Christian right Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Ability to organize=== [[File:M4l2004.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Demonstrators at the 2004 [[March for Life (Washington, D.C.)|March for Life]] in Washington, D.C.]] The Christian Right has engaged in battles over abortion, [[Christian views on euthanasia|euthanasia]], [[Christian views on birth control|contraception]], [[Opposition to pornography|pornography]], gambling, [[obscenity]], [[Christian nationalism]], [[Sabbatarianism|Sunday Sabbatarianism]] (concerning [[blue law|Sunday blue laws]]), state sanctioned [[school prayer|prayer in public schools]], textbook contents (concerning [[creationism]]), [[LGBT rights opposition|homosexuality]], and [[sexual education]].<ref name="Zubovich2018"/><ref name="Bowers2009"/> The Supreme Court's decision to make abortion a constitutionally protected right in the 1973 ''[[Roe v Wade|Roe v. Wade]]'' ruling was the driving force behind the rise of the Christian Right in the 1970s.<ref name="RozellWilcox1997">{{cite book|last1=Rozell|first1=Mark J.|last2=Wilcox|first2=Clyde|title=God at the Grass Roots, 1996: The Christian Right in the American Elections|year=1997|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780847686117|page=[https://archive.org/details/godatgrassroots10000unse/page/117 117]|quote=Initially, the abortion issue dominated the agenda of conservative Christians. But as political context changed, more issues were included. Euthanasia, the rights of homosexuals, pornography, sex education in schools, charter and home schools, and gambling have become issues of concern to the "pro-family" movement.|url=https://archive.org/details/godatgrassroots10000unse/page/117}}</ref> Changing political context led to the Christian Right's advocacy for other issues, such as opposition to euthanasia and campaigning for [[abstinence-only sex education]].<ref name="RozellWilcox1997"/> [[Ralph Reed]], the chairman of the Christian Coalition, stated that the [[Pat Robertson#Political service and activism|1988 presidential campaign]] of [[Pat Robertson]] was the 'political crucible' that led to the proliferation of Christian Right groups in the United States.<ref name="RozellWilcox1997" /> Randall Balmer, on the other hand, has suggested that the New Christian Right Movement's rise was not centered around the issue of abortion, but rather [[Bob Jones University]]'s refusal to comply with the Supreme Court's 1971 ''[[Coit v. Green|Green v. Connally]]'' ruling that permitted the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to collect penalty taxes from private religious schools that violated federal laws.<ref name="ippavyui">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5502785|title=Evangelical: Religious Right Has Distorted the Faith|date=June 23, 2006|work=NPR|author=Linda Wertheimer|access-date=January 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202210127/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5502785|archive-date=February 2, 2007|url-status=live}}</ref> ====Grassroots activism==== Much of the Christian right's power within the American political system is attributed to their extraordinary turnout rate at the polls. The voters that coexist in the Christian right are also highly motivated and driven to get out a viewpoint on issues they care about. As well as high voter turnout, they can be counted on to attend political events, knock on doors and distribute literature. Members of the Christian right are willing to do the electoral work needed to see their candidate elected. Because of their high level of devotion, the Christian right does not need to monetarily compensate these people for their work.<ref name=Green2006>{{cite news |author1-link=John C. Green|first1=John C. |last1=Green |first2=Mark |last2=Silk |title=Why Moral Values Did Count |work=Religion in the News |date=Spring 2005 |url=http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol8No1/WhyMoral%20ValuesDidCount.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123231911/http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol8No1/WhyMoral%20ValuesDidCount.htm |archive-date=January 23, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1-link=Geoffrey Layman |first1=Geoffrey C. |last1=Layman |first2=John C. |last2=Green |title=Wars and Rumors of Wars: The Contexts of Cultural Conflict in American Political Behavior |journal=British Journal of Political Science |volume=36 |issue=1 |year=2006 |pages=61β89 |doi=10.1017/S0007123406000044 |s2cid=144870729 }}</ref>{{Update inline|reason=Does this still hold after so many years?|?=yes|date=November 2020}} ====Political leaders and institutions==== Led by [[Robert Grant (Christian Leader)|Robert Grant]] advocacy group [[Christian Voice (USA)|Christian Voice]], Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, [[Ed McAteer]]'s Religious Roundtable Council, [[James Dobson]]'s [[Focus on the Family]], [[Paul Weyrich]]'s [[Free Congress Research and Education Foundation|Free Congress Foundation]] and [[The Heritage Foundation]],<ref name=weyfalw>{{cite news|url=https://latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-weyrich19-2008dec19-story.html#page=1|title=Paul Weyrich, religious conservative and ex-president of Heritage Foundation, dies at 66|author=Elaine Woo|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=December 19, 2008|access-date=January 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150409082035/http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-weyrich19-2008dec19-story.html#page=1|archive-date=April 9, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Pat Robertson]]'s [[Christian Broadcasting Network]], the new Religious Right combined conservative politics with evangelical and fundamentalist teachings.<ref name=Himmelstein>Jerome Himmelstein, p. 97; Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Religious Right, p.49β50, Sara Diamond, [[South End Press]], Boston, MA</ref> The birth of the New Christian right, however, is usually traced to a 1979 meeting where televangelist Jerry Falwell was urged to create a "Moral Majority" organization.<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|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tzi7bIDP3aMC|location=New York|publisher=Broadway Books |isbn=978-0-553-06745-3}}</ref><ref name="Diamond1995a">{{cite book|last=Sara|first=Diamond|year=1995|title=Roads to Dominion|location=New York|publisher=Guilford Press|isbn=978-0-89862-864-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/roadstodominionr00diamrich}}</ref> In 1979, Weyrich was in a discussion with Falwell when he remarked that there was a "moral majority" of Americans ready to be called to political action.<ref name=weyfalw /> Weyrich later recalled in a 2007 interview with the ''[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]]'' that after he mentioned the term "moral majority", Falwell "turned to his people and said, 'That's the name of our organization.{{'"}}<ref name=weyfalw /> Weyrich would then engineer a strong union between the Republican Party and many culturally conservative Christians.<ref name=weyfalw /> Soon, Moral Majority became a general term for the conservative political activism of evangelists and fundamentalists such as Pat Robertson, [[James Robison (televangelist)|James Robison]], and Jerry Falwell.<ref name=Reinhard>{{cite book|last=Reinhard|first=David|title=The Republican Right since 1945|year=1983|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|location=Lexington, KY|isbn=978-0813114842|page=[https://archive.org/details/republicanrights00rein/page/245 245]|url=https://archive.org/details/republicanrights00rein/page/245}}</ref> Howard Schweber, Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, writes that "in the past two decades", "Catholic politicians have emerged as leading figures in the religious conservative movement."<ref name=Schweber2012/> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page