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{{Short description|Socially conservative political ideology rooted in Christianity}} | |||
{{Conservatism}} | |||
{{About|right-wing movements influenced by Christianity|religious right-wing movements unrelated to Christianity|Religious right (disambiguation){{!}}Religious right}} | |||
{{Not to be confused with|text=], a grouping of overlapping and denominationally diverse theological movements within Christianity that seeks to retain the orthodox and long-standing traditions and beliefs of Christianity}} | |||
{{Globalize|1=article|2=United States|date=March 2024}} | |||
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}} | |||
{{Conservatism sidebar|expanded=religious}} | |||
{{Conservatism US|variants and movements}} | |||
The '''Christian right''', otherwise referred to as the '''religious right''', are ] characterized by their strong support of ] and ] policies.<ref name="Gannon 1981">{{cite journal |author-last=Gannon |author-first=Thomas M. |date=July–September 1981 |title=The New Christian Right in America as a Social and Political Force |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/assr_0335-5985_1981_num_52_1_2226 |journal=] |location=] |publisher=] |volume=26 |issue=52–1 |pages=69–83 |doi=10.3406/assr.1981.2226 |doi-access=free |issn=0335-5985 |jstor=30125411}}</ref><ref name="e-Rea 2012">{{cite journal |author-last=Ben Barka |author-first=Mokhtar |date=December 2012 |title=The New Christian Right's relations with Israel and with the American Jews: the mid-1970s onward |journal=E-Rea |location=] and ] |publisher=] on behalf of ] |volume=10 |issue=1 |doi=10.4000/erea.2753 |doi-access=free |issn=1638-1718 |s2cid=191364375}}</ref> Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with their interpretation of the teachings of ].<ref name="Miller 2014">{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Steven P. |year=2014 |title=The Age of Evangelicalism: America's Born-Again Years |chapter=Left, Right, Born Again |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cWLwAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 |location=] |publisher=] |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199777952.003.0003 |pages=32–59 |isbn=9780199777952 |lccn=2013037929 |oclc=881502753}}</ref><ref name="Durham 2000">{{cite book |last=Durham |first=Martin |year=2000 |chapter=The rise of the right |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ual1NR2WPasC&pg=PA1 |title=The Christian Right, the Far Right, and the Boundaries of American Conservatism |location=] and ] |publisher=] |pages=1–23 |isbn=9780719054860}}</ref><ref>, Margaret L. Andersen, Howard Francis Taylor, Cengage Learning, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-534-61716-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-534-61716-5}}</ref> | |||
'''Christian right''' is a term used in the United States to describe ] ] groups that are characterized by their strong support of ] policies. Christian conservatives principally seek to apply their understanding of the teachings of Christianity to politics and public policy by proclaiming the value of those teachings and/or by seeking to use those teachings to influence law and public policy.<ref> Margaret L. Andersen, Howard Francis Taylor , Cengage Learning, 2005 ISBN 978-0-534-61716-5, ISBN 978-0-534-61716-5</ref> | |||
In the United States, the Christian right is an informal coalition which was formed around a core of conservative ] and conservative ].<ref name="e-Rea 2012"/><ref name="Miller 2014"/><ref name="Deckman2004">{{cite book |last=Deckman |first=Melissa Marie |author-link=Melissa Deckman |year=2004 |title=School Board Battles: The Christian Right in Local Politics |url=https://archive.org/details/schoolboardbattl0000deck |url-access=registration |access-date=April 10, 2014 |location=] |publisher=] |isbn=9781589010017 |page= |quote=More than half of all Christian right candidates attend evangelical Protestant churches, which are more theologically liberal. A relatively large number of Christian Right candidates (24 percent) are Catholics; however, when asked to describe themselves as either "progressive/liberal" or "traditional/conservative" Catholics, 88 percent of these Christian right candidates place themselves in the traditional category.}}</ref><ref name="Schweber2012">{{cite news|url= https://huffingtonpost.com/howard-schweber/the-catholicization-of-th_b_1298435.html|title= The Catholicization of the American Right|last= Schweber|first= Howard|work= The Huffington Post|access-date= February 24, 2012|quote= In the past two decades, the American religious Right has become increasingly Catholic. I mean that both literally and metaphorically. Literally, Catholic writers have emerged as intellectual leaders of the religious right in universities, the punditocracy, the press, and the courts, promoting an agenda that at its most theoretical involves a reclamation of the natural law tradition of Thomas Aquinas and at its most practical involves appeals to the kind of common-sense, 'everybody knows,' or 'it just is' arguments that have characterized opposition to same-sex marriage ... Meanwhile, in the realm of actual politics, Catholic politicians have emerged as leading figures in the religious conservative movement.|date= February 24, 2012}}</ref><ref name="Catholic">{{cite book|title=School Board Battles: the Christian right in Local Politics|url= https://archive.org/details/schoolboardbattl0000deck|url-access= registration|quote= Indeed, such significant Christian Right leaders such as ] and ] are conservative Catholics.|author= Melissa Marie Deckman|year= 2004|author-link=Melissa Deckman|publisher= ]}}</ref> The Christian right draws additional support from politically conservative ]s, ], and ].<ref name="e-Rea 2012"/><ref name="Deckman2004"/><ref>{{cite book|last1= Smith|first1= David Whitten|last2= Burr|first2= Elizabeth Geraldine|title= Understanding World Religions: A Road Map for Justice and Peace|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OHs386EZkRwC&pg=PA106|year= 2007|publisher= Rowman & Littlefield |page= 106|isbn= 9780742550551}}</ref> The movement in ] became dominant in ] starting in the late 1970s. The Christian right gained powerful influence within the ] during the ] in the United States in the 1980s.<ref name="Gannon 1981"/><ref name="e-Rea 2012"/><ref name="Palmer-Winner 2005">{{cite book |author1-last=Palmer |author1-first=Randall |author2-last=Winner |author2-first=Lauren F. |year=2005 |origyear=2002 |chapter=Protestants and Homosexuality |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMVH6upbI9QC&pg=PA149 |title=Protestantism in America |location=] |publisher=] |series=Columbia Contemporary American Religion Series |pages=149–178 |isbn=9780231111317 |lccn=2002023859}}</ref><ref name="hartsem"/>{{sfn|Williams|2010|pages=1, 2}}<ref>{{cite magazine |author-last=Trollinger |author-first=William |date=October 8, 2019 |title=Fundamentalism turns 100, a landmark for the Christian Right |url=http://theconversation.com/fundamentalism-turns-100-a-landmark-for-the-christian-right-123651 |url-status=live |magazine=] |issn=2201-5639 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507013412/https://theconversation.com/fundamentalism-turns-100-a-landmark-for-the-christian-right-123651 |archive-date=May 7, 2022 |access-date=July 3, 2022}}</ref> Its influence draws from grassroots activism as well as from focus on social issues and the ability to motivate the electorate around those issues.<ref name="Green2006"/> It is part of ]. | |||
In the U.S., the Christian right is an informal coalition of numerous groups, chiefly made up of ] with some politically-conservative ]<ref>Donald T. Critchlow, ''The Conservative Ascendancy'' (2011) pp 175-6</ref> and ].<ref></ref> The Christian right is strongest in the South, where it replaced the core of the ].<ref>Albert J. Menendez, ''Evangelicals at the Ballot Box'' (1996) ch 3, 6-7</ref> Besides conservative positions on domestic issues such as opposition to ] and ],<ref name = "Life">{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=A6pXEhvP0BYC&pg=PA205&dq=%22christian+right%22+%22pro-life%22&hl=en&ei=DOZOTo6fHpODsALLvK3NBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=%22christian%20right%22%20%22pro-life%22&f=false|title=The Right and the Righteous: the Christian Right confronts the Republican Party|quote=The Christian Right's intense commitment to its cause (especially the pro-life cause) helped make threats of disruption real.|author=Duane Murray Oldfield|publisher=]|accessdate =19 August 2011}}</ref> in recent years, much of the Christian right is strongly supportive of ] in foreign affairs.<ref>Andrew Preston, "The Politics of Realism and Religion: Christian Responses to Bush's New World Order," ''Diplomatic History,'' Jan 2010, Vol. 34 Issue 1, pp 95-118</ref> There are similar, smaller Christian right movements in other countries, including ],<ref>Marci McDonald, ''The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada''(2010)</ref> ],<ref>Marion Maddox, ''God under Howard : the rise of the religious right in Australian politics'' (Crows Nest, N.S.W : Allen & Unwin, 2005) </ref> and the ].<ref>Dennis R. Hoover, '''', RELIGION IN THE NEWS, Summer 2000, Vol. 3, No. 2,</ref></onlyinclude> | |||
The Christian right has advanced socially conservative positions on issues such as ],<ref name="Edis 2020">{{cite journal |last=Edis |first=Taner |date=August 2020 |title=Is There A Political Argument For Teaching Evolution? |url=https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0004/article/view/8304/8108 |journal=] |publisher=] |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=1–26 |doi=10.17192/mjr.2020.22.8304 |issn=1612-2941 |access-date=July 20, 2022}}</ref> ],<ref name="McKeegan 1993">{{cite journal |author-last=McKeegan |author-first=Michele |date=Fall 1993 |title=The politics of abortion: A historical perspective |journal=] |publisher=] on behalf of the ] |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=127–131 |doi=10.1016/S1049-3867(05)80245-2 |issn=1878-4321 |pmid=8274866 |s2cid=36048222}}</ref> ],<ref name="RozellGreenJelenWilcox2003"/> ],<ref name="Zubovich2018">{{cite web|last1=Zubovich|first1=Gene|date=July 17, 2018|title=The Christian Nationalism of Donald Trump|url=https://religionandpolitics.org/2018/07/17/the-christian-nationalism-of-donald-trump/|website=Religion and Politics|publisher=]|language=en}}</ref> ],<ref name="e-Rea 2012"/> and ],<ref name="Bowers2009">{{cite magazine|last1=Bowers|first1=Paige|date=February 22, 2009|title=Will the Recession Doom the Last Sunday Blue Laws?|url=http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1880340,00.html|magazine=]|language=en|access-date=October 6, 2020|quote=Those states — Georgia, Connecticut, Texas, Alabama and Minnesota — enjoy overwhelming voter support for an extra day of sales, but face opposition from members of the Christian right, who say that selling on Sunday undermines safety and tears apart families.}}</ref> as well as opposition to the teaching of ],<ref name="Edis 2020"/> ],<ref name="embryonic stem cells"/> ],<ref name="Durham 2000"/><ref name="Palmer-Winner 2005"/><ref name="McKeegan 1993"/><ref name="Herman"/> ],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=di Mauro|first1=Diane|last2=Joffe|first2=Carole|date=March 1, 2007|title=The religious right and the reshaping of sexual policy: An examination of reproductive rights and sexuality education|url=https://doi.org/10.1525/srsp.2007.4.1.67|journal=Sexuality Research & Social Policy|language=en|volume=4|issue=1|pages=67–92|doi=10.1525/srsp.2007.4.1.67| s2cid=19893992 |issn=1553-6610}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Bouma|first=Gary D.|title=Young people want sex education and religion shouldn't get in the way|url=http://theconversation.com/young-people-want-sex-education-and-religion-shouldnt-get-in-the-way-96719|access-date=January 6, 2022|website=The Conversation|date=September 5, 2018 |language=en}}</ref> ], ],<ref name="e-Rea 2012"/><ref name="McKeegan 1993"/><ref name="Petersen"/> ],<ref name="e-Rea 2012" /> and ].<ref name="Kaplan"/> Although the term ''Christian right'' is most commonly associated with politics in the United States,<ref name="e-Rea 2012"/> similar Christian conservative groups can be found in the political cultures of other ].<ref name="SN.Soc.Sci">{{cite journal |author1-last=Sotelo |author1-first=María Victoria |author2-last=Arocena |author2-first=Felipe |date=July 2021 |title=Evangelicals in the Latin American political arena: The cases of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay |journal=SN Social Sciences |publisher=] |volume=1 |issue=180 |doi=10.1007/s43545-021-00179-6 |doi-access=free |issn=2662-9283 |s2cid=237748900}}</ref> | |||
==Terminology== | ==Terminology== | ||
The Christian right is also known as the ''New Christian Right'' (NCR) or the ''Religious Right'',<ref name="e-Rea 2012"/> although some consider the religious right to be "a slightly broader category than Christian Right".<ref name=hartsem>{{cite web|url=http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/Cright.htm|title=Content Pages of the Encyclopedia of Religion and Social Science|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230556/http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/Cright.htm|archive-date=March 3, 2016}}</ref><ref name=wacker>{{cite web|url=http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/chr_rght.htm|title=The Christian Right, The Twentieth Century, Divining America: Religion in American History|author=Grant Wacker|publisher=National Humanities Center}}</ref> | |||
The terms ''Christian right'' and '']'' are often used interchangeably,{{By whom|date=April 2012}}<!--By whom? For example is this true for the UK or AUS?--> although the terms are not synonymous.{{Or|date=April 2012}}{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}<!--Says who? where?--> ''Religious right'' includes Christians, Muslims and Orthodox Jews.{{Or|date=April 2012}}{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}<!--Says who? where? --> For example, they cooperate in national and international projects through the ] and United Nations NGO gatherings.<ref>Butler, Jennifer S. 2006. Born Again: The Christian right Globalized. University of Michigan Press; London: Pluto Press.</ref> ''Christian right'', by contrast, refers only to conservative Christians, which can include those who are accepting of cooperation with other faiths and those who are not.{{Or|date=April 2012}}{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}<!--Says who? where? For example in the UK the Church of England is often referred to as the Conservative/Tory Party at prayer in the UK.--> | |||
] of the ] states that ] used the label ''religious right'' to describe himself. Gary Schneeberger, vice president of media and public relations for ], states that "erms like 'religious right' have been traditionally used in a pejorative way to suggest extremism. The phrase 'socially conservative evangelicals' is not very exciting, but that's certainly the way to do it."<ref name=ct>Sarah Pulliam: ''Christianity Today'' (Web-only), February 12, 2009.</ref> | |||
Evangelical leaders like ] of the ] have called attention to the problem of equating the term ''Christian right'' with ]. Although evangelicals constitute the core constituency of the Christian right, not all evangelicals fit the description, and a number of ] are also members of the Christian right's core base.<ref name="Deckman2004"/> The problem of description is further complicated by the fact that the label ''religious conservative'' or '']'' may apply to other religious groups as well. For instance, ] (most notably ], ], ], the ], ], ] and ]) are theologically, socially, and culturally conservative; however, there are no overtly political organizations associated with these ], which are usually uninvolved, uninterested, apathetic, or indifferent towards politics.<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Joireman |author-first=Sandra F. |year=2009 |chapter=Anabaptism and the State: An Uneasy Coexistence |chapter-url=https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1090&context=polisci-faculty-publications |url-status=live |editor-last=Joireman |editor-first=Sandra F. |title=Church, State, and Citizen: Christian Approaches to Political Engagement |location=] and ] |publisher=] |pages=73–91 |isbn=978-0-19-537845-0 |lccn=2008038533 |s2cid=153268965 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125145905/https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1090&context=polisci-faculty-publications |archive-date=November 25, 2020 |access-date=February 26, 2022}}</ref> Evangelical theologian and pastor ] stated that conservative Christianity (theology) predates the Christian right (politics). Keller asserted that being a theological conservative does not require a person to be a political conservative, and that some ] views around economics, helping the poor, the ], and racial diversity are compatible with theologically conservative Christianity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dr. Timothy Keller at the March 2013 Faith Angle Forum |url=https://eppc.org/publication/dr-timothy-keller-at-the-march-2013-faith-angle-forum/ |access-date=January 19, 2023 |website=Ethics & Public Policy Center |language=en-US}}</ref> Conservative writer ] has stated that a Christian can be theologically conservative while still holding ] or even ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dreher |first=Rod |date=July 24, 2014 |title=What Is 'Traditional Christianity,' Anyway? |url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/what-is-traditional-christianity-anyway/ |access-date=January 19, 2023 |website=The American Conservative |language=en-US}}</ref> | |||
Evangelical leaders like ] of the ] have called attention to the problem of equating the term "Christian right" with ]. Although evangelicals constitute the core constituency of the Christian right, not all evangelicals fit the description. The problem of description is further complicated by the fact that ''religious conservative'' may refer to other groups. ] and the ], for example, are theologically conservative, however there are no overtly political organizations associated with these denominations. | |||
==History== | ==History== | ||
], whose founding of the ] was a key step in the formation of the New Christian Right]] | ], whose founding of the ] was a key step in the formation of the "New Christian Right"]] | ||
=== |
=== Background and predecessors === | ||
In 1863, representatives from eleven Christian denominations in the United States organized the ]. The organization's goal was to ] the ] to make the country a ]. The National Reform Association is one of the first organizations through which adherents from several Christian denominations worked together in an attempt to enshrine Christianity in American government.<ref name="Boston2010">{{cite book |last1=Boston |first1=Robert |title=Why the Religious Right Is Wrong About Separation of Church and State |year=2010 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=9781615924103 |page=103 }}</ref> The ], founded in 1897, and other early organizations of the Christian right supported the aims of the ].<ref name="RozellGreenJelenWilcox2003"/> During the 19th and early 20th century there were also a number of evangelicals who supported progressive causes. The ] in 1925 reportedly resulted in most evangelicals abandoning the political arena in an organized fashion. However, an evangelical subculture arose, which was largely secluded from the outside world, but consisted of a number of organizations and institutions, and would ultimately lay the groundwork for the emergence of the religious right in the late 1970s.<ref name="Bad Faith">{{cite book |last=Balmer |first=Randall |author-link=Randall Balmer |date=August 10, 2021 |title=Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kcuAEAAAQBAJ |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |publisher=] |page=<!--Pages are unnumbered--> |isbn=9781467462907 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Balmer |first=Randall |date=December 29, 2024 |title=Jimmy Carter: The Last Progressive Evangelical |url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/12/29/jimmy-carter-progressive-evangelical-00084165 |work=Politico |location= |access-date=January 8, 2025}}</ref> | |||
====The alienation of Southern Democrats==== | |||
Into the ], Catholics and evangelicals worked against each other, as evangelicals mobilized their forces to defeat Catholics ] in 1928 and ] in 1960.<ref>Shaun Casey, ''The making of a Catholic president: Kennedy vs. Nixon 1960'' (2009) pp. 3-11, 107-18</ref> By the 1980s, however, Catholic bishops and evangelicals worked together on issues such as abortion.<ref name = "CC">{{cite book|title=Crisis of Conservatism?: The Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, and American Politics After Bush|author=Joel D. Aberbach; Gillian Peele|publisher=]|accessdate =19 August 2011}}</ref><ref name = "Catholic">{{cite book|title=School Board Battles: the Christian right in Local Politics|quote=Indeed, such significant Christian Right leaders such as Pat Buchanan and Paul Weyrich are conservative Catholics.|author=Melissa Marie Deckman|publisher=]|accessdate =19 August 2011}}</ref><ref name = "RCC">{{cite book|title=Catholics and Politics: the Dynamic Tension between Faith and Power|quote=To summarize, in the Republican Party, many Catholic activists held conservative positions on key issues emphasized by Christian Right leaders, and they said that they supported the political activities of some Christian Right candidates.|author=Kristin E. Heyer; Mark J. Rozell; Michael A. Genovese|publisher=]|accessdate =19 August 2011}}</ref> | |||
While the influence of the Christian right is typically traced to the late 1970s, Daniel K. Williams argues in ''God's Own Party'' that it had actually been involved in politics for most of the twentieth century. He also notes that the Christian right had previously been in alliance with the Republican Party in the 1940s through 1960s on matters such as opposition to communism and defending "a Protestant-based moral order".<ref>{{harvnb|Williams|2010|p=3}}</ref> Similarly, scholar Celestini Carmen traces the ] (JBS)'s focus on ] issues and rhetoric of ], ], and fear to the rise of the Christian right through JBS members and Christian right activists ], ], and others.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Celestini |first1=Carmen |title=God, Country, and Christian Conservatives: The National Association of Manufacturers, the John Birch Society, and the Rise of the Christian Right |date=2018 |type=PhD |publisher=] |url=https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/handle/10012/13361/Celestini_Carmen.pdf |pages=iv, 37, 283, 322–325, 328–334}}</ref> | |||
The alienation of ]s from the Democratic Party contributed to the rise of the Right, as the ] provoked fear of ]. In addition, as the Democratic Party became identified with a pro-choice position on abortion and with nontraditional societal values, social conservatives joined the Republican Party in increasing numbers. | |||
