Moral Majority

===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>