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! ===National organizations=== One early attempt to bring the Christian right into American politics began in 1974 when [[Robert Grant (Christian Leader)|Robert Grant]], an early movement leader, founded American Christian Cause to advocate Christian ideological teachings in Southern California. Concerned that Christians overwhelmingly voted for President [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1976, Grant expanded his movement and founded [[Christian Voice (USA)|Christian Voice]] to rally Christian voters behind socially conservative candidates. Prior to his alliance with Falwell, Weyrich sought an alliance with Grant.<ref name=weyrichgrant /> Grant and other Christian Voice staff soon set up their main office at the headquarters of Weyrich's Heritage Foundation.<ref name=weyrichgrant>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ehBRJGC7kq0C&pg=PT122|title=What Every American Should Know About Who's Really Running America|first=Melissa|last=Rossi|date=May 29, 2007|publisher=Penguin|via=Google Books|isbn=9781440621031}}</ref> However, the alliance between Weyrich and Grant fell apart in 1978.<ref name=weyrichgrant /> In the late 1980s, Pat Robertson founded the [[Christian Coalition of America]], building from his [[1988 United States presidential election|1988 presidential run]], with Republican activist [[Ralph E. Reed Jr.|Ralph Reed]], who became the spokesman for the Coalition. In 1992, the national Christian Coalition, Inc., headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, began producing voter guides, which it distributed to conservative Christian churches, both Protestant and Catholic, with the blessing of the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York]].<ref name="SmidtPenning1997">{{cite book|last1=Smidt|first1=Corwin E.|last2=Penning|first2=James M.|title=Sojourners in the Wilderness: The Christian Right in Comparative Perspective|year=1997|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|language=en|isbn=9780847686452|page=51|quote=Perhaps the most prominent example of this was when the Archdiocese of New York joined forces with the Christian Coalition during the New York City school board elections in 1993 and allowed the distribution of Christian Coalition voter guides in Catholic parishes.}}</ref> Under the leadership of Reed and Robertson, the Coalition quickly became the most prominent voice in the conservative Christian movement, its influence culminating with an effort to support the election of a conservative Christian to the [[1996 United States presidential election|presidency in 1996]]. In addition, they have encouraged the convergence of conservative Christian ideology with political issues, such as healthcare, the economy, education and crime.<ref>Micklethwait and Wooldridge, The Right Nation, 2005, 111</ref> Political activists lobbied within the Republican party locally and nationally to influence party platforms and nominations.<ref name="RozellGreenJelenWilcox2003" /> More recently James Dobson's group Focus on the Family, based in Colorado Springs, and the Family Research Council in Washington D.C. have gained enormous respect from Republican lawmakers. While strongly advocating for these ideological matters, Dobson himself is warier of the political spectrum and much of the resources of his group are devoted to other aims such as media.<ref>Micklethwait and Wooldridge, The Right Nation, 2005, 187</ref> However, as a private citizen, Dobson has stated his opinion on presidential elections; on February 5, 2008, Dobson issued a statement regarding the 2008 presidential election and his strong disappointment with the Republican party's candidates.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000006444.cfm |title=Dr. Dobson: ' I Cannot, and Will Not, Vote for McCain' |publisher=CitizenLink |access-date=December 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312200209/http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000006444.cfm |archive-date=March 12, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In an essay written in 1996, Ralph Reed argued against the [[Moral absolutism|moral absolutist]] tone of Christian right leaders, arguing for the Republican Party Platform to stress the moral dimension of abortion rather than placing emphasis on overturning Roe v. Wade. Reed believes that pragmatism is the best way to advocate for the Christian right.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 420824|title = The Evolving Politics of the Christian Right|journal = PS: Political Science and Politics|volume = 29|issue = 3|pages = 461β464|last1 = Moen|first1 = Matthew C.|year = 1996|doi = 10.1017/S104909650004508X}}</ref> 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