In light of the ] espoused by communist countries during the height of the ] in the 1950s and 1960s, secularization came to be seen by many Americans as the biggest threat to American and Christian values.<ref>Merriman, Scott A. . Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2007. Print. "In 1956, the United States, changed its motto to 'In God We Trust,' in large part to differentiate itself from the Soviet Union, its Cold War enemy that was widely seen as promoting atheism."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Williams|2010|p=5}}</ref> These fears resulted in a number of actions by the federal government throughout the 1950s, including the establishment of the ], the addition of the words "]" to U.S. currency, and the addition of the words "Under God" to the ].<ref name="Kruse2015">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/03/30/396365659/how-one-nation-didnt-become-under-god-until-the-50s-religious-revival|title=How 'One Nation' Didn't Become 'Under God' Until The '50s Religious Revival|publisher=NPR|first=Kevin M.|last=Kruse|date=March 30, 2015|access-date=April 4, 2018|archive-date=March 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308062853/https://www.npr.org/2015/03/30/396365659/how-one-nation-didnt-become-under-god-until-the-50s-religious-revival|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gourley |first1=Bruce |title=POLITICIZED PRAYER: National Day of Prayer has Roots in False History, Anti-Communist Fears |url=https://christianethicstoday.com/wp/politicized-prayer-national-day-of-prayer-has-roots-in-false-history-anti-communist-fears/ |access-date=January 8, 2025 |work=Christian Ethics Today |date=August 16, 2016}}</ref> The alienation of ]s from the Democratic Party contributed to the rise of the right, as the ] provoked fear of ] amongst many conservatives. In addition, as the Democratic Party became identified with liberal policies and nontraditional societal values, ] joined the Republican Party in increasing numbers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Perlstein |first=Rick | author-link = Rick Perlstein | title=Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America |page=164 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2008 |isbn=978-0743243025|title-link=Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America }}</ref> Despite these trends, many white evangelicals remained politically inactive and were not a unified ], with many believing political activism and engagement to be inconsistent with their beliefs.<ref name="Bad Faith"/><ref name="Pickaxe"/> | |||
====Ability to organize==== | |||
The contemporary Christian right became increasingly vocal and organized in reaction to a series of ] decisions (notably ] and ]) and also engaged in battles over ], ], abortion, state sanctioned ], textbook contents (concerning ]), homosexuality, and ]. | |||
===Early history and rise, 1970s-1980s=== | |||
=====Grassroots activism===== | |||
The movement that would become the religious right had much of its origin in the work and activism of conservative operative ], who had foreseen the potential to organize evangelicals and conservative Catholics into a political force in the early 1960s, and had reportedly started trying to do so during the ]. Weyrich tried a number of wedge issues throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, including ], ], the proposed ], and ], without success.<ref name="Bad Faith"/><ref name="Pickaxe"/> Weyrich was not successful until the legality of ] began to be challenged in the early 1970s. In 1970, the ] adopted a policy of rescinding the tax exempt status of private schools which did not admit African Americans, and the following year, the Supreme Court ruled in '']'' that organizations that voluntarily practice racial discrimination are not eligible for tax exemption.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Green v. Connally |litigants-force-plain= |vol=330 |reporter=F. Supp.|opinion=1150 |pinpoint= |court=U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia|date=June 30, 1971 |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/330/1150/2126265/ |quote= |postscript= }}</ref> The origin of this case was a legal challenge to the tax exempt status of a group of segregation academies in ].<ref name="Bad Faith"/><ref name="Pickaxe"/> Many of the schools targeted by these rulings were church-sponsored, and these actions reportedly caught the attention of a number of evangelical leaders, including ]. The largest educational institution targeted by the IRS was ], which lost its tax exemption in 1976 due to its policy prohibiting interracial dating. This action reportedly further caught the ire of evangelical leaders, many of whom believed that the IRS was overstepping its legal authority.<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><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Perry |first=Samuel L. |last2=Braunstein |first2=Ruth |last3=Gorski |first3=Philip S. |last4=Grubbs |first4=Joshua B. |date=March 2022 |title=Historical Fundamentalism? Christian Nationalism and Ignorance About Religion in American Political History |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12760 |journal=] |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=24 |doi=10.1111/jssr.12760 |issn=0021-8294}}</ref> Weyrich also sought to frame the IRS crackdown on segregation academics as an issue of government intrusion and attacks on religious freedom, effectively diverting attention from the racial aspect of the issue.<ref name="Bad Faith"/><ref name="politico522">{{cite news |last=Balmer |first=Randall |date=May 10, 2022 |title=The Religious Right and the Abortion Myth|url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/10/abortion-history-right-white-evangelical-1970s-00031480 |work=Politico |access-date=August 10, 2022}}</ref> | |||
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>John C. Green and Mark Silk, "Why Moral Values Did Count," Religion in the News, Spring 2005, http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol8No1/WhyMoral%20ValuesDidCount.htm</ref><ref>Geoffrey C. Layman, and John C. Green. 2006. “Wars and Rumors of Wars: The Contexts of Cultural Conflict in American Political Behavior.” ''British Journal of Political Science'', Volume 36, Issue 1, January 2006, pp 61–89.</ref> | |||
In the ], ], who described himself as an evangelical and a ], received the support of a majority of American evangelicals and the emerging Christian right largely because of his much-acclaimed religious conversion. However, the issue of segregation academies carried over into Carter's presidency, and in 1978, the IRS proposed a new rule which would have revoked the tax exemption of private schools based on their racial demographic composition relative to that of their respective communities. While this rule never went into effect, it provoked fierce backlash and protests from evangelical leaders and church congregants alike, with many believing it to be an attack on non-discriminatory institutions and religious freedom. The IRS reportedly received over 150,000 letters in opposition to this proposal, mostly from Christians.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pine |first1=Art |title=IRS Softens Proposal Aimed At 'Segregation Academies' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/02/10/irs-softens-proposal-aimed-at-segregation-academies/127aa5a4-5506-43e0-9da3-72ee8da321b3/ |access-date=January 8, 2025 |work=The Washington Post |date=February 9, 1979}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Kurlander |first=David |date=February 17, 2022 |title=‘We Want Them Burned’: The 1978 IRS Controversy Over Discriminatory Schools |url=https://cafe.com/article/we-want-them-burned-the-1978-irs-controversy-over-discriminatory-schools/ |work=Cafe.com |location= |publisher=] |access-date=January 8, 2025}}</ref> This action reportedly encouraged many white evangelicals to become politically active for the first time, and turned them against Jimmy Carter.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lehmann |first1=Chris |title=How Jimmy Carter Lost Evangelical Christians to the Right |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/jimmy-carter-evangelical-christianity/ |access-date=January 8, 2025 |work=The Nation |date=December 30, 2024}}</ref> Weyrich later stated that what got evangelicals involved in politics was "Jimmy Carter’s intervention against the Christian schools, trying to deny them tax-exempt status on the basis of so-called de facto segregation",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=William Curtis |title=With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America |date=1996 |publisher=Broadway Books |location=New York City |isbn=9780553067491 |page=173 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/With_God_on_Our_Side/cuXPDuEO6BkC?hl |access-date=January 8, 2025 |via=Google Books}}</ref> and ] said that the 1978 IRS action "kicked a sleeping dog."<ref name="Pickaxe">{{cite web |last1=Balmer |first1=Randall |title=The Historian’s Pickaxe: Uncovering the Racist Origins of the Religious Right |url=https://amc.sas.upenn.edu/sites/www.sas.upenn.edu.andrea-mitchell-center/files/Balmer%20-%20Historian's%20Pickaxe.pdf |website=The Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |access-date=January 8, 2025 |date=September 24, 2021}}</ref> Others, including religious right leader ] and conservative activist ] have affirmed this as the beginnings of the religious right.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Cromartie |editor1-first=Michael |title=No Longer Exiles: The Religious New Right in American Politics |date=1992 |publisher=] |location=Washigton, D.C. |isbn=9780896331723 |page=52 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/No_Longer_Exiles/rbnYAAAAMAAJ?hl |access-date=January 8, 2025 |via=Google Books |quote="Edward G. Dobson: "The Religious New Right did not start because of a concern about abortion. I want to go back and re-emphasize that. I sat in the non-smoke-filled back room with the Moral Majority, and I frankly do not remember abortion being mentioned as a reason why we ought to do something.""}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gilgoff |first1=Dan |title=Exclusive: Grover Norquist Gives Religious Conservatives Tough Love |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/god-and-country/2009/06/11/exclusive-grover-norquist-gives-religious-conservatives-tough-love#read_more |access-date=January 8, 2025 |work=U.S. News & World Report |date=June 11, 2009 |quote="The religious right did not get started in 1962 with prayer in school. And it didn't get started in '73 with Roe v. Wade. It started in '77 or '78 with the Carter administration's attack on Christian schools and Christian radio stations . That's where all of the organization flowed out of. It was complete self-defense."}}</ref> | |||
=====Political leaders and institutions===== | |||
Led by ]'s advocacy group ], ]'s ], Ed McAteer's Religious Roundtable Council, ]'s ], and ]'s ], the new Religious Right combined conservative politics with evangelical and fundamentalist teachings.<ref>Jerome Himmelstein, p. 97; Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Religious Right, p.49–50, Sara Diamond, ], 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 "]" 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|location=New York|publisher=Broadway Books |isbn=0-553-06745-1}}</ref><ref name="Diamond1995a">{{cite book|last=Sara|first=Diamond|year=1995|title=Roads to Dominion|location=New York|publisher=Guilford Press|isbn=0-89862-864-4}}</ref> | |||
Around the same time, Weyrich began to realize that support for segregation academies was not a viable issue, and began to look for other issues. The unexpected success of mostly Catholic anti-abortion activists in the ] convinced Weyrich that opposition to abortion might work as a wedge issue to keep evangelicals politically mobilized.<ref name="Bad Faith"/><ref name="Pickaxe"/> He favored the issue because it could be framed in the context of ] and be used to claim moral superiority, as well as attack ].<ref name="ABCAU"/><ref>{{cite news |title=How abortion became a mobilizing issue among the religious right |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/05/08/1097514184/how-abortion-became-a-mobilizing-issue-among-the-religious-right |access-date=January 8, 2025 |work=NPR |date=May 8, 2022 |location=Washington, D. C.}}</ref> Prior to this time, the Catholic Church was the only Christian denomination that was staunchly anti-abortion, with many Protestant and evangelical denominations, including the ], either supporting the legalization of the procedure in some circumstances, or not taking a stance on the issue. The following year, filmmaker ] produced a series of anti-abortion films titled ''Whatever Happened to the Human Race?'', starring his father, evangelist ] and pediatric surgeon ].<ref name="Bad Faith"/><ref name="politico522"/> That same year, abortion was reportedly suggested as a wedge issue during a conference call between a number of religious right leaders, although many were still skeptical of its ability to mobilize evangelicals.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Balmer |first1=Randall |title=There’s a straight line from US racial segregation to the anti-abortion movement |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/08/abortion-us-religious-right-racial-segregation |access-date=January 8, 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=September 8, 2021}}</ref> Schaeffer's films were also reportedly met with tepid reception during a tour in which they were shown at numerous churches around the United States, and leaders like Jerry Falwell were initially hesitant to utilize abortion, believing that its stereotype amongst evangelicals as a "Catholic issue" would hinder its ability to politically mobilize them.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gross |first1=Terry |title=Pro-Life — And In Favor Of Keeping Abortion Legal |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/97998654 |access-date=January 8, 2025 |work=NPR |date=December 9, 2008 |location=Washington, D. C.}}</ref> It was not until the early 1980s that abortion would become in effect the signature wedge issue of the religious right, and conservative evangelicals began joining the anti-abortion movement in large numbers.<ref name = "Catholic"/><ref name = "CC">{{cite book|title=Crisis of Conservatism?: The Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, and American Politics After Bush|author1=Joel D. Aberbach |author2=Gillian Peele |publisher=]}}</ref><ref name = "RCC">{{cite book|title=Catholics and Politics: the Dynamic Tension between Faith and Power|quote=To summarize, in the Republican Party, many Catholic activists held conservative positions on key issues emphasized by Christian Right leaders, and they said that they supported the political activities of some Christian Right candidates.|author1=Kristin E. Heyer |author2=Mark J. Rozell |author3=Michael A. Genovese |publisher=]}}</ref> | |||
===Timeline=== | |||
;1960s | |||
] over social, religious and cultural values anger religious traditionalists and set the stage for a political movement in the 1970s.<ref>{{cite book|author1=John Clifford Green|author2=Mark J. Rozell|author3=Clyde Wilcox|title=The Christian Right in American Politics: Marching to the Millennium|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=dEpUkvqsEvQC&pg=PA62|year=2003|publisher=Georgetown U.P.|page=62}}</ref> | |||
;1970s | |||
*1972 — ] is formed by Catholic ]. | |||
*1974 — ] founds the American Christian Cause as an effort to institutionalize the Christian Right as a politically active social movement. | |||
**The Supreme Court held, in '']'', that the Internal Revenue Service could revoke the ] of organizations that are contrary to established public policy. The decision came about from the university's ban of "admission to applicants engaged in an interracial marriage or known to advocate interracial marriage or dating."<ref>{{cite book|author=Duane Murray Oldfield|title=The Right and the Righteous: The Christian Right Confronts the Republican Party|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=A6pXEhvP0BYC&pg=PA119|year=1996|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=119}}</ref>{{Disputed-inline|Bob Jones University|date=July 2012}} | |||
*1976 — The ], a legislative provision barring certain federal funds from being used to pay for elective abortions, is passed for the first time. | |||
*1977 — ] is formed. | |||
*1978 — Robert Grant, ], ], ], and ] found ], to recruit, train, and organize Evangelical Christians to participate in elections. | |||
*1979 — ] founds ], which is often said to be the beginning of the New Christian Right. ] is formed. | |||
In 1979, the ], widely considered the first religious right organization, was founded by Falwell, Weyrich, and other associates, and began emphasizing such issues as abortion, pornography, gay rights, and opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, and a perceived moral decline of the United States, and played a major role in mobilizing evangelicals to support ] in the ].<ref name=Reinhard /><ref>Ellis, Blake A. "An Alternative Politics: Texas Baptists and the Rise of the Christian Right, 1975–1985." ''The Southwestern Historical Quarterly'', vol. 112, no. 4, 2009, pp. 361–86. Retrieved May 5, 2023.</ref> In response to the rise of the Christian right, the 1980 Republican Party platform assumed a number of its positions, including adding support for a restoration of school prayer. While the platform also opposed abortion and leaned towards restricting taxpayer funding for abortions and passing a constitutional amendment which would restore protection of the right to life for unborn children, it also accepted the fact that many Americans, including fellow Republicans, were divided on the issue.<ref name="hartsem" />{{sfn|Williams|2010|pages=1, 2}}<ref name="gop1980">{{Cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25844|title=Republican Party Platforms: Republican Party Platform of 1980|access-date=December 19, 2013|archive-date=December 19, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219225439/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25844|url-status=dead}}</ref> At this time, both major political parties were divided internally on the abortion issue, and it was not until the late 1980s that abortion came to be viewed as a strictly partisan issue.<ref name="ABCAU">{{cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Emily |title=Why is America so divided on abortion? Because a key conservative player planned it that way |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-16/why-america-is-so-divided-on-abortion-and-the-men-who-planned-it/101188994 |access-date=January 8, 2025 |work=] |date=July 15, 2022}}</ref> Over the next two decades religious citizens became more politically active in a time period labeled the ].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cook |first1=Kimberly J. |first2=Chris |last2=Powell |title=Christianity and Punitive Mentalities: A Qualitative Study |journal=Crime, Law and Social Change |volume=39 |issue=1 |year=2003 |pages=69–89 |doi=10.1023/A:1022487430900 |s2cid=142654351 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Patricia |date=December 12, 2016 |title=Meet the New Christian Right, Same as the Old Christian Right |url=http://religiondispatches.org/meet-the-new-christian-right-same-as-the-old-christian-right/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203080843/http://religiondispatches.org/meet-the-new-christian-right-same-as-the-old-christian-right/ |archive-date=February 3, 2017 |access-date=February 2, 2017 |work=] |language=en}}</ref> In addition to the Moral Majority (which dissolved in the late 1980s), the religious right came to be associated with a number of organizations throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including the ], ], the ] the ] and the ].<ref name="Himmelstein" /><ref name="Martin1996a" /><ref name="Lehmann2023">{{cite web |last1=Lehmann |first1=Chris |title=The Vanguard Party of the Christian Right |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/society/alliance-defending-freedom/ |publisher=] |access-date=29 July 2024 |date=5 October 2023}}</ref> | |||
;1980s | |||
*1980 — ] founded by John Giminez, the pastor of Rock Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Dr. William Bright, Benson Idahosa from Africa, and many other high-profile Christians marched on Washington, in an effort to support ]'s presidential run. This event provides a place for the Christian Right to outline many of their beliefs in speeches and statements. | |||
**] elected president, serving two presidential terms (1981–1989). Republicans capture the Senate for the first time since 1952. | |||
*1982 — On May 18, 1982, President Reagan introduced a proposed ] to the United States Constitution.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/18/us/reagan-proposes-school-prayer-amendment.html | work=The New York Times | title=Reagan Proposes School Prayer Amendment | date=1982-05-18}}</ref> | |||
*1983 — The ] is formed. On March 8, 1983, President ] addresses the annual convention of the ] and refers to the Soviet Union as an "evil empire"; the speech becomes known as the "Evil Empire" speech.<ref></ref><ref></ref> President Reagan publishes an article entitled "Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation."<ref>{{cite news| url=http://old.nationalreview.com/document/reagan200406101030.asp }}</ref><ref></ref><ref></ref> | |||
*1984 — President ] proclaims January 13, 1984 to be National Sanctity of Human Life Day. President Reagan announces the adoption of the ], which required "all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive federal funding to refrain from performing or promoting abortion services, as a method of family planning, in other countries." | |||
*1987 — ] founds the ], which later becomes the most prominent voice in the Christian Right. | |||
*1988 — ] is elected president with the support of most conservative Christian voters. | |||
*1989 — ] is formed. | |||
===Later history, 1990s to present=== | |||
;1990s | |||
] in Washington, D.C.]] | |||
*1990 — The ] is formed. | |||
Since its inception, the Christian Right has engaged in battles over abortion, ], ], ], gambling, ], ], ] (concerning ]), state sanctioned ], textbook contents (concerning ]), ], and ].<ref name="Zubovich2018"/><ref name="Bowers2009"/> ], the chairman of the Christian Coalition, stated that the ] of ] was the 'political crucible' that led to the proliferation of Christian Right groups in the United States.<ref name="RozellWilcox1997" /> The Christian right is perhaps best known for its allliance with the U.S. anti-abortion movement and its efforts to overturn the 1973 '']'' ruling, which established abortion as a constitutionally protected right in the U.S.<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=|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 ].<ref name="RozellWilcox1997"/> | |||
*1992 — The ] produces voter guides and distributes them to conservative Christian churches. | |||
*1994 — Conservative Republicans ] of the House of Representatives, led by Christian conservative ]. The ] is formed. | |||
*1996 — The ] is enacted. | |||
*1998 — Voters in Alaska pass an amendment to the Alaska State Constitution banning same-sex marriage. | |||
