (1983) ''The New Christian Right'', p. 61. New York: Aldine Publishing Company. {{ISBN|0-202-30307-1}}</ref> Through the 1980s, Falwell was the organization's best-known spokesperson. By 1982, Moral Majority surpassed [[Christian Voice (USA)|Christian Voice]] in size and influence.

The Moral Majority's headquarters were in [[Lynchburg, Virginia]], where Falwell was the presiding minister of the nation's largest independent Baptist church, [[Thomas Road Baptist Church]]. Virginia has been a seat of Christian Right politics, being the state where the [[Christian Coalition of America|Christian Coalition]]'s first headquarters were established. Falwell was at the head of the Moral Majority and maintained an advisory board, constituting the organization's primary leadership. This leadership was drawn mostly from Falwell's fellow members of the [[Baptist Bible Fellowship]]. Falwell insisted the Moral Majority leadership also include Catholics and Jews, although not all members of the leadership approved of this inclusion.<ref name="Allitt, Patrick 2003 p. 153">Allitt, Patrick (2003). ''Religion in America Since 1945: A History'', p. 153. New York: Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-12154-7}}</ref>

The Moral Majority was an organization made up of conservative Christian [[political action committee]]s which campaigned on issues its personnel believed were important to maintaining its Christian conception of moral law. They believed this represented the opinions of the majority of Americans (hence the movement's name). With a membership of millions, the ''Moral Majority'' became one of the largest conservative lobby groups in the United States and at its height, it claimed more than four million members and over two million donors.<ref>Wilcox, Clyde (1996). ''Onward Christian Soldiers?'', p. 96. Boulder: [[Westview Press]]. {{ISBN|0-8133-2696-6}}</ref> These members were spread among about twenty state organizations, of which [[Washington (state)|Washington]] State's was the largest. The Moral Majority was incorporated into the Liberty Federation in 1985, remaining a distinct entity but falling under the Liberty Federation's larger jurisdiction. In 1987, Falwell retired as the formal head of the Moral Majority, and was succeeded by Jerry Nims,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lohmann|first1=Bill|title=From Beatnik to Religious Right Figure : New Moral Majority Leader Took His Own Path|url=https://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-06/local/me-10334_1_moral-majority|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=February 6, 1988|access-date=2016-10-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020035535/http://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-06/local/me-10334_1_moral-majority|archive-date=2016-10-20|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Carroll|first1=Jerry|title=Falwell's Successor Recalls Fondly HIs Bay Area Roots Nims' dad was controversial preacher in the city|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB4EFBFDE4E0961&p_docnum=4&s_dlid=DL0116101916414009005&s_ecproduct=SUB-FREE&s_ecprodtype=INSTANT&s_trackval=&s_siteloc=&s_referrer=&s_subterm=Subscription%20until%3A%2012%2F15%2F2030&s_docsbal=%20&s_subexpires=12%2F15%2F2030&s_docstart=&s_docsleft=&s_docsread=&s_username=refuser&s_accountid=AC0114070818394531470&s_upgradeable=no|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=November 5, 1987}}</ref> although he maintained an active and visible role within the organization. The same year, a major effort which Falwell made to bring scandal-ridden [[Jim Bakker]]'s [[The PTL Club|PTL ministries]] out of financial trouble proved unsuccessful.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/09/us/falwell-quits-warning-ptl-ministry-may-end.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|title= Falwell Quits, Warning PTL Ministry May End|date=October 9, 1987|access-date=December 2, 2021}}</ref>

===Dissolution===
By the end of [[Ronald Reagan]]'s presidential administration, Christian Right organizations were generally in a phase of decline. After Reagan's two terms in office, donations were decreasing, because after eight years of Christian Right-supported leadership, the nation was no longer seen as in the same state of supposed moral peril as it was when Reagan first took office.<ref>Wilcox, Clyde (1996). ''Onward Christian Soldiers?'', p. 38. Boulder: Westview Press. {{ISBN|0-8133-2696-6}}</ref> The Moral Majority's financial base seriously eroded by the time it became part of the Liberty Federation; its financial difficulties ultimately were a major factor in the decision to disband the organization.<ref>Wilcox, Clyde (1992). ''God's Warriors'', p. 14. Baltimore: [[Johns Hopkins University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-8018-4263-8}}</ref> Falwell offered an optimistic public opinion about the Moral Majority's dissolution. Disbanding the Moral Majority in 1989 in [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]], Falwell declared, "Our goal has been achieved... The religious right is solidly in place and{{nbsp}}[...] religious conservatives in America are now in for the duration."<ref>Allitt, Patrick (2003). ''Religion in America Since 1945: A History'', p. 198. New York: Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-12154-7}}</ref>