In the ], the religious right staunchly supported President ], who promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn ''Roe v. Wade''. Many evangelicals were initially hesitant to support Trump, due to his character flaws and lack of religiosity.<ref name="The Week"/> Trump ultimately appointed three justices to the Supreme Court, all of whom voted to overturn the decision in '']'' in 2022.<ref name="NYTimes adf">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/magazine/roe-v-wade-christian-network.html | title=The Untold Story of the Network That Took Down Roe v. Wade | work=The New York Times | date=May 28, 2024 | last1=Dias | first1=Elizabeth | last2=Lerer | first2=Lisa |accessdate=January 8, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Watkins |first=Morgan |title=How Mitch McConnell helped engineer the fall of Roe v. Wade and cement his abortion legacy |url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/mitch-mcconnell/2022/06/24/heres-why-fall-roe-v-wade-part-mitch-mcconnells-legacy/7646604001/ |access-date=March 7, 2023 |work=] |date=June 24, 2022 |location=Louisville, KY}}</ref> Trump's support amongst evangelicals has also been attributed by some, including journalist ], to be a result of a fear that many white evangelicals have of losing their power.<ref name="NYT23">{{cite news |last=Szalai |first=Jennifer |date=December 2, 2023 |title=How American Evangelicalism Became 'Mister Rogers With a Blowtorch' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/02/books/review/the-kingdom-the-power-and-the-glory-tim-alberta.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 8, 2025}}</ref><ref name="PBS23">{{cite news |last1=Bennett |first1=Geoff |last2=Kotuby |first2=Stephanie |last3=Gold |first3=Alexa |date=December 6, 2023 |title=Tim Alberta discusses his new book exploring American evangelicals and political extremism |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/tim-alberta-discusses-his-new-book-exploring-american-evangelicals-and-political-extremism |work=PBS Newshour |access-date=January 8, 2025}}</ref> Since the 1990s, the share of Americans who identify as Christian has declined, part of a larger trend of a ] throughout the Western World.<ref name="Public">{{cite web|accessdate=2021-07-10|title=The American Religious Landscape in 2020s|url=https://www.prri.org/research/2020-census-of-american-religion/#page-section-1|website=]|date=July 8, 2021 }}</ref> Alberta, and others, have argued that many white evangelicals see Trump as a savior figure, and that his rhetoric about returning the United States to a perceived state of former greatness, embodied by his campaign slogan "]", resonates strongly with them. In addition to their declining numbers, many have also reported a fear of being under siege by an increasing secularizing world, which some scholars and commentators have argued has led them to embrace Trump's policies.<ref name="NYT23"/><ref name="PBS23"/> On many occasions, Trump has stated that he believes Christianity is under attack in the United States.<ref>{{cite news |last=Darbhamulla |first=Sruthi |date=September 10, 2024 |title=An unsteady alliance: Donald Trump and the religious right |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/an-unsteady-alliance-trump-and-the-religious-right/article68382345.ece |work=The Hindu |access-date=January 8, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Maqbool |first=Aleem |date=November 16, 2024 |title='Anointed by God': The Christians who see Trump as their saviour |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20g1zvgj4do |work=BBC News |access-date=January 8, 2025}}</ref> Trump continued to receive strong support from the religious right in the ] and ] Presidential elections.<ref name="The Week">{{cite news |last= |first= |date=December 8, 2024 |title=What Donald Trump owes the Christian Right |url=https://theweek.com/politics/what-donald-trump-owes-the-christian-right |work=The Week |location= |publisher= |access-date=}}</ref> Since the 2010s, the religious right has increasing supported other measures targeting the separation of church in state, including ]s and efforts to integrate the Bible and ] into public school curricula.<ref>{{cite news |last=Smith |first=David |date=June 22, 2024 |title=In Trump we trust: religious right on crusade to make their man president |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/22/trump-christians-president-religion |work=The Guardian |location= |publisher= |access-date=January 8, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Prokop |first=Andrew |date=September 11, 2023 |title=The conservative push for “school choice” has had its most successful year ever |url=https://www.vox.com/politics/23689496/school-choice-education-savings-accounts-american-federation-children |work=Vox |location= |publisher= |access-date=January 8, 2025}}</ref> | |||
;2000s | |||
*2000 — The ] (CIPA) is passed. In ], the United States Supreme Court holds that the First Amendment allows the Boy Scouts to exclude ] males from membership in its organization. Nebraska passes an amendment to its state constitution banning same-sex marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships. ] is elected president with the overwhelming support of white conservative evangelical voters. | |||
*2001 — President George W. Bush re-institutes the ]. | |||
*2002 — The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002 is enacted. Nevada passes an amendment to its state constitution banning same-sex marriage. | |||
*2003 — The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is enacted. | |||
*2004 — Thirteen states pass amendments to their respective state constitutions banning same-sex marriage and, in some cases, other unions. The ] is enacted. President George W. Bush announces his support for a ].<ref></ref> President Bush is elected to a second term in office. | |||
*2005 — Texas passes an amendment to its state constitution banning same-sex marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships. | |||
*2006 — Eight states pass amendments to their respective state constitutions banning sames-sex marriage and, in some cases, other unions. President George W. Bush vetoes the Stem Cell Research Enactment Act of 2006. | |||
*2007 — The ] is formed. President George W. Bush vetoes the Stem Cell Research Enactment Act of 2007. The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of ].<ref></ref> | |||
*2008 — ] is elected President of the United States. Obama would be largely opposed by the Christian Right. The states of Arizona, California, and Florida pass amendments to their respective state constitutions banning same-sex marriage and, in Florida's case, civil unions and domestic partnerships. | |||
===Organizational ability=== | |||
;2010s | |||
====Grassroots activism==== | |||
*2010 — With the help of the Christian right and the ], the Republican party takes a majority of seats in the ]<ref></ref> and makes historic gains in state legislatures.<ref></ref> | |||
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=61–89 |doi=10.1017/S0007123406000044 |s2cid=144870729 }}</ref>{{Update inline|reason=Does this still hold after so many years?|?=yes|date=November 2020}} | |||
*2011 — States pass a record number of laws that restrict access to abortion.<ref></ref> | |||
*2011-2012 — The ] occurs. Former Governor of Massachusetts and 2008 presidential contender ] prevails, but socially conservative former Sen. Rick Santorum's candidacy makes him a favorite among the Christian right.<ref></ref><ref></ref> | |||
*2012 — North Carolina passes an amendment to its state constitution banning same-sex marriage and other unions. | |||
== |
====Political leaders and institutions==== | ||
Led by ] advocacy group ], Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, ]'s Religious Roundtable Council, ]'s ], ]'s ] and ],<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=]|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 ]'s ], 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.49–50, Sara Diamond, ], 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 '']'' 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 /> | |||
{{Wikinews|Vanity Fair contributing editor Craig Unger on the rise of the Christian right}} | |||
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, ], 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=|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/> | |||
===Political=== | |||
====National organizations==== | |||
{{See also|Moral Majority|Christian Voice (USA)|Christian Coalition of America|Eagle Forum|The Family (Christian political organization)}} | |||
==Institutions in the United States== | |||
One early effort to institutionalize the Christian right as a politically active social movement began in 1974 when Dr. ], an early movement leader, founded American Christian Cause to advocate Christian moral teachings in Southern California. Concerned that Christians overwhelmingly voted in favor of President ] in 1976, Grant expanded his movement and founded ] to mobilize Christian voters in favor of candidates who share their socially conservative values. | |||
===National organizations=== | |||
An early attempt to bring the Christian right into American politics began in 1974 when ], a movement leader, who founded the American Christian Cause to advocate Christian ideological teachings in Southern California. Concerned that Christians overwhelmingly voted for President ] in 1976, Grant founded ] 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> The alliance between Weyrich and Grant fell apart in 1978.<ref name=weyrichgrant /> | |||
In the late 1980s Pat Robertson founded the ], building from his ], with Republican activist ], 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. 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 ]. In addition, they have talked about attempting to intersperse the traditional moral issues associated with the Christian Right into a broader message that emphasizes other political issues, such as healthcare, the economy, education and crime.<ref>Micklethwait and Wooldridge, The Right Nation, 2005, 111</ref> | |||
].]] | |||
In the late 1980s, Pat Robertson founded the ], building from his ], with Republican activist ], 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 ].<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 ]. 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 worked within the Republican party locally and nationally to influence party platforms and nominations.<ref>Green, Rozell, and Wilcox, The Christian Right in American Politics, 2003</ref> More recently Dr. James Dobson's group ], based in Colorado Springs, and the ] in Washington D.C. have gained enormous clout among Republican lawmakers. While strongly advocating for these moral issues, Dobson himself is more wary 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 |date= |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</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 ] 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>, Matthew C. Moen, ''PS: Political Science and Politics'', Vol. 29, No. 3 (Sep., 1996), pp. 461–464</ref> | |||
In an essay written in 1996, Ralph Reed argued against the ] 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 = 461–464|last1 = Moen|first1 = Matthew C.|year = 1996|doi = 10.1017/S104909650004508X}}</ref> | |||
====Partisan activity of churches==== | |||
Overtly partisan actions by churches could threaten their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status due to the ] of the Internal Revenue Code.<ref>{{cite web|title=Charities, Churches and Politics|url=http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=161131,00.html|publisher=Internal Revenue Service|accessdate=July 5, 2011}}</ref> In one notable example, the former pastor of the East Waynesville Baptist Church in ] "told the congregation that anyone who planned to vote for Democratic ] ] should either leave the church or ]".<ref>, ]</ref> The church later expelled nine members who had voted for Kerry and refused to repent, which led to criticism on the national level. The pastor resigned and the ousted church members were allowed to return.<ref>, New York Times, May 15, 2005</ref> | |||
===Partisan activity of churches=== | |||
The ] started the Pulpit Freedom Initiative<ref>{{cite news|last=Berlinerblau |first=Jacques |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/georgetown-on-faith/post/where-does-church-end-and-state-begin/2011/10/04/gIQAzy2RNL_blog.html |title=Where does church end and state begin? - Georgetown/On Faith |publisher=The Washington Post |date= 2011-10-05|accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref> in 2008. ADF states that "he goal of Pulpit Freedom Sunday is simple: have the Johnson Amendment declared unconstitutional – and once and for all remove the ability of the IRS to censor what a pastor says from the pulpit."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://speakupmovement.org/church/LearnMore/details/5253 |title=Speak Up : Pulpit Freedom Sunday - History of the Pulpit Initiative |publisher=Speakupmovement.org |date= |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref> | |||
Overtly partisan actions by churches could threaten their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status due to the ] of the Internal Revenue Code.<ref>{{cite web|title=Charities, Churches and Politics|url=https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=161131,00.html|publisher=Internal Revenue Service|access-date=July 5, 2011|archive-date=July 4, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704130602/http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=161131,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In one notable example, the former pastor of the ] in ] "told the congregation that anyone who planned to vote for Democratic ] ] should either leave the church or ]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-05-07-church-politics_x.htm|title= Democrats voted out of church because of their politics, members say|website=USA Today}}</ref> The church later expelled nine members who had voted for Kerry and refused to repent, which led to criticism on the national level. The pastor resigned and the ousted church members were allowed to return.<ref>, '']'', May 15, 2005</ref> | |||
The ], a Christian right group now known as the Alliance Defending Freedom, started the Pulpit Freedom Initiative<ref>{{cite news|last=Berlinerblau |first=Jacques |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/georgetown-on-faith/post/where-does-church-end-and-state-begin/2011/10/04/gIQAzy2RNL_blog.html |title=Where does church end and state begin? – Georgetown/On Faith |newspaper=The Washington Post |date= October 5, 2011|access-date=December 26, 2011}}</ref> in 2008. ADF states that "he goal of Pulpit Freedom Sunday is simple: have the Johnson Amendment declared unconstitutional – and once and for all remove the ability of the IRS to censor what a pastor says from the pulpit."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://speakupmovement.org/church/LearnMore/details/5253 |title=Speak Up: Pulpit Freedom Sunday – History of the Pulpit Initiative |publisher=Speakupmovement.org |access-date=December 26, 2011 |archive-date=April 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426072406/http://speakupmovement.org/church/LearnMore/details/5253 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
====Electoral activity==== | |||
{{See also|Family Research Council}} | |||
===Electoral activity=== | |||
Christian Right organizations sometimes conduct polls to determine which presidential candidates will receive the support of Christian Right constituents. One such poll is taken at the Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit.<ref>{{Dead link|date=December 2011}}</ref><ref>Michelle Vu, "Presidential Hopefuls Highlight 'Values' to Christian Conservatives," "The Christian Post," October 20, 2007 http://www.christianpost.com/article/20071020/29775_Presidential_Hopefuls_Highlight_'Values'_to_Christian_Conservatives.htm</ref> George W. Bush's electoral success owed much to his overwhelming support from white evangelical voters, who comprise 23% of the vote. In 2000 he received 68% of the white evangelical vote; in 2004 that percentage rose to 78%.<ref>, Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, December 6, 2004</ref> | |||
Both Christian right and secular polling organizations sometimes conduct polls to determine which presidential candidates will receive the support of Christian right constituents. One such poll is taken at the ]'s Values Voter Summit.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.frcaction.org/index.cfm?c=WASH_BRIEFING|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512182418/http://www.frcaction.org/index.cfm?c=WASH_BRIEFING|url-status=dead|title=FRC Action|archive-date=May 12, 2015|website=www.frcaction.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/presidential-hopefuls-highlight-values-to-christian-conservatives-29775/ |title=Presidential Hopefuls Highlight 'Values' to Christian Conservatives |date=October 20, 2007 |last=Vu |first=Michelle |newspaper=The Christian Post |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130102043700/http://www.christianpost.com/article/20071020/29775_Presidential_Hopefuls_Highlight_'Values'_to_Christian_Conservatives.htm |archive-date=January 2, 2013 |access-date=May 28, 2018 |url-status=unfit}}</ref> George W. Bush's electoral success owed much to his overwhelming support from white evangelical voters, who comprise 23% of the vote. In 2000 he received 68% of the white evangelical vote; in 2004 that percentage rose to 78%.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080413120730/http://people-press.org/commentary/display.php3?AnalysisID=103 |date=April 13, 2008 }}, Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, December 6, 2004</ref> In 2016, Donald Trump received 81% of the white evangelical vote.<ref>{{cite web | last1=Martínez | first1=Jessica | last2=Smith | first2=Gregory A. | title=How the faithful voted: A preliminary 2016 analysis | url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/ | date=November 9, 2016 | publisher=] | access-date=June 12, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last1=Lovett | first1=Ian | title=Evangelicals Back Donald Trump in Record Numbers, Despite Earlier Doubts | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/evangelicals-back-donald-trump-in-record-numbers-despite-earlier-doubts-1478689372 | date=November 9, 2016 | newspaper=] | access-date=June 12, 2019}}</ref> | |||
===Education=== | ===Education=== | ||
The ] was co-founded in 1983 by ], who would later establish ] and ], and Michael Smith. This organization attempts to challenge laws that serve as obstacles to allowing parents to home-school their children and to organize the disparate group of homeschooling families into a cohesive bloc. The number of homeschooling families has increased in the last twenty years, and around 80 percent of these families identify themselves as evangelicals.<ref>Rosin, God's Harvard, 2007, 61–62</ref> | |||
{{Expand section|date=June 2008}} | |||
The ] was cofounded in 1983 by ], who would later establish ], and Michael Smith. This organization attempts to challenge laws that serve as obstacles to allowing parents to homeschool their children and to organize the disparate group of homeschooling families into a cohesive bloc. The number of homeschooling families has increased in the last twenty years, and around 80 percent of these families identify themselves as evangelicals.<ref>Rosin, God's Harvard, 2007, 61–62</ref> | |||
The main universities associated with the Christian |
The main universities associated with the Christian right in the United States are: | ||
* ] – Protestant Fundamentalist institution, founded in 1927.<ref name=haberman>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.2005.00111.x | volume=67 | issue=2 | title=Into the Wilderness: Ronald Reagan, Bob Jones University, and the Political Education of the Christian Right | year=2005 | journal=The Historian | pages=234–253 | last1 = Haberman | first1 = Aaron| s2cid=143885519 }}</ref> | |||
* ] – Roman Catholic institution, founded in 1977<ref name="Askin(Organization)1994">{{cite book|last=Askin|first=Steve|title=A new Rite: conservative Catholic organizations and their allies|date=February 1, 1994|publisher=Catholics for a Free Choice|language=en }}</ref> | |||
*] — Protestant Fundamentalist university, founded in 1927. George W. Bush spoke at the school's chapel hour on February 2, 2000 as a presidential candidate. | |||
* ] – Baptist institution, founded in 1971<ref name="Anderson2014">{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=John|title=Conservative Christian Politics in Russia and the United States|date=September 19, 2014|publisher=Routledge|language=en |isbn=9781317606635|page=164|quote=Some Christian Right leaders established their own institutions, such as Pat Robertson's Regents University and Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.}}</ref> | |||
*] — a private, ], comprehensive ], founded in 1963. Accredited in 1971 by the Higher Learning Commission of the ].<ref>{{dead link|date=December 2011}}</ref> | |||
* ] – Evangelical Christian institution, founded in 1977<ref name="Anderson2014"/> | |||
*] — founded by ] as Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971. Accredited in 1980; law school was accredited in 2006. | |||
*] — founded in 1978 by ], (originally CBN University). Accredited in 1984, renamed Regent University in 1990. Regent Law School was fully accredited in 1996. The two universities and their law schools have numerous conservative activists and politicians as alumni, and have hosted important speeches by conservative national politicians since ]. | |||
*] — Protestant college, incorporated in 1998 and officially opened in 2000. Granted ] accreditation in 2007. | |||
*] - Southern Baptist college, founded 1845. | |||
===Media=== | ===Media=== | ||
The media has played a major role in the rise of the Christian right since the 1920s and has continued to be a powerful force for political Christianity today. The role of the media for the Religious right has been influential in its ability to connect Christian audiences to the larger American culture while at the same time bringing and keeping religion into play as both a political and a cultural force.<ref name="Diamond"/> The political agenda of the Christian right has been disseminated to the public through a variety of media outlets including radio broadcasting, television, and literature. | |||
{{See also|The 700 Club|Christian Broadcasting Network|Fox News Channel}} | |||
Religious broadcasting began in the 1920s through the radio.<ref name="Diamond">Diamond, S. (2000) Not by Politics Alone: The Enduring Influence of the Christian right. New York: Guildford Press.</ref> Between the 1950s and 1980s, TV became a powerful way for the Christian right to influence the public through shows such as Pat Robertson's '']'' and The Family Channel (now ]). The Internet has also helped the Christian right reach a much larger audience. These organizations' websites play a strong role in popularising the Christian right's stances on cultural and political issues, and inform interested viewers on how to get involved. For example, the ] has used the Internet to inform the public, as well as to sell merchandise and gather members.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} | |||
==Views== | ==Views== | ||
===Education=== | ===Education=== | ||
The Christian right strongly advocates for a system of educational choice, using a system of ]s, instead of public education. Vouchers would be government funded and could be redeemed for "a specified maximum sum per child per years if spent on approved educational services".<ref>Spring, Joel. ''Political Agendas for Education: From the Religious Right to the Green Party''. Second Edition. (Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002)</ref> This method would allow parents to determine which school their child attends while relieving the economic burden associated with private schools. The concept is popular among constituents of church-related schools, including those affiliated with Roman Catholicism. | |||
The Christian Right has worked to modify the public school curriculum in a number of ways. It has made inroads by having its followers win school board elections. Research suggests that these candidates run solely to propagate their religious or moral beliefs as school policy.<ref>Melissa Deckman, "Religion Makes the Difference, "Why Christian Right Candidates run for School Board," Review of Religious Research | |||
42, no. 4 (June 2001).</ref> The smaller the jurisdiction, the greater the tendency for the Christian Right pragmatically to support favorable candidates who can win, regardless of political-party affiliation. | |||
The Christian Right has strong opinions on how American children should be educated, speaking out in support for activities like state-sanctioned ]. | |||
====Educational choice==== | |||
The Christian Right strongly advocates for a system of educational choice, using a system of ]s, instead of public education. Vouchers would be government funded and could be redeemed for "a specified maximum sum per child per years if spent on approved educational services".<ref>Spring, Joel. ''Political Agendas for Education: From the Religious Right to the Green Party''. Second Edition. (Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002)</ref> This method would allow parents to determine which school their child attends while relieving the economic burden associated with private schools. The concept is popular among constituents of church-related schools, including those affiliated with Roman Catholicism. | |||
===Evolution=== | |||
{{see also|Creation and evolution in public education}} | {{see also|Creation and evolution in public education}} | ||
The Christian |
The Protestant members of the Christian right in the United States generally promote the teaching of ] and ] as opposed to, or alongside, biological evolution.<ref name="Ciment2015">{{cite book|last=Ciment|first=James|title=Postwar America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History|date=March 26, 2015|publisher=Routledge|language=en|isbn=9781317462354|page=513|quote=Throughout the twentieth century, many evangelicals accepted theistic evolution ... Some Christian right organizations supported the teaching of creationism, along with evolution, in public schools.}}</ref><ref name="Wilson2007">{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=J. Matthew|title=From Pews to Polling Places: Faith and Politics in the American Religious Mosaic|date=October 22, 2007|publisher=Georgetown University Press|language=en |isbn=9781589013261|page=178|quote=Among Catholics and Latinos who practice other religious traditions, more than seven in ten support having organized prayer in public schools. ... Catholics are much more likely to state that both evolution and creationism should be taught in the schools.}}</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060809024450/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/11/ap/national/mainD8DPVRQ84.shtml |date=August 9, 2006 }}, CBSNews.com</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511162036/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/10/politics/main1036232.shtml%7crobertson: |date=May 11, 2013 }}, CBSNews.com</ref> Some supporters of the Christian right have opposed the teaching of evolution in the past, but they did not have the ability to stop it being taught in public schools as was done during the ] in ], in which a science teacher went on trial for teaching about the subject of evolution in a public school.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/creation/voices/legal/bkgrd.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010720160218/http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/creation/voices/legal/bkgrd.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 20, 2001 |title=Court decisions regarding Evolution/Creationism |access-date=December 26, 2011 }}</ref> Other "Christian right organizations supported the teaching of creationism, along with evolution, in public schools", specifically promoting ] (also known as evolutionary creationism) in which God is regarded as the originator of the process.<ref name="Ciment2015"/><ref name="Wilson2007"/> | ||
Members of and organizations associated with the Christian right, such as the ], created and popularized the modern concept of intelligent design, which became widely known only with the publication of the book '']'' in 1989.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2007/08/the-true-origin.html |title=The true origin of 'intelligent design' |last=Matzke |first=Nick |author-link=Nick Matzke |date=August 14, 2007 |website=] |publisher=The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. |location=Houston, TX |type=Blog |access-date=July 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327191315/http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2007/08/the-true-origin.html |archive-date=March 27, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Discovery Institute, through their intelligent design initiative called the '']'', has endorsed the ]. According to its proponents, such an approach would ensure that both the strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary theory were discussed in the curriculum.<ref>Slack, Gordy. ''The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything''. (San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons, 2007), 67.</ref> This tactic was criticized by Judge ] in '']'', describing it as "at best disingenuous, and at worst a canard."<ref>]</ref> | |||
The overwhelming majority of scientific research, both in the United States and elsewhere, has concluded that the theory of evolution, using the ] of the word theory, is the only viable explanation of the development of life, and an overwhelming majority of biologists strongly support its presentation in public school science classes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ncse.com/taking-action/project-steve |title=Project Steve |publisher=Ncse.com |access-date=December 26, 2011}}</ref> Outside the United States, as well as among American Catholics and Mainline Protestants, Christian conservatives have generally come to ] the theory of evolution.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.onenewsnow.com/church/2014/11/03/pope-backs-evolution-vatican-calls-creation-%E2%80%98blasphemous%E2%80%99#.VOyIar-sWgM |title=Pope backs evolution, Vatican calls creation 'blasphemous' |access-date=February 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214060813/http://www.onenewsnow.com/church/2014/11/03/pope-backs-evolution-vatican-calls-creation-%E2%80%98blasphemous%E2%80%99#.VOyIar-sWgM |archive-date=February 14, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/4588289/The-Vatican-claims-Darwins-theory-of-evolution-is-compatible-with-Christianity.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/4588289/The-Vatican-claims-Darwins-theory-of-evolution-is-compatible-with-Christianity.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=The Vatican claims Darwin's theory of evolution is compatible with Christianity|author=Chris Irvine|date=February 11, 2009|work=The Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/about/policy-and-thinking/our-views|title=Our views|website=The Church of England}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/2910447/Charles-Darwin-to-receive-apology-from-the-Church-of-England-for-rejecting-evolution.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/2910447/Charles-Darwin-to-receive-apology-from-the-Church-of-England-for-rejecting-evolution.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Charles Darwin to receive apology from the Church of England for rejecting evolution|author=Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent|date=September 13, 2008|work=The Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/christianity-evolution|title=Christianity in Evolution|access-date=February 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224170354/http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/christianity-evolution|archive-date=February 24, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
====Sexual education==== | |||
On the issue of ] in public schools, a spectrum of views exist within the Christian Right. Some advocate removing sexual education from public schools, others support teaching ] until marriage, and still others advocate encouraging modesty and chastity. | |||
===Sex education=== | |||
The Christian Right has been successful in promoting abstinence-only curricula. In fact, 30 percent of America's sexual-education programs are abstinence based.<ref>Harris, Sam. ] 2006</ref> These programs promote abstinence until marriage as the only way to prevent ], ] and the emotional issues that could arise from sexual activity.<ref>{{dead link|date=December 2011}}</ref>Numerous scientific, peer-review studies that show that such programs do not limit teen pregnancy over the long run.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/24/AR2008032401515.html</ref><ref>http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/11/30/uga-study-higher-pregnancy-rates-in-states-with-abstinence-only-ed-programs-in-schools/</ref><ref>http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111129185925.htm</ref> | |||
Some Christian groups advocate for the removal of sex education literature from public schools,<ref>See '']'' (1968). Also: | |||
* {{cite book |author=Janice M. Irvine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jBWYvXt18CwC |title=Talk about Sex: The Battles Over Sex Education in the United States |publisher=University of California Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-520-24329-3 |page=74}} | |||
====Homeschooling==== | |||
* {{cite book |author=Gilbert Herdt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ww0VCgAAQBAJ |title=Moral Panics, Sex Panics: Fear and the Fight Over Sexual Rights |date=June 1, 2009 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-3723-1}} | |||
The Christian right sees ] and private schooling as a viable alternative to secular education. In recent years, the percentage of children being homeschooled has risen from 1.7% of the student population in 1999 to 2.2% in 2003.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/index.asp |title=Homeschooling in the United States: 2003 - Executive Summary |publisher=Nces.ed.gov |date= |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref> Much of this increase has been attributed to the desire to incorporate Christian teachings into the curriculum.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Sep07/Art_Sep07_02.html |title=Popularity of homeschooling rises nationwide, curriculum concerns, safety cited |publisher=Christianexaminer.com |date= |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref> In 2003, 72% of parents who homeschooled their children cited the ability to provide religious or moral instruction as the reason for removing their children from secular schools.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/parentsreasons.asp |title=Homeschooling in the United States: 2003 - Parents’ Reasons for Homeschooling |publisher=Nces.ed.gov |date= |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref> | |||
* {{cite journal |last1=Irvine |first1=Janice M. |year=2006 |title=Emotional scripts of sex panics |journal=Sexuality Research and Social Policy |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=82–94 |doi=10.1525/srsp.2006.3.3.82 |issn=1868-9884 |s2cid=144221306}} | |||
* {{Cite news |author=Daniel Wallis |date=October 30, 2014 |title=Arizona school board votes to remove pages from biology textbook |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-arizona-education-idUSKBN0IJ2HG20141030 |newspaper=Reuters}} | |||
* {{cite web |date=October 30, 2014 |title=Gilbert schools to edit 'abortion' section of textbook |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/gilbert/2014/10/30/gilbert-schools-edit-abortion-section-textbook/18160307/ |work=azcentral}}</ref> for parental opt-out of comprehensive sex education, or for ]. ] has written that thirty percent of America's sex-education programs are abstinence based and ineffective.<ref>Harris, Sam. ] 2006</ref> | |||
=== |
===Schooling=== | ||
The Christian right promotes ] and private schooling as a valid alternative to public education for parents who object to the content being taught at school.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} The percentage of children being homeschooled rose from 1.7% of the student population in 1999 to 2.2% in 2003,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/index.asp |title=Homeschooling in the United States: 2003 – Executive Summary |publisher=National Center for Education Statistics |access-date=December 26, 2011}}</ref> and much of this increase has been attributed to the desire to incorporate Christian teachings into the curriculum.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Sep07/Art_Sep07_02.html |title=Popularity of homeschooling rises nationwide, curriculum concerns, safety cited |work=] |access-date=December 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112233842/http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Sep07/Art_Sep07_02.html |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2003, 72% of parents who homeschooled their children cited the ability to provide religious or moral instruction as the reason for removing their children from public schools.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/homeschool/parentsreasons.asp |title=Homeschooling in the United States: 2003 – Parents' Reasons for Homeschooling |publisher=National Center for Education Statistics |access-date=December 26, 2011}}</ref> The '']'' case established that ] cannot be taught in public schools, and in response officials have increasingly appropriated public funds for ] that teach curricula like ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/01/creationism_in_texas_public_schools_undermining_the_charter_movement.single.html|title=Creationism in Texas public schools: Undermining the charter movement.|author=Zack Kopplin|date=January 16, 2014|work=]}}</ref> | |||
{{See also|Separation of church and state|Separation of church and state in the United States|Establishment Clause|Dominionism|Christian Reconstructionism|Theonomy}} | |||
As a right-wing political movement, the Christian right is strongly opposed to left-wing ideologies such as ] and the ]. To some, ] is seen as a threat to the Western Judeo-Christian tradition.<ref>Micklethwait and Wooldridge (2004). The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America. Penguin Books.</ref> | |||
=== |
===Sunday Sabbatarianism=== | ||
The Christian right is in favor of legislation that maintains and promotes ], such as ] that forbid shopping and restrict the sale of alcohol on Sundays, which is the ] in mainstream Christianity.<ref name="Bowers2009"/> | |||
{{See also|religious discrimination against Neopagans}} | |||
===Role of government=== | |||
The Christian Right sees the government's proper role in society as cultivating virtue, not to interfere with the natural operations of the marketplace or the workplace.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/chr_rght.htm |title=The Christian Right, The Twentieth Century, Divining America: Religion in American History, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center |publisher=Nationalhumanitiescenter.org |date= |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref> It promotes ] or ] interpretations of the ] as the basis for ] values, and enforcing such values by legislation. | |||
Supporters of the Christian right have no one unified stance on the role of government since the movement is primarily one that advocates ]; in fact, "struggles broken out in state party organizations" between supporters of the Christian right and other conservatives.<ref name="Farney2012">{{cite book|last=Farney|first=James Harold|title=Social Conservatives and Party Politics in Canada and the United States|year=2012|publisher=University of Toronto Press|language=en|isbn=9781442612600|page=61|quote=Struggles broke out in state party organizations between social conservatives - in general organized by the Christian Coalition - and party activists more interested in fiscal policy, foreign policy, or simply winning office.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/chr_rght.htm |title=The Christian Right, The Twentieth Century, Divining America: Religion in American History, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center |publisher=Nationalhumanitiescenter.org |access-date=December 26, 2011}}</ref> It promotes conservative interpretations of the Bible as the basis for moral values and enforcing such values by legislation. Some members of the Christian right, especially Catholics, accept the Catholic Church's strong support for ]s. | |||
=== |
===Church and state relations=== | ||
{{see also|Accommodationism}} | |||
The Christian Right believes that separation of church and state is not explicit in the American Constitution, believing instead that such separation is a creation of what it claims are activist judges in the judicial system.<ref>] The First Amendment]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html |title=Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists |publisher=Loc.gov |date= |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=ThinkExist.com Quotations |url=http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_purpose_of_separation_of_church_and_state_is/212643.html |title=James Madison quotes |publisher=Thinkexist.com |date= |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref> In the United States, the Christian Right often supports their claims by asserting that the country was "founded by Christians as a Christian Nation."<ref>, ]</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=A Nonbeliever |url=http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html |title=America is not founded upon Christianity but the Enlightenment |publisher=Freethought.mbdojo.com |date= |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref> Members of the Christian Right take the position that the Establishment Clause bars the federal government from establishing or sponsoring a state church (e.g. the Church of England), but does not prevent the government from acknowledging religion. The Christian Right points out that the term "separation of church and state" is derived from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson, not from the Constitution itself.<ref>{{cite web|last=Watkins |first=Shanea |url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2006/06/the-mythical-wall-of-separation-how-a-misused-metaphor-changed-church-state-law-policy-and-discourse |title=The Mythical "Wall of Separation": How a Misused Metaphor Changed Church–State Law, Policy, and Discourse |publisher=Heritage.org |date= |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.frc.org/familypolicylecture/policy-lecture--wall-of-separation-between-church-and-state |title=Wall of Separation Between Church and State: Myth, Reality, Results |publisher=Family Research Council |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Charles E. Steele |url=http://www.schoolprayerinamerica.info/1separationchurchstate.html |title=Separation of Church and State, Thomas Jefferson, and the First Amendment |publisher=Schoolprayerinamerica.info |date=2009-01-18 |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref> Furthermore, the Alliance Defense Fund takes the view that the concept of "separation of church and state" has been utilized by the ] and its allies to inhibit public acknowledgment of Christianity and restrict the religious freedoms of Christians.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/ReligiousFreedom |title=Religious Freedom |publisher=Alliance Defense Fund |date= |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref> | |||
The Christian right believes that separation of church and state is not explicit in the American Constitution, believing instead that such separation is a creation of what it claims are activist judges in the judicial system.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.patrobertson.com/Teaching/Teachingonfirstamendment.asp|title=The First Amendment|publisher=PatRobertson.com|author=Pat Robertson}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html |title=Jefferson's Letter to the Danbury Baptists |website=] |access-date=December 26, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=ThinkExist.com Quotations |url=http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the_purpose_of_separation_of_church_and_state_is/212643.html |title=James Madison quotes |publisher=Thinkexist.com |access-date=December 26, 2011}}</ref> In the United States, the Christian right often supports their claims by stating that the country was "]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.RES.888:|title=House Resolution 888 United States House of Representatives (Bill Text – 110th Congress (2007–2008) – THOMAS)|publisher=Library of Congress|date=December 18, 2007|access-date=January 25, 2008|archive-date=October 14, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014160204/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.RES.888:|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=A Nonbeliever |url=http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html |title=America is not founded upon Christianity but the Enlightenment |publisher=Freethought.mbdojo.com |access-date=December 26, 2011 |archive-date=August 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130807222507/http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Members of the Christian right take the position that the ] bars the federal government from establishing or sponsoring a state church (e.g., the Church of England), but does not prevent the government from acknowledging religion. The Christian right points out that the term "separation of church and state" is derived from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson, not from the Constitution itself.<ref>{{cite web |last=Watkins |first=Shanea |url=http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2006/06/the-mythical-wall-of-separation-how-a-misused-metaphor-changed-church-state-law-policy-and-discourse |title=The Mythical "Wall of Separation": How a Misused Metaphor Changed Church–State Law, Policy, and Discourse |publisher=The Heritage Foundation |access-date=December 26, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.frc.org/familypolicylecture/policy-lecture--wall-of-separation-between-church-and-state |title=Wall of Separation Between Church and State: Myth, Reality, Results |publisher=Family Research Council |access-date=December 26, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Charles E. Steele |url=http://www.schoolprayerinamerica.info/1separationchurchstate.html |title=Separation of Church and State, Thomas Jefferson, and the First Amendment |publisher=Schoolprayerinamerica.info |date=January 18, 2009 |access-date=December 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106072029/http://www.schoolprayerinamerica.info/1separationchurchstate.html |archive-date=January 6, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Furthermore, ] (ADF) takes the view that the concept of "separation of church and state" has been used by the ] and its allies to inhibit public acknowledgment of Christianity and restrict the religious freedoms of Christians.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/ReligiousFreedom |title=Religious Freedom |publisher=Alliance Defense Fund |access-date=December 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226183052/http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/ReligiousFreedom |archive-date=December 26, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
Thus, Christian |
Thus, Christian right leaders have argued that the Establishment Clause does not prohibit the display of religion in the public sphere. Leaders, therefore, believe that public institutions should be allowed, or even required, to display the ]. This interpretation has been repeatedly rejected by the courts, which have found that such displays violate the ]. Public officials though are prohibited from using their authority in which the primary effect is "advancing or prohibiting religion", according to the Lemon Supreme Court test, and there cannot be an "excessive entanglement with religion" and the government. Some, such as Bryan Fischer of the ], argue that the First Amendment, which specifically restricts Congress, applies only to the Congress and not the states. This position rejects the ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://action.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147492060 |title=The First Amendment means what it says - RIGHTLYCONCERNED.COM |publisher=Action.afa.net |date=February 19, 2010 |access-date=December 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721203505/http://action.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147492060 |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | ||
Generally, the Christian right supports the presence of religious institutions within government and the public sphere, and advocates for fewer restrictions on government funding for religious charities and schools. Both Catholics and Protestants, according to a 2005 ] study, have been supportive of ] in public schools.<ref name="Wilson2007"/><ref name="GallupNewport2006">{{cite book|last1=Gallup|first1=Alec|last2=Newport|first2=Frank|title=The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 2005|year=2006|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|language=en|isbn=9780742552586|page=318|quote=Related to their support of school prayer, most Americans also believe that religion should have a greater 'presence' in public schools. ... Protestants are most likely to favor school prayer (82%), followed closely by Catholics (75%).}}</ref> | |||
===Economics=== | |||
Early American fundamentalists, such as ]<ref name="ah">" melded politics and religion in a way that made it very clear what side of any political |
Early American fundamentalists, such as ]<ref name="ah">" melded politics and religion in a way that made it very clear what side of any political | ||
issue he believed God was on.God had been very clearly opposed to the New Deal "socialism" of Franklin Roosevelt, | issue he believed God was on. God had been very clearly opposed to the New Deal "socialism" of Franklin Roosevelt, | ||
and God was equally opposed to the Great Society "socialism" of Lyndon Baines Johnson". Andrew Himes, | and God was equally opposed to the Great Society "socialism" of Lyndon Baines Johnson". Andrew Himes, | ||
''The Sword of the Lord: The Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family'' Chiara Press, 2011 | ''The Sword of the Lord: The Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family'' Chiara Press, 2011 | ||
ISBN |
{{ISBN|1453843752}}, (p.271).</ref><ref>Nathan Andrew Finn, | ||
''The Development of Baptist Fundamentalism in the South, |
''The Development of Baptist Fundamentalism in the South, 1940–1980'' ProQuest, 2007 | ||
{{ISBN|0549371435}} (p.204).</ref> often favored '']'' economics and were outspoken critics of the ] and later the ].<ref name="ah" /> The contemporary Christian right supports economic conservative policies such as tax cuts and social conservative policies such as child tax credits.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cc.org/issues.cfm |title=Christian Coalition of America's Agenda for the 108th Congress (2003-2004) |website=Christian Coalition of America |access-date=March 17, 2008 |archive-date=October 9, 2004 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20041009202641/http://cc.org/issues.cfm |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
ISBN 0549371435 (p.204).</ref> often favoured | |||
] economics and were outspoken critics of the ] and later the ].<ref name="ah"> | |||
</ref> | |||
The contemporary Christian Right supports economic conservative policies such as tax cuts and social conservative policies such as child tax credits.<ref>, ]</ref> Sectors of the Christian right also vocally oppose the ]. Some claim that it is a violation of the first amendment right to freedom of religion by infringing on a personal religious philosophy of independence from government in healthcare issues. | |||
=== |
===Middle East=== | ||
{{See also|Christian Zionism}} | |||
The Religious Right has given very strong support to the state of Israel in recent decades, encouraging the United States government to support Israel and treating Israeli international relations as a holy war against Islam.<ref>Stephen Spector, ''Evangelicals and Israel: the story of American Christian Zionism'' (2008) pp 23-49</ref> Some have linked Israel to Biblical prophesies; for example, Ed McAteer, founder of the ], said "I believe that we are seeing prophecy unfold so rapidly and dramatically and wonderfully and, without exaggerating, makes me breathless."<ref>Jan G. Linn, ''What's Wrong With The Christian Right'' (2004) p 27</ref> | |||
Many evangelical Protestant supporters of the religious right have strongly supported the state of ] in recent decades, encouraging support for Israel within the United States government.<ref>Stephen Spector, ''Evangelicals and Israel: the story of American Christian Zionism'' (2008) pp 23–49</ref> Some of them have linked Israel to ]; for example, Ed McAteer, founder of the Moral Majority, said "I believe that we are seeing prophecy unfold so rapidly and dramatically and wonderfully and, without exaggerating, makes me breathless."<ref>Jan G. Linn, ''What's Wrong With The Christian Right'' (2004) p 27</ref> This belief, an example of ], arises from the idea that the establishment of Israel is a prerequisite for the ] of Jesus, because it represents the Biblically prophesied ]. A 2017 poll indicates that this belief is held by 80% of evangelicals, and that half of evangelicals consider it an important cause of their support for the state of Israel.<ref>Bump, Philip. May 14, 2017. . ''The Washington Post''.</ref> | |||
During the ] that started in 1975 and ended in 1990, many Christian parties endorsed the right's political viewpoints such as the Christian Lebanese phalanges which is known as the ], and later, the right's political viewpoints were also endorsed by the Lebanese Armed Forces because their power and influence were threatened by the growing power and influence of the more radical ] and ] movements, such as the ] ], and the ] in the 1980s. | |||
====International cooperation==== | |||
While the Christian Right speaks about the importance of the government's role in international political issues, it often has opposed ], speaking against the ] and the ] as well as standing in opposition to strong ].{{Citation needed|date=December 2010}} | |||
===Abortion and contraception=== | |||
===Bioethics=== | |||
{{See also|Bioethics|Consistent life ethic}} | |||
{{Refimprove section|date=July 2011}} | |||
Historically, large percentages of American ] and ] oppose and have opposed abortion,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Religious Landscape Study |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/ |access-date=June 27, 2022 |website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |language=en-US}}</ref> believing that life begins at ] and that abortion is murder. Therefore, those in the movement have worked toward the overturning of ''] (1973)'', and '']'' (1992). The Christian right has also supported incremental steps to make abortion less available. Such efforts include bans on ] (including ]),<ref> 108th United States Congress (1st session)</ref> prohibitions against Medicaid funding and other public funding for elective abortions, removal of taxpayer funding for ] and other organizations that provide abortion services, legislation requiring ] or notification for abortions performed on ],<ref> . Articles.dailypress.com (April 9, 1994). Retrieved on August 24, 2013.</ref> legal protections for unborn victims of violence, ] following failed abortions, and bans on ] medications. | |||
{{See also|Bioethics|Family values}} | |||
The Christian Right opposes ], believing that ] begins at ] and that abortion is murder. Therefore, those in the movement have worked toward the overturning of ], and have also supported incremental steps to make abortion less available. Such efforts include bans on ] (including ]),<ref> 108th United States Congress (1st session)</ref> prohibitions against Medicaid funding and other public funding for elective abortions, removal of taxpayer funding for ] and other organizations that provide abortion services, legislation requiring ] and/or notification for abortions performed on ]s,<ref></ref> legal protections for unborn victims of violence, ] following failed abortions, and bans on ] medications. | |||
The Christian right element in the Reagan coalition strongly supported him in 1980, in the belief that he would appoint Supreme Court justices to overturn ''Roe v. Wade''. They were astonished and dismayed when his first appointment was ], whom they feared would tolerate abortion. They worked hard to defeat her confirmation but failed.<ref>Prudence Flowers, "'A Prolife Disaster': The Reagan Administration and the Nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor". ''Journal of Contemporary History'' 53.2 (2018): 391–414</ref> | |||
The Christian Right contends that morning-after pills such as ] and ] are possible abortifacients, able to interfere with a ] ] in the ].<ref name="abortifacients">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/health/research/morning-after-pills-dont-block-implantation-science-suggests.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all|title=Abortion Qualms on Morning-After Pill May Be Unfounded|last=Belluck|first=Pam|publisher=''The New York Times''|date=June 6, 2012}}</ref> The labeling mandated by the U.S. ] (FDA) for Plan B and Ella state that | |||
they may interfere with implantation, but according to a June, 2012, ''New York Times'' article, many scientists believe that they work only by interfering with ] and are arguing to have the implantation language removed from product labels. The Christian right maintains that the chemical properties of morning-after pills make them abortifacients and that the politics of abortion is influencing scientific judgments. Jonathan Imbody of the ] says he questions “whether ideological considerations are driving these decisions."<ref name="abortifacients"/> | |||
The Christian right contends that morning-after pills such as ] and ] are possible abortifacients, able to interfere with a ]'s ] in the ].<ref name="abortifacients">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/health/research/morning-after-pills-dont-block-implantation-science-suggests.html|title=Abortion Qualms on Morning-After Pill May Be Unfounded|last=Belluck|first=Pam|work=]|date=June 6, 2012}}</ref> The labeling mandated by the U.S. ] (FDA) for Plan B and Ella state that they may interfere with implantation, but according to a June 2012, ''The New York Times'' article, many scientists believe that they work only by interfering with ] and are arguing to have the implantation language removed from product labels. The Christian right maintains that the chemical properties of morning-after pills make them abortifacients and that the politics of abortion is influencing scientific judgments. Jonathan Imbody of the ] says he questions "whether ideological considerations are driving these decisions."<ref name="abortifacients"/> Specifically, many Catholic members, as well as some conservative Protestant members, of the Christian right have campaigned against contraception altogether.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rewire.news/article/2014/01/06/catholic-groups-trying-to-eliminate-coverage-of-contraception-no-matter-who-pays/|title=Catholic Groups Trying to Eliminate Coverage of Contraception No Matter Who Pays: The latest court challenges to the birth control benefit show how much the fight against the contraception mandate is really about the Christian right trying to establish an employer's "right" to control your private sex life.|last=Marcotte|first=Amanda|date=January 6, 2014|publisher=]|language=en|access-date=February 2, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Contra-Contraception|last=Shorto|first=Russell|date=May 7, 2006|work=]}}</ref> | |||
Because the Christian Right believes life begins at the moment of conception, it has worked for the regulation and restriction of certain applications of ]. In particular, the Christian Right opposes therapeutic and reproductive ], championing a 2005 ] ban on the practice,<ref name="human cloning ban">{{cite news|url=http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/2/19/102711.shtml|title=U.N. Adopts Pro-Life Declaration Against Human Cloning|work=Newsmax|date=February 19, 2005}}</ref> and ], which involves the destruction of ].<ref name="embryonic stem cells">{{cite news|url=http://www.necn.com/06/14/12/U-M-6-new-stem-cell-lines-available-for-/landing_scitech.html?&apID=22fa19f8d6a8466184e77507936d67b2|title=U-M: 6 new stem cell lines available for research|work=''Associated Press''|date=June 14, 2012}}</ref> The Christian right supports research with ], ], and ] which don't destroy a human embryo. | |||
{{See also|Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization}} | |||
The Christian Right also opposes ], and, in one highly publicised case, took an active role in seeking governmental intervention to prevent ] from being deprived of ] and ]. | |||
] in 2020. This court oversaw the landmark United States Supreme Court case '']'' in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Dobbs_v._Jackson_Women%E2%80%99s_Health_Organization |access-date=June 27, 2022 |website=Ballotpedia |language=en}}</ref>]] | |||
In May 2022, '']'' published a leaked draft majority opinion, written by Justice ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Exclusive: Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473 |access-date=June 27, 2022 |website=POLITICO |date=May 2, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> It would overturn ''Roe'' and ''Casey'' by nullifying the specific privacy rights in question, eliminating federal involvement, and leaving the issue to be determined by the states. Through a statement made by the ], ], the Court confirmed the document's authenticity but said that it was not a final decision or the Justice's final decision, which was expected by June or July. | |||
The decision was issued on June 24, 2022, ruling 6–3 to reverse the lower court rulings; a more narrow 5–4 ruling overturned ''Roe'' and ''Casey''. The majority opinion stated that abortion was not a ], and that states should have discretion in regulating abortion. The majority opinion, written by Alito, was substantially similar to the leaked draft. Chief Justice Roberts agreed with the judgment upholding the Mississippi law but did not join the majority in the opinion to overturn ''Roe'' and ''Casey''. | |||
===Biotechnology=== | |||
Due to the Christian right's views regarding ethics and to an extent due to negative views of ] common to most ideologies in North America, it has worked for the regulation and restriction of certain applications of ]. In particular, the Christian right opposes therapeutic and reproductive ], championing a 2005 United Nations ban on the practice, and human embryonic ], which involves the extraction of one or more cells from a human embryo.<ref name="embryonic stem cells">{{cite news |date=June 14, 2012 |title=U-M: 6 new stem cell lines available for research |url=https://www.newsday.com/news/health/u-m-6-new-stem-cell-lines-available-for-research-d09183 |work=Newsday |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> The Christian right supports research with ]s, ]s, and ]s which do not use cells from human embryos, as they view the harvesting of biological material from an embryo lacking the ability to give permission as an assault on a living being. | |||
The Christian right also opposes ], and, in one highly publicized case, took an active role in seeking governmental intervention to prevent ] from being deprived of nutrition and ].{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} | |||
===Opposition to drugs=== | |||
{{Further|Woman's Christian Temperance Union|List of anti-cannabis organizations}} | |||
The Christian right has historically supported the ], thus supporting causes such as maintaining ], adding ] to bottles and limiting alcohol advertising.<ref name="RozellGreenJelenWilcox2003">{{cite book |last1=Rozell |first1=Mark J. |last2=Green |first2=John Clifford |last3=Jelen |first3=Ted G. |last4=Rozell |first4=Mark J. |last5=Wilcox |first5=Clyde |title=The Christian Right in American Politics: Marching to the Millennium |date=2003 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-87840-393-6 |page=258 |language=en|quote=The temperance movement is the clearly identifiable origin of the contemporary Christian Right in Maine. The Maine Christian Civic League (MCCL)—the principal Christian Right group in the state began as a temperance organization in}}</ref> It has advocated for the ] and has opposed efforts to legalize marijuana.<ref name="Rainey2013">{{cite web |last1=Rainey |first1=Clint |title=Is the Religious Right's Powerful Opposition to Drugs Finally Fading? |url=https://slate.com/technology/2013/01/colorado-drug-legalization-and-evangelicals-why-didnt-religious-right-fight-marijuana-amendment.html |work=] |access-date=October 6, 2020 |language=en |date=January 4, 2013}}</ref> | |||
===Sex and sexuality=== | ===Sex and sexuality=== | ||
{{Main|Christianity and homosexuality|Christianity and transgender people|Same-sex marriage in the United States}} | |||
The Christian Right takes the position that sexuality should be expressed only within the context of a marriage.<ref>{{cite web|last=Schutte|first=Shana|title=Three Lies About Premarital Sex|url=http://www.focusonthefamily.com/faith/christian_singles/being_single_and_faithful/three_lies_about_sex_before_marriage.aspx|work=Focus on the Family|accessdate=31 January 2012}}</ref> The Christian Right also believes that in most circumstances, divorce is harmful to spouses and children, and has deleterious effects on society. Thus, the Christian Right generally opposes no-fault ], ], ], and ]. | |||
{{Further|Discrimination in the United States|LGBT rights opposition|Public opinion of same-sex marriage in the United States}} | |||
The modern roots of the Christian right's views on sexual matters were evident in the years 1950s–1960s, a period in which many ] ] viewed sexual promiscuity as not only excessive, but in fact as a threat to their ideal vision of the country.<ref name="Herman">{{cite book|last=Herman|first=Didi|url=https://archive.org/details/antigayagendaort00herm|title=The Antigay Agenda: Orthodox Vision and the Christian Right|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-226-32764-8|location=Chicago, IL|url-access=registration|access-date=September 20, 2012}}</ref>{{rp|30}} Beginning in the 1970s, conservative Christian protests against promiscuity began to surface, largely as a reaction to the "]" and changes in sexual behavior confirmed by '']'' and the ]. The Christian right proceeded to make sexuality issues a priority political cause.<ref name=Herman />{{rp|28}} | |||
The Christian Right also believes that practicing ] is immoral and unhealthy, that mothers and fathers each play important and indispensable roles in the lives of children, and that children should, whenever practicable, be raised by their own married mother and father. Leaders in the Christian Right speak out against ], ], ], ] that include sexual orientation as a protected category, and the employment of LGBT people as teachers, soldiers, pastors, or politicians. Some organizations identified with the Christian Right, including ], believe that gay or bisexual people can become heterosexual and enjoy fulfilling marriage relationships with members of the opposite sex. Concerns have been expressed by all major US mental health organizations regarding therapies promoted to modify sexual orientation, which have not been shown to be safe or effective and which may be harmful.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/sexual-orientation.aspx |title=Sexual orientation, homosexuality and bisexuality |publisher=]}}</ref> | |||
] organized ], a widespread campaign to oppose legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of ] in ].<ref name="Fetner 2001">{{cite journal |author-last=Fetner |author-first=Tina |date=August 2001 |title=Working Anita Bryant: The Impact of Christian Anti-Gay Activism on Lesbian and Gay Movement Claims |journal=] |volume=48 |issue=3 |location=] and ] |publisher=] on behalf of the ] |pages=411–428 |doi=10.1525/sp.2001.48.3.411 |hdl=11375/21175 |issn=1533-8533 |s2cid=144876642|hdl-access=free }}</ref> The group argued that gay people were "]" or "]" in order to make them gay.<ref name="Fetner 2001"/> Bryant said, "As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children," and also said that "If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters."<ref name="At Any Cost">{{cite book|title= At Any Cost|url= https://archive.org/details/atanycost0000brya|url-access= registration|last= Bryant|first=Anita |author2=Green, Bob |year= 1978|publisher= Fleming H. Revell |location= Grand Rapids, Michigan, US|isbn= 9780800709402}}</ref> The Bryant campaign achieved success in repealing some city anti-discrimination laws, and proposed other citizen initiatives such as a ] designed to ban gay people or those who supported LGBT rights from holding public teaching jobs. Bryant's campaign attracted widespread opposition and ]s which put her out of business.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} | |||
From the late 1970s onwards, some ] ] such as the ], ], ], the ], and the ], along with right-wing Christian hate groups such as the ], have been outspoken against LGBT rights.<ref name="Gannon 1981"/><ref name="Miller 2014"/><ref name="Durham 2000"/><ref name="McKeegan 1993"/> Late in 1979, a ] among conservative ] and ] ushered in the ] politically aligned with the Christian right that would reign in the United States between the years 1970s and 1980s, becoming another obstacle for the progress of the ].<ref name="Gannon 1981"/><ref name="Miller 2014"/><ref name="Durham 2000"/><ref name="McKeegan 1993"/> During the ], LGBTQ communities were further ] as they became the focus of ] and suffered ], ] and ].<ref>{{cite book |last=Westengard |first=Laura |year=2019 |chapter=Monstrosity: Melancholia, Cannibalism, and HIV/AIDS |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b5unDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 |title=Gothic Queer Culture: Marginalized Communities and the Ghosts of Insidious Trauma |location=] |publisher=] |pages=99–103 |isbn=978-1-4962-0204-8 |lccn=2018057900}}</ref> | |||
The Christian right champions itself as the "self-appointed conscience of American society". During the 1980s, the movement was largely dismissed by political pundits and mainstream religious leaders as "a collection of buffoonish has-beens". Later, it re-emerged, better organized and more focused, taking firm positions against abortion, pornography, sexual deviancy, and extreme feminism.<ref name=Kaplan>{{cite journal|last=Kaplan|first=George R.|title=Shotgun Wedding: Notes on Public Education's Encounter with the New Christian Right|journal=Phi Delta Kappan|date=May 1994|volume=75|issue=9}}</ref><ref name=Green>{{cite book|last=Green|first=Hohn|title=THE VALUES CAMPAIGN? The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections|year=2006|publisher=Georgetown University Press|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=978-1589011083|editor=Green, John C. |editor2=Rozell, Mark J. |editor3=Wilcox, Clyde<!--|access-date=September 20, 2012-->}}</ref>{{rp|4}} Beginning around the ], Christian conservatives have largely refrained from engaging in debates about sexual morality.<ref>Douthat, Ross, et al. ''Political Gabfest''. Slate, February 15, 2018. ''Slate''. Start listening at 37:00.</ref> | |||
Influential Christian right organizations at the forefront of the anti-gay rights movement in the United States include Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, and the ].<ref name=Herman />{{rp|15–16}} An important stratagem in Christian right anti-gay politics is in its rejection of "the edicts of a Big Brother" state, allowing it to profit from "a general feeling of discontent and demoralization with government". As a result, the Christian right has endorsed smaller government, restricting its ability to arbitrate in disputes regarding values and traditions. In this context, gay rights laws have come to symbolize the government's allegedly unconstitutional " with individual freedom".<ref name=Herman />{{rp|170–171}} | |||
The central tenets of Focus on the Family and similar organizations, such as the Family Research Council, emphasise issues such as abortion and the necessity of gender roles. A number of organizations, including the New Christian Right, "have in various ways rejected liberal America in favor of the regulation of pornography, anti-abortion legislation, the criminalization of homosexuality, and the virtues of faithfulness and loyalty in sexual partnerships", according to sociologist ].<ref name=Petersen>{{cite journal |author-last=Petersen |author-first=David L. |date=Spring 2005 |title=Genesis and Family Values |journal=] |publisher=] |volume=124 |issue=1 |pages=5–23 |doi=10.2307/30040988 |issn=0021-9231 |jstor=30040988 |s2cid=141110842}}</ref> | |||
Some members of the Christian right view ] as a central issue in the culture wars, more so than other gay rights issues and even more significantly than abortion.<ref name=Green />{{rp|57}}{{dubious|date=July 2013}} The legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts in 2004 changed the Christian right, causing it to put its opposition to these marriages above most other issues. It also created previously unknown interracial and ecumenical coalitions, and stimulated new electoral activity in pastors and congregations.<ref name=Green />{{rp|58}} | |||
==Criticism== | ==Criticism== | ||
It is sometimes debated whether ] would be considered left or right within modern politics. Some claim that Jesus' concern with the poor and feeding the hungry, among other things, are attributes of the modern day left wing, or warn for a politicization of Christianity because Jesus transcends our political concepts.<ref> Herman Cain calls Jesus conservative</ref><ref>Stephen J. Nichols: pp. 204-209. Westmont, IL, 2008.</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Shermer |first=Michael |url=http://trueslant.com/michaelshermer/2010/07/29/was-jesus-a-conservative-or-a-liberal/ |title=Was Jesus a Conservative or a Liberal? - Michael Shermer - Skeptic |publisher=True/Slant |date=2010-07-21 |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref> While the dialogue of Jesus has some of the same ] as the modern left, the right considers these subjects equally important but have different opinions as to the propriety of government involvement in such things as caring for the poor.<ref>Marvin Olasky: passim. Washington D.C. 1992.</ref> | |||
Criticisms of the Christian right often come from Christians who believe Jesus' message was centered on ] and ]. Theologian Michael Lerner has summarized: "The unholy alliance of the Political Right and the Religious Right threatens to destroy the America we love. It also threatens to generate a revulsion against God and religion by identifying them with militarism, ecological irresponsibility, fundamentalist antagonism to science and rational thought, and insensitivity to the needs of the poor and the powerless."<ref>{{cite book |last = Lerner | |||
===Race and diversity=== | |||
|first = Michael | |||
The conclusions of a review of 112 studies on Christian faith and ethnic prejudice were summarised by a study in 1980 as being that "white Protestants associated with groups possessing fundamentalist belief systems are generally more prejudiced than members of nonfundamentalist groups, with unchurched whites exhibiting least prejudice."<ref>, Charles W. Peek, Sharon Brown ''Social Forces'', Vol. 59, No. 1 (Sep., 1980), pp. 169–185</ref> The original review found that its conclusions held "regardless of when the studies were conducted, from whom the data came, the region where the data were collected, or the type of prejudice studied."<ref>, Richard L. Gorsuch, Daniel Aleshire, ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'', Vol. 13, No. 3 (Sep., 1974), pp. 281–307</ref> More recently in 2003, eight studies have found a positive correlation between fundamentalism and prejudice, using different measures of fundamentalism.<ref>Altemeyer and Hunsberger (1992); Wylie and Forest, (1992); Hunsberger, (1996); Jackson and Esses, (1997); Hunsberger, Owusu and Duck, (1999); Laythe et al., (2001); Altemeyer, (2003)), cited in ''The Psychology of Religion, Third Edition: An Empirical Approach'' (2003), Spilka et al., p466</ref> | |||
|title = The Left Hand of God (book) | |||
|publisher = Harper Collins | |||
|year = 2006 | |||
|page = | |||
|isbn = 978-0-06084247-5 | |||
|title-link = The Left Hand of God (book) | |||
}}</ref> | |||
Commentators such as ], ], and ] criticized the Christian right for its tolerance and embrace of ] during the ] despite Trump's failure to adhere to any of the principles advocated by the Christian right groups for decades.<ref>Posner, Sarah. ''New Republic''. March 20, 2017. November 16, 2017.</ref><ref>Blow, Charles M. . ''The New York Times''. November 16, 2017. November 16, 2016.</ref> In a 2023 interview with ], ] stated that he had come to believe that Christianity was "in a crisis" after hearing multiple pastors speak of congregation members rejecting quotes from the ] as "liberal talking points" and not backing down upon being informed of their source.<ref>Detrow, S. , ''NPR'', ''All Things Considered'', August 5, 2023. January 18, 2024.</ref> | |||
A number of prominent members of the Christian right, including ] and ], have in the past supported ], with Falwell arguing in a 1958 sermon that integration will lead to the destruction of the white race.<ref>, Michelle Goldberg, ]</ref><ref>, Max Blumenthal, ]</ref> He later changed his views.<ref>, George E Curry | |||
, Frostillustrated.com</ref> | |||
===Interpretation of Christianity=== | |||
In ''Thy Kingdom Come'', ] recounts comments that ], who he describes as "one of the architects of the Religious Right in the late 1970s", made at a conference, sponsored by a Religious Right organization, that they both attended in Washington in 1990:<ref>, Linda Wertheimer, ]</ref> | |||
{{See also|Christian left}} | |||
{{quote|In the course of one of the sessions, Weyrich tried to make a point to his Religious Right brethren (no women attended the conference, as I recall). Let's remember, he said animatedly, that the Religious Right did not come together in response to the ''Roe'' decision. No, Weyrich insisted, what got us going as a political movement was the attempt on the part of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to rescind the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University because of its racially discriminatory policies.|Paul M. Weyrich}} | |||
One argument which questions the legitimacy of the Christian right posits that ] may be considered a leftist on the modern ]. Jesus' concern with the poor and feeding the hungry, among other things, are argued, by proponents of Christian leftism, to be core attributes of modern-day socialism and ].<ref>{{cite web|work=A Political Glossary|url=http://www.auburn.edu/~johnspm/gloss/right-wing|publisher=Auburn University|last=Johnson|first=Paul|title=Right-wing, rightist|year=2005|access-date=October 23, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819232535/http://www.auburn.edu/~johnspm/gloss/right-wing|archive-date=August 19, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Bobbio, Norberto and Allan Cameron, '']''. ], 1997, p. 51, 62. {{ISBN|978-0-226-06246-4}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">J. E. Goldthorpe. ''An Introduction to Sociology''. Cambridge, England, UK; Oakleigh, Melbourne, Australia; New York City, USA p. 156. {{ISBN|0-521-24545-1}}.</ref> However, others {{who|date=March 2021}} contend that while Jesus' concern for the poor and hungry is virtuous and that individuals have a moral obligation to help others, the relationship between charity and the state should not be construed in the same manner.<ref>Petersen, David L. (2005). "Genesis and Family Values". ''Journal of Biblical Literature''. '''124''' (1)</ref><ref>Paul Edward Gottfried, ''Conservatism in America: Making Sense of the American Right'', p. 13.</ref> | |||
] had ] that refused black students enrollment until 1971, and admitted only married blacks from 1971 to 1975. The university continued to forbid interracial dating until 2000.<ref>, January 29, 2005, hard copy at </ref> | |||
In an interview with ], ] theologian Charles Marsh, author of ''Wayward Christian Soldiers'' and the son of a ] minister, stated:<ref>, Robin T. Reid, ]</ref> | |||
{{quote|As someone who grew up in Mississippi and Alabama during the civil rights movement, … my reading is that the conservative Christian movement never was able to distinguish itself from the segregationist movement, and that is one of the reasons I find so much of the rhetoric familiar — and unsettling. | |||
According to Frank Newport of ], "there are fewer Americans today who are both highly religious and liberal than there are Americans who are both highly religious and conservative." Newport also noted that 52% of white conservatives identify as "highly religious" while only 16% of white liberals identify as the same. However, ], "the most religious of any major racial or ethnic group in the country", are "strongly oriented to voting Democratic". While observing that African-American Democrats are more religious than their white Democrat counterparts, Newport further noted, however, that African-American Democrats are "much more likely to be ideologically moderate or conservative."<ref> (retrieved May 5, 2020)</ref> | |||
By the end of the civil rights movement, the way was set for this marriage of the Republican Party and conservative Christians. … At the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi in 1980, (Ronald) Reagan's statement "I am for states' rights" was a remarkable moment in the conservative South. The Southern way of life was affirmed and then deftly grafted into national conservative politics.|Charles Marsh}} | |||
Some criticize what they see as a politicization of Christianity because they say Jesus transcends political concepts.<ref>Stephen J. Nichols: pp. 204–209. Westmont, IL, 2008.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Shermer |first=Michael |url=http://trueslant.com/michaelshermer/2010/07/29/was-jesus-a-conservative-or-a-liberal/ |title=Was Jesus a Conservative or a Liberal? – Michael Shermer – Skeptic |publisher=True/Slant |date=July 21, 2010 |access-date=December 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004104302/http://trueslant.com/michaelshermer/2010/07/29/was-jesus-a-conservative-or-a-liberal/ |archive-date=October 4, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | |||
===Dominionism=== | |||
{{Main|Dominionism}} | |||
] referred to Jesus as "the first Socialist".<ref name="Gorbachev">{{cite web |title=Biography of Mikhail Gorbachev|url=http://www.nationalcoldwarexhibition.org/explore/biography.cfm?name=Gorbachev,%20Mikhail|work=National Cold War Exhibition|publisher=Trustees of the Royal Air Force Museum|access-date=August 10, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K6FOU-s0l0QC|title=The Tragedy of American Compassion|first=Marvin|last=Olasky|date=February 1, 1994|publisher=Regnery Publishing|isbn=9780895267252|access-date=March 3, 2019|via=Google Books}}</ref> | |||
Social scientists have used the word "dominionism" to refer to adherence to ]<ref name="Barron1992a">Barron, Bruce. 1992. ''Heaven on Earth? The Social & Political Agendas of Dominion Theology.'' Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-53611-1.</ref><ref name="DavisHankins2003">Davis, Derek H. and Hankins, Barry, 2003. ''New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America'', Baylor University Press.</ref><ref name="DavidsonHarris2006">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1177/0306396806061086 | last1 = Davidson | first1 = Carl | last2 = Harris | first2 = Jerry | year = 2006 | title = Globalisation, theocracy and the new fascism: the US Right's rise to power | url = | journal = Race and Class | volume = 47 | issue = 3| pages = 47–67 }}</ref> as well as to the influence in the broader ] of ideas inspired by Dominion Theology.<ref name="Barron1992a"/> Although such influence (particularly of Reconstructionism) has been described by many authors,<ref name="Martin1996a">Martin, William. 1996. ''With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America''. New York: Broadway Books.</ref><ref name="Berlet-Lyons2000a">Berlet, Chip and Matthew N. Lyons. 2000. ''Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort''. New York: Guilford Press.</ref> full adherents to Reconstructionism are few and marginalized among conservative Christians.<ref name="Martin1996a"/><ref name="Diamond1998p213">Diamond, Sara, 1998. ''Not by Politics Alone: The Enduring Influence of the Christian Right'', New York: Guilford Press, p.213.</ref><ref name="OrtizKennedy">Ortiz, Chris 2007. , ], 6 September 2007.</ref> | |||
===Race and diversity=== | |||
In the early 1990s, sociologist ]<ref name="Diamond1995a">Diamond, Sara. 1995. ''Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States.'' New York: Guilford Press. ISBN 0-89862-864-4.</ref><ref name="Diamond1989a">Diamond, Sara. 1989. ''Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right''. Boston: ].</ref> and journalist ]<ref name="Clarkson1994a">Clarkson, Frederick, 1994. , '']'' 8, Nos. 1 & 2, March/June 1994.</ref><ref name="Clarkson1997a">Clarkson, Frederick. 1997. ''Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy.'' Monroe, Maine: Common Courage. ISBN 1-56751-088-4</ref> defined ''dominionism'' as a movement that, while including Dominion Theology and Reconstructionism as subsets, is much broader in scope, extending to much of the ].<ref>In her early work, Diamond sometimes used the term ''dominion theology'' to refer to this broader movement, rather than to the specific theological system of Reconstructionism.</ref> Other authors who stress the influence of Dominionist ideas on the Christian Right include ]<ref name="Goldberg2006a">Goldberg, Michelle 2006. ''Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism''. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-06094-2 (10). ISBN 978-0-393-06094-2 (13).</ref> and ].<ref>Phillips, Kevin 2006. '']: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century'' ISBN 0-670-03486-X</ref><ref name="McCarraher2006a">McCarraher, Eugene 2006. "Empire Falls", '']'' 133(9), 5 May 2006.</ref> | |||
The Christian right has tried to recruit social conservatives in the ].<ref name="BoyarinItzkovitz2012">{{cite book|last1=Boyarin|first1=Daniel|last2=Itzkovitz|first2=Daniel|last3=Pellegrini|first3=Ann|title=Queer Theory and the Jewish Question|date=June 19, 2012|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231508957|page=85}}</ref> Prior to the ], ] Republican ] emerged as a leader of the Christian right.<ref name="Miller">{{cite web|url=http://religiondispatches.org/meet-the-new-christian-right-same-as-the-old-christian-right/|title=Meet the New Christian Right, Same as The Old Christian Right|last=Miller|first=Patricia|date=December 12, 2016|work=Religion Dispatches|access-date=May 17, 2018}}</ref> Other Christian African-Americans who identify with conservatism are ] ],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/faith-freed-clarence-thomas-hate-118621|title=Faith Freed Clarence Thomas From Hate|author=Star Parker|work=]|date=February 3, 2020|access-date=April 18, 2020}}</ref> ] ],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2019/11/25/the-gospel-according-to-kanye/#slide-1|title=The Gospel According to Kanye|work=]|author=Kevin D. Williamson|date=November 7, 2019|access-date=April 18, 2020}}</ref> ], and ] ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://urbanfaith.com/2012/05/talking-politics-with-dr-tony-evans.html/|title=Talking Politics with Dr. Tony Evans|author=Christine A. Scheller|date=May 31, 2012|publisher=UrbanFaith.com|quote= 'God would never have endorsed what the culture is allowing .' 'Doesn't the combination of limited government and social conservatism just land you in the Republican party?' 'No, it doesn't, because I believe that we have conservative, blue-dog Democrats who would hold to non-abortion, who would hold to the definition of a family as a man and a woman, and who would at least hold to a smaller government than now exists.'|access-date=April 18, 2020|archive-date=July 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728121934/https://urbanfaith.com/2012/05/talking-politics-with-dr-tony-evans.html/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://world.wng.org/2012/10/vote_your_priorities|title=Vote your priorities|work=]|date=October 5, 2012|author=Emily Belz|quote= makes clear he isn't endorsing anyone or any party, but he's clear in his criticism of President Obama's positions on abortion and the family. ... 'I will always the ].' ... 'Spending is totally out of control, because government's doing more than it was designed to do.' ... 'The Bible makes no provision for the redefinition of marriage and the family, other than the one that is prescribed in the Bible by God and Jesus to be between a man and a woman. It is an illegitimate issue to accept or promote from a Christian standpoint.'|access-date=April 18, 2020|archive-date=July 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728134338/https://world.wng.org/2012/10/vote_your_priorities|url-status=dead}}</ref> | |||
===LGBT rights=== | |||
Essayist Katherine Yurica began using the term ''dominionism'' in her articles in 2004, beginning with "The Despoiling of America".<ref name="Yurica2005a">Yurica, Katherine 2004. . Retrieved 3 October 2007. And also published in ''Toward a New Political Humanism,'' Edited by Barry F. Seidman and Neil J. Murphy, Prometheus Books, New York, 2004.</ref><ref name="Yurica2005b">Yurica, Katherine 2004. , 19 January 2005. Retrieved 6 October 2007.</ref><ref name="Yurica2005c">Yurica, Katherine 2005. , 23 May 2005. Retrieved 6 October 2007.</ref> Yurica has been followed in this usage by authors including journalist ],<ref name="Hedges2004a">, '']''.</ref><ref name="Hedges2005a">{{cite news |url=http://www.harpers.org/archive/2005/05/0080541 |title=Feeling the hate with the National Religious Broadcasters |accessdate=2007-04-11 |last=Hedges |first=Chris |month=May | year=2005 |publisher=Harper's }}</ref><ref name="Hedges2007a">Hedges, Chris, ''American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America'', Free Press, 2006.</ref> ],<ref name="Maddox2005a">Maddox, Marion 2005. ''God under Howard: The Rise of the Religious Right in Australian Politics'', Allen & Unwin.</ref> James Rudin,<ref name="Rudin2006a">Rudin, James 2006. ''The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right's Plans for the Rest of Us,'' New York: Thunder's Mouth Press.</ref> ],<ref name="HarrisLAT">Harris, Sam 2007. "", '']'', 15 March 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2007.</ref> and the group ].<ref name="TheocracyWatch2005a">, '']'', Last updated: December 2005; URL accessed May 8, 2006.</ref> This group of authors has applied the term to a broader spectrum of people than have sociologists such as Diamond. | |||
Whilst the Christian right in the United States generally identifies with aspects of ], other Christian movements argue that the biblical texts only oppose specific types of divergent sexual behaviour, such as ] (i.e. sexual intercourse between boys and men).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcpc.org/library/article.cfm?library_id=152|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212223001/http://www.tcpc.org/library/article.cfm?library_id=152|url-status=dead|title=Why TCPC Advocates Equal Rights for Gay and Lesbian People|archive-date=February 12, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christianalliance.org/site/c.bnKIIQNtEoG/b.667209/k.5987/Equality_for_Gays_and_Lesbians.htm|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20080919093841/http://www.christianalliance.org/site/c.bnKIIQNtEoG/b.667209/k.5987/Equality_for_Gays_and_Lesbians.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 19, 2008|title=Equality for Gays and Lesbians|date=December 1, 2005}}</ref><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224172958/http://www.pflagdetroit.org/BibleandHomosexuality.html |date=February 24, 2015 }}. Pflagdetroit.org (December 11, 1998). Retrieved on August 24, 2013.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whosoever.org/how-can-someone-be-a-christian-and-a-homosexual/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421135539/http://www.whosoever.org/gayxian/articles.html|url-status=dead|title=How Can Someone Be A Christian And A Homosexual? | Whosoever|first=David|last=Mundy|archive-date=April 21, 2009}}</ref> During the Trump administration, there was a growing push{{who|date=March 2022}} for ], aimed to exempt individuals and businesses from anti-discrimination laws intended to protect LGBT people, if they claimed that their actions were motivated by religious beliefs.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} Among the most powerful organizations that promoted anti-LGBT and anti-transgender legislation under the Trump administration is the ].<ref name = "splc-profile">{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/alliance-defending-freedom|title=Alliance Defending Freedom|website=Southern Poverty Law Center|language=en|access-date=June 29, 2021}}</ref> | |||
===Use of dominionism labeling=== | |||
The terms "dominionist" and "dominionism" are rarely used for self-description, and their usage has been attacked from several quarters. Journalist Anthony Williams charged that its purpose is "to smear the Republican Party as the party of domestic Theocracy, facts be damned."<ref name="Williams2005a">{{cite journal |url=http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17957 |title="Dominionist" Fantasies |author=Anthony Williams |date=2005-05-04 |journal=FrontPage Magazine |accessdate=2007-05-04}}</ref> ] labeled it "conspiratorial nonsense," "political paranoia," and "]",<ref name="Kurtz2005b">{{cite journal |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/kurtz/kurtz200505020944.asp |title=Dominionist Domination: The Left runs with a wild theory |author=Stanley Kurtz |date=2005-05-02 |journal=] |accessdate=2007-10-06}}</ref> and decried Hedges' "vague characterizations" that allow him to "paint a highly questionable picture of a virtually faceless and nameless 'Dominionist' Christian mass."<ref name="Kurtz2005a">{{cite journal |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/kurtz/kurtz200504280758.asp |title=Scary Stuff |author=Stanley Kurtz |date=2005-04-28 |journal=] |accessdate=2007-10-06}}</ref> Kurtz also complained about a perceived link between average Christian evangelicals and ] such as ]: | |||
Some social scientists have used the word "dominionism" to refer to adherence of ],<ref name="Barron1992a">Barron, Bruce. 1992. ''Heaven on Earth? The Social & Political Agendas of Dominion Theology''. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan. {{ISBN|0-310-53611-1}}.</ref><ref name="DavisHankins2003">Davis, Derek H. and Hankins, Barry, 2003. ''New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America'', Baylor University Press.</ref><ref name="DavidsonHarris2006">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1177/0306396806061086 | last1 = Davidson | first1 = Carl | last2 = Harris | first2 = Jerry | year = 2006 | title = Globalisation, theocracy and the new fascism: the US Right's rise to power | journal = Race and Class | volume = 47 | issue = 3| pages = 47–67 | s2cid = 143793920 }}</ref> as well as to the influence in the broader Christian Right of ideas inspired by Dominion Theology.<ref name="Barron1992a"/> Although such influence (particularly of Reconstructionism) has been described by many authors,<ref name="Martin1996a"/><ref name="Berlet-Lyons2000a">Berlet, Chip and Matthew N. Lyons. 2000. ''Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort''. New York: Guilford Press.</ref> full adherents to Reconstructionism are few and marginalized among conservative Christians.<ref name="Martin1996a"/><ref name="Diamond1998p213">Diamond, Sara, 1998. ''Not by Politics Alone: The Enduring Influence of the Christian Right'', New York: Guilford Press, p.213.</ref><ref name="OrtizKennedy">Ortiz, Chris 2007. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091011080305/http://www.chalcedon.edu/blog/2007_09_01_archive.php#3737641030821242405 |date=October 11, 2009 }}, ], September 6, 2007.</ref> | |||
In the early 1990s, sociologist ]<ref name="Diamond1995c">Diamond, Sara. 1995. ''Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States''. New York: Guilford Press. {{ISBN|0-89862-864-4}}.</ref><ref name="Diamond1989a">Diamond, Sara. 1989. ''Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right''. Boston: ].</ref> defined ''dominionism'' in her PhD ] as a movement that, while it includes Dominion Theology and Reconstructionism as subsets, is much broader in scope, extending to much of the Christian Right.<ref>In her early work, Diamond sometimes used the term ''dominion theology'' to refer to this broader movement, rather than to the specific theological system of Reconstructionism.</ref> She was followed by journalists who included ]<ref name="Clarkson1994a">Clarkson, Frederick, 1994. , '']'' 8, Nos. 1 & 2, March/June 1994.</ref><ref name="Clarkson1997a">Clarkson, Frederick. 1997. ''Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy''. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage. {{ISBN|1-56751-088-4}}</ref> and ]<ref name="Hedges2004a"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511180104/http://www.theocracywatch.org/chris_hedges_nov24_04.htm |date=May 11, 2008 }}, '']''.</ref><ref name="Hedges2005a">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.harpers.org/archive/2005/05/0080541 |title=Feeling the hate with the National Religious Broadcasters |access-date=April 11, 2007 |last=Hedges |first=Chris |date=May 2005 |magazine=]}}</ref><ref name="Hedges2007a">Hedges, Chris, ''American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America'', Free Press, 2006.</ref> and others who have stressed the influence of Dominionist ideas on the Christian right.<ref name="Goldberg2006a">Goldberg, Michelle 2006. ''Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism''. New York: W. W. Norton. {{ISBN|0-393-06094-2}} (10). {{ISBN|978-0-393-06094-2}} (13).</ref><ref>Phillips, Kevin 2006. '']: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st century'' {{ISBN|0-670-03486-X}}</ref><ref name="McCarraher2006a">McCarraher, Eugene 2006. "Empire Falls", '']'' 133(9), May 5, 2006.</ref><ref name="Yurica2005a">Yurica, Katherine 2004. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928014442/http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm |date=September 28, 2007 }}. Retrieved October 3, 2007. And also published in ''Toward a New Political Humanism'', edited by Barry F. Seidman and Neil J. Murphy, Prometheus Books, New York, 2004.</ref><ref name="Yurica2005b">Yurica, Katherine 2004. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930221309/http://www.yuricareport.com/Religion/TheBloodGuiltyChurches.html |date=September 30, 2009 }}, January 19, 2005. Retrieved October 6, 2007.</ref><ref name="Yurica2005c">Yurica, Katherine 2005. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928015846/http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/Conference/YuricaRespondsToKurtz%20.html |date=September 28, 2007 }}, May 23, 2005. Retrieved October 6, 2007.</ref><ref name="Maddox2005a">Maddox, Marion 2005. ''God under Howard: The Rise of the Religious Right in Australian Politics'', Allen & Unwin.</ref><ref name="Rudin2006a">Rudin, James 2006. ''The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right's Plans for the Rest of Us'', New York: Thunder's Mouth Press.</ref><ref name="HarrisLAT">Harris, Sam 2007. "", '']'', March 15, 2007. Retrieved October 8, 2007.</ref><ref name="TheocracyWatch2005a"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080912052937/http://www.theocracywatch.org/ |date=September 12, 2008 }}, '']'', Last updated: December 2005; URL accessed May 8, 2006.</ref>{{excessive citations inline|date=June 2024}} | |||
<blockquote>The notion that conservative Christians want to reinstitute slavery and rule by genocide is not just crazy, it's downright dangerous. The most disturbing part of the ''Harper's'' cover story (the one by Chris Hedges) was the attempt to link Christian conservatives with Hitler and ]. Once we acknowledge the similarity between conservative Christians and fascists, Hedges appears to suggest, we can confront Christian evil by setting aside 'the old polite rules of democracy.' So wild conspiracy theories and visions of genocide are really excuses for the Left to disregard the rules of democracy and defeat conservative Christians — by any means necessary.<ref name="Kurtz2005b"/></blockquote> | |||
The terms "dominionist" and "dominionism" are rarely used for self-description, and their usage has been attacked from right-leaning quarters. ] labeled it "conspiratorial nonsense", "political paranoia", and "]",<ref name="Kurtz2005b">{{cite journal |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/kurtz/kurtz200505020944.asp |title=Dominionist Domination: The Left runs with a wild theory |author=Stanley Kurtz |date=May 2, 2005 |journal=] |access-date=October 6, 2007}}</ref> and decried Hedges' "vague characterizations" that allow him to "paint a highly questionable picture of a virtually faceless and nameless 'Dominionist' Christian mass."<ref name="Kurtz2005a">{{cite journal |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/kurtz/kurtz200504280758.asp |title=Scary Stuff |author=Stanley Kurtz |date=April 28, 2005 |journal=] |access-date=October 6, 2007}}</ref> Kurtz also complained about a perceived link between average Christian evangelicals and ] such as ]: | |||
Other criticism has focused on the proper use of the term. Berlet wrote that "some critics of the Christian Right have stretched the term dominionism past its breaking point,"<ref name="Berlet2005a">Berlet, Chip, 2005. . Retrieved 25 September 2007.</ref> and argued that, rather than labeling conservatives as extremists, it would be better to "talk to these people" and "engage them."<ref>Ellis Henican, ''Newsday'', May 1, 2005. Reposted at YuricaReport.com. Retrieved 23 September 2006</ref> ] wrote that "iberals' writing about the Christian Right's take-over plans has generally taken the form of ]", and argued that instead one should "analyze the subtle ways" that ideas like Dominionism "take hold within movements and why."<ref name="Diamond1995b">Diamond, Sara. 1995. "." ''Z Magazine'', February 1995</ref> | |||
<blockquote>The notion that conservative Christians want to reinstitute ] and rule by ] is not just crazy, it's downright dangerous. The most disturbing part of the ''Harper's'' cover story (the one by Chris Hedges) was the attempt to link Christian conservatives with ] and fascism. Once we acknowledge the similarity between conservative Christians and fascists, Hedges appears to suggest, we can confront Christian evil by setting aside "the old polite rules of democracy." So wild conspiracy theories and visions of genocide are really excuses for the Left to disregard the rules of democracy and defeat conservative Christians – by any means necessary.<ref name="Kurtz2005b"/></blockquote> | |||
Dan Olinger, a professor at the ] ] in ] said, “We want to be good citizens and participants, but we’re not really interested in using the iron fist of the law to compel people to everything Christians should do.”<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independentmail.com/news/2007/feb/10/bible-user-or-reader/?print=1 |title=Pastors: Christian government not Jesus’ cause |publisher=Independentmail.com |date=2007-02-10 |accessdate=2011-12-26}}</ref> Bob Marcaurelle, interim pastor at Mountain Springs Baptist Church in Piedmont, said the Middle Ages were proof enough that Christian ruling groups are almost always corrupted by power. “When Christianity becomes the government, the question is whose Christianity?” Marcaurelle asked.<ref></ref> | |||
] of '']'' said that many warnings about "dominionism" are "paranoid" and she also said that "the word creates a siege mentality in which 'we' need to guard against 'them.{{'"}}<ref>Miller, Lisa, 2011. . '']''. Published August 18, 2011. Retrieved September 8, 2011.</ref> ] of '']'' noted that "many of the people that writers like Diamond and others describe as 'dominionists' would disavow the label, many definitions of dominionism conflate several very different Christian political theologies, and there's a lively debate about whether the term is even useful at all."<ref name="Douthat11b">Douthat, Ross 2011. . '']''. Published August 29, 2011. Retrieved September 11, 2011.</ref> According to Joe Carter of '']'', "the term was coined in the 1980s by Diamond and is never used outside liberal blogs and websites. No reputable scholars use the term for it is a meaningless neologism that Diamond concocted for her dissertation",<ref name="Carter11">Carter, Joe, 2011. . '']''. Published August 10, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2011.</ref> while Jeremy Pierce of ''First Things'' coined the word "dominionismist" to describe those who promote the idea that there is a dominionist conspiracy.<ref name="Pierce11">Pierce, Jeremy, 2011. . '']''. Published August 14, 2011. Retrieved September 8, 2011.</ref> | |||
Another criticism has focused on the proper use of the term. Berlet wrote that "some critics of the Christian Right have stretched the term dominionism past its breaking point",<ref name="Berlet2005a">Berlet, Chip, 2005. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080918061837/http://www.publiceye.org/feeds/public/berlet/2005/11/christian-right-dominionism-and.html |date=September 18, 2008 }}. Retrieved September 25, 2007.</ref> and argued that, rather than labeling conservatives as extremists, it would be better to "talk to these people" and "engage them".<ref>Ellis Henican, , {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006070752/http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/Conference/SpiritualOliveBranchChipBerlet_Newsday.html |date=October 6, 2008 }} ''Newsday'', May 1, 2005. Reposted at YuricaReport.com. Retrieved September 23, 2006</ref> ] wrote that "iberals' writing about the Christian Right's take-over plans has generally taken the form of ]", and argued that instead one should "analyze the subtle ways" that ideas like Dominionism "take hold within movements and why."<ref name="Diamond1995b">Diamond, Sara. 1995. "". '']'', February 1995</ref> | |||
Dan Olinger, a professor at the ] ] in ], said, "We want to be good citizens and participants, but we're not really interested in using the iron fist of the law to compel people to do everything Christians should do."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.independentmail.com/news/2007/feb/10/bible-user-or-reader/?print=1 |title=Pastors: Christian government not Jesus' cause |work=]|date=February 10, 2007 |access-date=December 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314003921/http://www.independentmail.com/news/2007/feb/10/bible-user-or-reader/?print=1 |archive-date=March 14, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Bob Marcaurelle, interim pastor at Mountain Springs Baptist Church in Piedmont, said the Middle Ages were proof enough that Christian ruling groups are almost always corrupted by power. "When Christianity becomes the government, the question is whose Christianity?" Marcaurelle asked.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20070213/NEWS/702130319|title=Pastors fret Christian group might be a threat|work=StarNewsOnline.com}}</ref> | |||
==Movements outside the United States== | ==Movements outside the United States== | ||
{{Christian Democracy sidebar}} | |||
While the Christian Right is a strong movement in the United States, it has a presence as well in Canada. There is nothing quite like it in Europe.<ref>Geiko Müller-Fahrenholz, ''America's battle for God: a European Christian looks at civil religion'' (2007) p xviii</ref> and indeed Alan Curtis makes the point that the Christian right "is a phenomenon that is very hard for Europeans to understand."<ref>Curtis, ''Patriotism, Democracy, and Common Sense'' (2005) p 126</ref> | |||
While the Christian right is a strong movement in the United States, it also has a presence in Canada. Alan Curtis suggests that the American Christian right "is a phenomenon that is very hard for Europeans to understand."<ref>Curtis, ''Patriotism, Democracy, and Common Sense'' (2005) p 126</ref><ref>Geiko Müller-Fahrenholz, ''America's battle for God: a European Christian looks at civil religion'' (2007) p xviii</ref> Robin Pettitt, a professor at ], states, however, that like the Christian right in the US, ] movements in Europe and Latin America are "equally driven by the debate over the role of the state and the church in political, social and moral life."<ref name="Pettitt2014">{{cite book|last=Pettitt|first=Robin T.|title=Contemporary Party Politics|date=June 24, 2014|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|language=en |isbn=9781137412645|page=66|quote=Again, parties mobilised on religious grounds, most notable in the form of Christian Democratic parties found in, for example, Germany, but also, sometimes to a lesser extent, in much of the rest of Europe. Christian Democratic parties are also found in Chile and Mexico. It could be argued that the rise of the Christian right in the United States and its increased strength in the Republican Party is an example of this cleavage at work. The Christian right in the United States ... is equally driven by the debate over the role of the state and the church in political, social and moral life.}}</ref> | |||
=== Australia === | |||
{{Conservatism in Australia}} | |||
In Australia, the Christian right draws from both Catholics and Protestants. Historically, the first Christian right party was the ].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Robinson |first=Geoffrey |title=Why the Australian Christian right has weak political appeal |url=http://theconversation.com/why-the-australian-christian-right-has-weak-political-appeal-93735 |access-date=September 14, 2022 |website=The Conversation |date=April 12, 2018 |language=en}}</ref> The Democratic Labor Party was formed in 1955 as a split from the ] (ALP). In ], and ], state executive members, parliamentarians and branch members associated with the Industrial Groups or ] and "The Movement" (and therefore strongly identified with ]) were expelled from the party, and formed the ] (DLP). Later in 1957, a similar split occurred in ], with the resulting group subsequently joining the DLP. The party also had sitting members from ] and ] at various times, though it was much stronger in the former mentioned states. The goals of the party were ], the decentralization of industry, population, administration and ownership.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mackerras |first=N. R. M. |date=1958 |title=Why the DLP Exists |journal=Australian Institute of Policy and Science |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=30–34 |via=JSTOR}}</ref> The party decided, in its view that the ALP was filled with communists, that it would ] the ruling conservative ] and ] parties over the ALP.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parliament of Australia |date=2022 |title=The Democratic Labor Party an overview |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/2011-2012/DPLOverview |access-date=September 14, 2022 |website=www.aph.gov.au |language=en-AU}}</ref> However, it was more morally conservative, militantly anti-communist and socially compassionate than the Liberals.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} | |||
The DLP heavily lost ground in the federal election of 1974 that saw its primary vote cut by nearly two-thirds, and the election of an ALP government. The DLP never regained its previous support in subsequent elections and formally disbanded in 1978, but a small group within the party refused to accept this decision and created a small, reformed successor party (now the ]). Though his party was effectively gone, Santamaria and his ] (NCC) took a strong diametrically opposed stance to dominant ]/]/] tendencies within both the ALP and Liberal parties throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} | |||
The B. A Santamaria and the Democratic Labor party produced many alumni who became the base of the Christian right in Australia. In ], these were ] and ].<ref name=":0" /> Outside the Liberal party, conservative commentator's such as ] and ] also had links to Santamaria. Within the ], this alumni can be found in the ], which de-affiliated from the ALP with the industrial Groups in the 1950s, and then re-affiliated in the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schneiders |first=Royce Millar, Ben |date=May 1, 2015 |title=Why is the union that represents supermarket workers stopping gay marriage? |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/why-is-the-union-that-represents-supermarket-workers-stopping-gay-marriage-20150430-1mwl32.html |access-date=September 14, 2022 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref> The SDA opposed gay marriage and abortion, which were some reasons for workers to form another ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Retail and Fast Food Workers Union |title=SDA Facts – Retail and Fast Food Workers Union |url=https://raffwu.org.au/campaigns/industry/campaigns-industry-sda-facts/ |url-status=dead |access-date=September 14, 2022 |archive-date=September 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914125627/https://raffwu.org.au/campaigns/industry/campaigns-industry-sda-facts/ }}</ref> Tony Burke, who opposed euthanasia, came from the SDA.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 10, 2016 |title=Denton lashes out at 'Catholic force' blocking euthanasia laws |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-10/denton-blames-catholic-force-blocking-voluntary-euthanasia/7718152 |access-date=September 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Parliament of Australia |title=Hon Tony Burke MP |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=DYW |access-date=September 14, 2022 |website=www.aph.gov.au |language=en-AU}}</ref> Currently, the NCC functions as a minority organization within the Christian Right. | |||
The more Protestant strands of the Christian Right have been far more diverse. Fundamentalist Christianity directly inspired ] and his parties. Nile in 1967–68 was assistant director of the Billy Graham Crusade in Sydney. The ] (initially known as the "Call to Australia" party) is on the strongly religious conservative end of the Australian political spectrum, promoting social conservatism, opposing gay rights and abortion.<ref>Fred Nile, ''Fred Nile: Autobiography'' (Sydney: Strand Publishing: 2001) {{ISBN|1-876825-79-0}}</ref> It gained 9.1% of the vote in the ] (NSW) state election of 1981, Its support base has generally been restricted to NSW and ], where it usually gains between 2–4% of votes, with its support being minuscule in other states. The party started to fall apart in 2019 when the moderate faction member, Paul Green, lost his seat, and when a faction of younger people attempted to dismiss the governing board.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sandeman |first=John |date=August 9, 2019 |title=CDP crisis meeting for Fred Nile's party – Eternity News |url=https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/cdp-crisis-meeting-for-fred-niles-party/,%20https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/cdp-crisis-meeting-for-fred-niles-party/ |access-date=September 14, 2022 |website=www.eternitynews.com.au |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lim |first=Anne |date=July 16, 2019 |title=Christian Democrats – regrets, they have a few – Eternity News |url=https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/christian-democrats-regrets-they-have-a-few/,%20https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/christian-democrats-regrets-they-have-a-few/ |access-date=September 14, 2022 |website=www.eternitynews.com.au |language=en-AU}}</ref> Whilst this failed, it opened up a rift between the traditional party factions that led to prolonged legal disputes and the party winding up in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sandeman |first=John |date=March 1, 2022 |title=Winding up order issued for Christian Democratic party – Eternity News |url=https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/winding-up-order-issued-for-christian-democratic-party/,%20https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/winding-up-order-issued-for-christian-democratic-party/ |access-date=September 14, 2022 |website=www.eternitynews.com.au |language=en-AU}}</ref> Fred Nile would quickly join a new party.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sandeman |first=John |date=May 19, 2022 |title=Fred Nile joins a new party, and introduces an Aboriginal rights bill – Eternity News |url=https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/fred-nile-joins-a-new-party-and-introduces-an-aboriginal-rights-bill/,%20https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/fred-nile-joins-a-new-party-and-introduces-an-aboriginal-rights-bill/ |access-date=September 14, 2022 |website=www.eternitynews.com.au |language=en-AU}}</ref> | |||
The ] is a former political party which was linked with ] and other smaller Christian denominations, and was also identified with the strongly religious conservative end of the Australian political spectrum. It has had one or two members in the SA parliament since 2002, and in 2004 also managed to elect a Victorian senator. Its electoral support is small, with the largest constituencies being ] (4–6%), and ] (around 4%). Family First generally receives lower support in national elections than in state elections. ] was merged with the ] Party in 2017.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 25, 2017 |title=Bernardi's Australian Conservatives to merge with Family First |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-25/cory-bernardi-australian-conservatives-family-first-to-merge/8471244 |access-date=September 14, 2022}}</ref> | |||
Outside of the Catholic links to B.A. Santamaria and the minor Protestant parties, some party members of the ] and ] ] and the ] also support some of the values of the Christian right on abortion and gay rights. The ] argues for opposition to same-sex marriage in state and federal politics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/state-election-2012/christianity-and-the-lnp-20120207-1r60g.html|title=Christianity and the LNP|work=]|date=February 8, 2012}}</ref> | |||
===Brazil=== | |||
{{Conservatism in Brazil}} | |||
In ], the evangelical caucus have a great influence at the parliament and in the society in general. The bloc promotes strong socially conservative positions, like ], LGBT rights, ] legalization, sexual and gender education at schools and support to decrease of age of ]. Except for left-wing and far-left parties with strong social progressive beliefs like ] or ], Christian conservatives can be found in all political parties of Brazil, but nevertheless they are more common associated with parties like ], ], ], ], ], ] and in the ]. In 2016, ], a licensed ] pastor from the ], won in a runoff the election to mayor of ], the second biggest city in Brazil, with the Brazilian Republican Party, making for the first time an evangelical bloc member mayor of a big city in Brazil. In 2018, Jair Bolsonaro was elected president with massive support of conservative Catholics, Charismatics, Evangelicals and Pentecostals; Another candidate, ], from ], attracted much attention from media and public in general, despite a lower votation. Both had a ], ] program, but Bolsonaro was near to a ] and ] one, contrasting with an ], ] and ] style of Daciolo.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} | |||
===Canada=== | ===Canada=== | ||
{{ |
{{further|Social conservatism in Canada}} | ||
{{See also|Abortion |
{{See also|Abortion in Canada}} | ||
{{Conservatism in Canada}} | |||
Religion has been a key factor in Canadian politics since well before ] in 1867, when the ] were the party of traditionalist Catholics and Anglicans and the ] were the party of ] and ] Catholics. This pattern largely remained until the mid-twentieth century when a new division emerged between the Christian left (represented by the ] philosophy and ]) and the Christian right (represented by ] and ]). The Christian left (along with the secular and anti-religious left) became supporters of the ] while the right moved the ], especially in Western Canada, and to a lesser extent the ]. | |||
Religion has been a key factor in Canadian politics since well before the ] was established in 1867, when the ] were the party of traditionalist Catholics and Anglicans and the ] were the party of ] dissenters and ] Catholics. This pattern largely remained until the mid-twentieth century when a new division emerged between the ] (represented by the ] philosophy and ]) and the Christian right (represented by ] and ]). The ] (along with the secular and anti-religious left) became supporters of the ] while the right moved to the ], especially in Western Canada, and to a lesser extent the ]. | |||
The Social Credit Party, founded in 1935, represented a major change in Canadian religious politics. Until that time, fundamentalists had shunned politics as "]", and a distraction from the proper practice of religion. However, the new party was founded by fundamentalist radio preacher and Bible school teacher ] or "Bible Bill". Aberhart mixed his own interpretation of scripture and prophecy with the ] theories of ] to create a movement that swept across Alberta, winning the provincial election of 1935 in a landslide. Aberhart and his disciple ] then governed the province for the next forty years, several times trying to expand into the rest of Canada.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} | |||
In 1987, Manning's son, ], founded the new ], which soon became the main party of the religious right. It won majorities of the seats in Western Canada in repeated elections, but was unable to break through in Eastern Canada, though it became the ] from 1997 to 2003 (Reform was renamed the ] in 2000). In 2003 the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives merged to create the ], led by ], a member of the ], who went on to become ] in 2006.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} | |||
The ], introduced by the patriation of the ] in 1982, has been controversial within the Christian right in Canada. Although this Charter entrenches rights and freedoms (such as the freedom of religion) that central in the belief systems of the Christian right, it has also been interpreted by the ] to strike down many laws supported by the Christian right. In 1982, the Supreme Court struck down Canada's ''],'' which required many stored to be closed on Sundays, as an infringement the freedom of conscience and religion. Abortion, partly decriminalized in 1969 by an act of ], was completely decriminalized after the two ''R. v. Morgentaler'' cases (] and ]). Parliament attempted to pass a new law governing abortion in 1993, but this legislation failed after a tie vote in the ]. A series of provincial superior court decisions which legalized same-sex marriage led the federal government to introduce legislation that legalized ]. Before he took office, former ] prime minister ] stated that he would hold a free vote on the issue,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/harper-reopens-same-sex-marriage-debate-1.524436 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714020225/http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2005/11/29/harper-smaesex051129.html |url-status=live |archive-date=July 14, 2007 |title=Harper reopens same-sex marriage debate |publisher=CBC TV |date=November 30, 2005 |access-date=February 29, 2008}}</ref> and declared the issue closed after it was voted down in the ] in 2006.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061207/samesexmarriage_vote_061207?s_name=&no_ads= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070106100150/http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061207/samesexmarriage_vote_061207?s_name=&no_ads= |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 6, 2007 |title=Harper declares same-sex marriage issue closed |access-date=February 29, 2008 |date=December 7, 2006 |publisher=CTV}}</ref> | |||
In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down ] in '']'', prompting the Stephen Harper government to introduce a new prostitution law fashioned after the ]. In 2015, the Supreme Court struck down ] in '']'', again leading Parliament to pass a new law governing ]. The Christian right has been critical of all these judicial decisions and have generally been the greatest advocates for the stringent laws against abortion, same-sex marriage, prostitution, and euthanasia, though in differing degrees. For instance, the Christian right in Canada is strongly and vocally organized on the topic of abortion, but criticism of same-sex marriage is far more seldom.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 2017 |title=Position Paper #93: Religion and Abortion |url=https://www.arcc-cdac.ca/media/position-papers/93-Religion-and-Abortion.pdf |access-date=2024-03-14 |website=arcc-cdac.ca}}</ref> In 2021 the Canadian government passed Bill C-4, banning conversion therapy nationwide, which received opposition from the Christian Right and Conservative members of parliament. Christian Pastors altered their preaching schedules to criticize and discuss this new law.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hume |first=Chris |date=2022-01-26 |title=Canadian Law About Conversion Therapy Raises Concerns for Pastors |url=https://www.thelancasterpatriot.com/canadian-law-about-conversion-therapy-raises-concerns-for-pastors/ |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=The Lancaster Patriot |language=en}}</ref> | |||
=== The Caribbean, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa === | |||
{{Main|Political influence of Evangelicalism in Latin America}} | |||
{{Further|Conservative wave|World Christianity}} | |||
Christian right politics in the ], ], and ] is strongly connected with the growing propagation of the ]-] movement in the ] and ] countries.<ref name="Freston 2008">{{cite book |author-last=Freston |author-first=Paul |year=2008 |chapter=The Changing Face of Christian Proselytization: New Actors from the Global South |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y5TCBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |editor-last=Hackett |editor-first=Rosalind I. J. |editor-link=Rosalind Hackett |title=Proselytization Revisited: Rights Talk, Free Markets, and Culture Wars |location=] and ] |publisher=] |edition=1st |pages=109–138 |isbn=9781845532284 |lccn=2007046731}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Robbins |author-first=Joel |date=October 2004 |title=The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity |editor1-last=Brenneis |editor1-first=Don |editor1-link=Don Brenneis |editor2-last=Strier |editor2-first=Karen B. |editor2-link=Karen B. Strier |journal=] |publisher=] |volume=33 |pages=117–143 |doi=10.1146/annurev.anthro.32.061002.093421 |issn=1545-4290 |jstor=25064848 |s2cid=145722188}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Corrales |first1=Javier |title=A Perfect Marriage: Evangelicals and Conservatives in Latin America |date=January 17, 2018 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/opinion/evangelicals-politics-latin-america.html |access-date=June 2, 2018|newspaper=The New York Times }}</ref><ref name="bbc">{{cite news |last1=Lissardy |first1=Gerardo |title="La fuerza política más nueva": cómo los evangélicos emergen en el mapa de poder en América Latina |url=http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-43706779 |access-date=June 2, 2018 |agency=BBC}}</ref> Roman Catholics in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa, despite being normally socially conservative, tend to be more ]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Young |first1=Julia |title=The Church in Latin America |url=https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/church-latin-america |access-date=June 2, 2018 |work=]|date=March 31, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Christianity and Conflict in Latin America |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2006/04/06/christianity-and-conflict-in-latin-america/ |access-date=June 2, 2018 |agency=Pew Research Center |date=April 6, 2006}}</ref> due to the traditional teachings of the ].<ref name="bbc" /> Evangelical-Pentecostal Christians, on the other hand, are mostly from the ], and thus believers in the ] that justifies most of their ].<ref name="Freston 2008"/><ref name="bbc" /><ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Haynes |author-first=Naomi |date=March 2012 |title=Pentecostalism and the morality of money: Prosperity, inequality, and religious sociality on the Zambian Copperbelt |url=https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/10092601/HAYNES_2012_Pentecostalism_and_the_Morality_of_Money.pdf |url-status=live |journal=] |publisher=] on behalf of the ] |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=123–139 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9655.2011.01734.x |doi-access=free |issn=1467-9655 |jstor=41350810 |s2cid=142926682 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718220724/https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/10092601/HAYNES_2012_Pentecostalism_and_the_Morality_of_Money.pdf |archive-date=July 18, 2018 |access-date=November 25, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Daniel J. |date=March 2021 |title=The Pentecostal prosperity gospel in Nigeria: Paradoxes of corruption and inequality |journal=] |location=] |publisher=] |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=103–122 |doi=10.1017/S0022278X2000066X |pmid=37398918 |pmc=10312994 |issn=1469-7777 |lccn=2001-227388 |oclc=48535892 |s2cid=232223673}}</ref> They are also strongly socially conservative, even for Latin American standards.<ref name="bbc" /> | |||
===Mexico=== | |||
In ], the interests of the Christian right are represented by different political organisations and civil associations. The most notable case is the ], a ] party aligned with ] ideas, notably influenced by the ], and which has held the presidency of Mexico twice. The party's platform states strong ], ] and the ], among many other conservative policies. In addition, prominent figures in the party have been linked to ] organisations. The evangelical caucus, albeit for a relatively short time, was represented by the ] and the ], the latter being the successor to the former. Both parties were founded by ], who according to some sources was an ] before entering politics. Initially statewide for ], Social Encounter came to govern that state in coalition with the National Action Party. The party would later be officialised as a political party at the federal level. Other organisations and associations adhering to the ideals of the Christian right include the Frente Nacional por la Familia, the ], colloquially known as El Yunque and with close ties to the PAN, and the ], a Roman Catholic clerical religious order of priests and candidates for the priesthood established in Mexico.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} | |||
===Netherlands=== | |||
The Social Credit Party, founded in 1935 represented a major change in Canadian religious politics. Until that time, fundamentalists had shunned politics as "]", and a distraction from the proper practice of religion. However, the new party was founded by fundamentalist radio preacher and Bible school teacher ] or "Bible Bill". Aberhart mixed his own interpretation of scripture and prophecy with the ] theories of ] to create a movement that swept across Alberta, winning the provincial election of 1935 in a landslide. Aberhart and his disciple ] then governed the province for the next forty years, several times trying to expand into the rest of Canada. In 1987 Manning's son, ], founded the new ], which soon became the main party of the religious right. It won majorities of the seats in Western Canada in repeated elections, but was unable to break through in Eastern Canada, though it became the ] from 1997 to 2003 (Reform was renamed the ] in 2000). In 2003 the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives merged to create the ], led by ], a member of the ], who went on to become ] in 2006. | |||
In the ], Calvinist Protestants have long had their own political parties, now called the ] (SGP) on the right, and the ] (CU) in the center. For generations they operated their own newspapers and broadcasting association. The SGP has about 28,000 members, and three out of 150 members of the Dutch parliament's lower house. It has always been in opposition to the government.<ref>Alan J. Day, ''Political parties of the world'' (2002) p 343</ref> | |||
===Northern Ireland=== | |||
Canada has had a ] since the ] was patriated in 1982. As a result, there have been major changes in the law's application to issues that bear on individual and minority group rights. Abortions were completely decriminalized after two R. v. Morgentaler cases (] and ]). A series of provincial superior court decisions allowing same-sex marriage led the federal government to introduce legislation that introduced same sex marriage in all of Canada. The current prime minister, ] and his ], stated before taking office that he would hold a free vote on the issue,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2005/11/29/harper-smaesex051129.html |title=Harper reopens same-sex marriage debate |publisher=CBC TV |date=2005-11-30 |accessdate=2008-02-29}}</ref> but declared the issue closed after a vote in the ] in 2006.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061207/samesexmarriage_vote_061207?s_name=&no_ads= |title=Harper declares same-sex marriage issue closed |accessdate=2008-02-29 |date=2006-12-07 |publisher=CTV}}</ref> | |||
In ], ] led a Protestant fundamentalist party, the ], which had a considerable influence on the province's culture.<ref>Andrew Vincent, ''Modern Political Ideologies''. John Wiley & Sons, 2009. {{ISBN|1405154950}} (p. 325).</ref><ref>Richard P. Davis, ''Mirror Hate: the Convergent Ideology of Northern Ireland paramilitaries, 1966–1992''. Dartmouth, 1994. {{ISBN|1855215586}} . (p.80)</ref> For a time after the ], the DUP provided ] to the governing Conservative Party, although this agreement provoked concern from socially liberal elements of the party about possible DUP influence on social policy.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kentish|first1=Ben|title=Conservative LGBT activists raise fears over DUP's 'appalling' record on gay rights|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/conservative-lgbt-dup-gay-rights-ruth-davidson-scottish-tory-leader-activists-record-a7783306.html|access-date=June 11, 2017|work=The Independent|date=June 10, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170626050438/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/conservative-lgbt-dup-gay-rights-ruth-davidson-scottish-tory-leader-activists-record-a7783306.html|archive-date=June 26, 2017}}</ref> Although there is no evidence this occurred. ] has mentioned British evangelical leader ] as advocating positions similar to the Christian Right.<ref>Karen Armstrong, ''A History of God: the 4000-year quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam''. Ballantine Books, 1994 p. 390.</ref> | |||
===Other countries=== | ===Other countries=== | ||
In ], ] is a conservative, nationalist party which seeks to make Christianity the ], while the ] makes Fiji a secular republic. Following the 2014 general election, Sodelpa is the main opposition party in Parliament. | |||
Commentators have sometimes compared small or ephemeral movements in Europe to the Christian Right in America. Only in the Netherlands is there something comparable. | |||
In ], the ruling national-conservative party ] can also be considered to be a party of the Christian right. ] is known for his use of conservative Christian values against immigration and the rise of Islam in Europe.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/14/viktor-orban-budapest-hungary-christianity-with-a-twist|title=Orbán deploys Christianity with a twist to tighten grip in Hungary|last=Walker|first=Shaun|date=July 14, 2019|work=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/a3b4kk/is-authoritarian-europe-becoming-the-new-hope-of-the-religious-right-v26n1|title=Is Authoritarian Europe Becoming the New Hope of the Religious Right?|last1=Wylesol|first1=Sarah|last2=Posner|first2=George|date=March 15, 2019|website=Vice|language=en}}</ref> | |||
In ], the Reverend ] led a Protestant fundamentalist party, the | |||
], which had a considerable influence on the province's culture.<ref>Andrew Vincent, | |||
''Modern Political Ideologies''. John Wiley & Sons, 2009. ISBN 1405154950 (p. 325).</ref><ref>Richard P. Davis, ''Mirror Hate: the Convergent Ideology of Northern Ireland paramilitaries, 1966-1992''. | |||
Dartmouth, 1994. ISBN 1855215586 . (p.80) </ref> | |||
] has mentioned English evangelical leader ] as advocating positions similar to the Christian Right.<ref>Karen Armstrong, ''A History of God: the 4000-year quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.'' Ballantine Books, 1994 p. 390.</ref> Of course the United Kingdom has a state church of which the Queen is the head. In Australia, fundamentalist Christianity is the base for ] and his small ], as well as the Family First party. Nile in 1967-68 was Assistant Director of the Billy Graham Crusade in Sydney. Both parties promote social conservatism, opposing gay rights and abortion.<ref>Fred Nile, ''Fred Nile: Autobiography'' (Sydney: Strand Publishing: 2001) ISBN 1-876825-79-0</ref> | |||
In the ], due to ], and the introduction of the Catholic Church, religious conservatism has a strong influence on national policies. Some have argued that the U.S. Christian right may have roots in the Philippines.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nadal |first=Kevin |date=2011 |title=Filipino American Psychology: A Handbook of Theory, Research, and Clinical Practice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zN7-s84jAkoC&q=Conservatism+Philippines&pg=PT42 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |page=42 |isbn=9781118019771 |access-date=August 22, 2014 }}</ref> | |||
The Swiss ] is a small conservative Protestant party with about 1% of the vote.<ref>Alan J. Day, ''Political parties of the world'' (2002) p 449</ref> In Scandinavia, the ] is a bible-oriented fundamentalist party; it has about 4% of the votes in the Faroe Islands. However, the Norwegian ], the Swedish ] and Danish ] are less religiously orthodox and are similar to mainstream European ]. | |||
In ], the Roman Catholic national-conservative party ] can be considered to be a party of the Christian right.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/05/family-faith-flag-catholic-religious-right-battle-polands-soul|title=Family, faith, flag: the religious right and the battle for Poland's soul|last=Coman|first=Julian|date=October 5, 2019|work=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> | |||
===The Netherlands=== | |||
In the ] Calvinist Protestants have long had their own political parties, now called the ] (SGP) on the right, and the ] (CU) in the center. For generations they operated their own newspapers and broadcasting association. The SGP has about 28,000 members, and three members of parliament. It has always been in opposition to the government.<ref>Alan J. Day, ''Political parties of the world'' (2002) p 343</ref> | |||
In ], the ] has collaborated closely with the ], support the ]'s appeal to ].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.christiantoday.com/article/how.the.russian.orthodox.church.is.backing.vladimir.putins.new.world.order/81108.htm | title=How the Russian Orthodox Church is backing Vladimir Putin's new world order | date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref> | |||
===Political parties of the Christian Right=== | |||
''Though many conservative and centre-right parties have electoral support from the Christian Right, most of these parties do not explicitly define themselves as "Christian". However, some minor political parties have formed as vehicles for Christian Right activists:'' | |||
In ], the ] is a bible-oriented fundamentalist party with about 4% of the vote. However, the Norwegian ], the Swedish ] and Danish ] are less religiously orthodox and are similar to mainstream European ]. | |||
In ], ] is a small conservative Protestant party with about 1% of the vote.<ref>Alan J. Day, ''Political parties of the world'' (2002) p 449</ref> | |||
==Associated minor political parties== | |||
Some minor political parties have formed as vehicles for Christian right activists: | |||
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* ] (Australia) | |||
* ] (Australia) | |||
* ] (Austria) | |||
* ] (Botswana) | |||
* ] (Bolivia) | |||
* ] (Brazil) | |||
* ] (Brazil) | |||
* ] (Canada) | * ] (Canada) | ||
* ] ( |
* ] (Costa Rica) | ||
* ] ( |
* ] | ||
* ] ( |
* ] (Lebanon) | ||
* ] (South Korea) | |||
* Christian Values Party (Sweden) | |||
* ] (Philippines) | |||
* ] (Switzerland) | * ] (Switzerland) | ||
* ] (Germany) | |||
* ] (Netherlands) | * ] (Netherlands) | ||
* ] ( |
* ] (Nicaragua) | ||
* ] (Norway) | |||
* ] (Poland) | |||
* ] (Romania) | |||
* ] (United Kingdom) | |||
* ] (United Kingdom) | |||
* Indian National Christian Party (India) | |||
* ] (United States) | |||
* ] (United States)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christiandemocracymagazine.com/2012/12/an-interview-with-david-frost-and-kirk.html|title=An Interview with David Frost and Kirk Morrison|work=Christian Democracy |language=en|access-date=June 23, 2016|quote=There is a growing movement of people who adhere to Catholic Social Teaching and, because of that, find that they cannot find a home with either of the two major political parties in the United States. Their answer has been to form a political party based on Christian democratic principles. The name they have chosen is American Solidarity Party. ... Kirk, you have an article that will go into the first issue of Christian Democracy along with this interview. Christian democracy has been described as conservative on social issues and liberal on economic issues.}}</ref> | |||
* ] (United States)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.constitutionparty.com/party_platform.php|title=Constitution Party National Platform|year=2012|publisher=Constitution Party.com|access-date=September 15, 2012}}</ref> | |||
* ] (United States) | |||
* ] (United Kingdom) | |||
* ] (United Kingdom) | |||
* ], a political party in Norway | |||
* ] – BPF, a political party in Belarus | |||
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===Groups=== | |||
* ] (social, moral, and cultural issues) | |||
** ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
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* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
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{{Portal|Christianity|Conservatism}} | {{Portal|Christianity|Conservatism}} | ||
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== |
==References== | ||
{{Reflist |
{{Reflist}} | ||
==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
{{wikiquote}} | |||
*Boston, Rob. 2000. ''Close Encounters with the Religious Right: Journeys into the Twilight Zone of Religion and Politics''. ]. ISBN 978-1-57392-797-0 | |||
* Boston, Rob. 2000. ''Close Encounters with the Religious Right: Journeys into the Twilight Zone of Religion and Politics''. ]. {{ISBN|978-1-57392-797-0}}. | |||
* Boyd, James H., '' | |||
* Boyd, James H., ''.'' | |||
*Bruns, Roger A. 2002. ''Preacher: Billy Sunday and Big-Time American Evangelism''. ]. ISBN 978-0-252-07075-4 | |||
* {{cite book |last=Brown |first=Ruth Murray |title=For a "Christian America": A History of the Religious Right |year=2002 |location=Amherst, NY |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1-573-92973-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/forchristianamer00brow }} | |||
*Diamond, Sara. 1995. ''Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States.'' New York: ]. ISBN 0-89862-864-4. an attack from the left | |||
* Bruns, Roger A. 2002. ''Preacher: Billy Sunday and Big-Time American Evangelism''. ]. {{ISBN|978-0-252-07075-4}}. | |||
* Green, John C., James L. Guth and Kevin Hill. 1993. “Faith and Election: The Christian right in Congressional Campaigns 1978–1988.” '']'' 55(1), (February): 80–91. | |||
* Compton, John W. 2020. ''The End of Empathy: Why White Protestants Stopped Loving Their Neighbors''. Oxford University Press. | |||
* Green, John C. "The Christian Right and the 1994 Elections: A View from the States," ''PS: Political Science and Politics'' Vol. 28, No. 1 (Mar., 1995), pp. 5-8 | |||
* Diamond, Sara. 1995. ''Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States''. New York: ]. {{ISBN|0-89862-864-4}}. | |||
* Dowland, Seth. ''Family Values and the Rise of the Christian Right'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). | |||
* Gloege, Timothy. 2015. ''Guaranteed Pure: The Moody Bible Institute, Business, and the Making of Modern Evangelicalism''. ]. {{ISBN|1469621010}}. | |||
* Green, John C., James L. Guth and Kevin Hill. 1993. "Faith and Election: The Christian right in Congressional Campaigns 1978–1988". '']'' 55(1), (February): 80–91. | |||
* Green, John C. "The Christian Right and the 1994 Elections: A View from the States", ''PS: Political Science and Politics'' Vol. 28, No. 1 (Mar. 1995), pp. 5–8 . | |||
* Hirschberger, Bernd; Voges, Katja (eds.): Religious Freedom and Populism: The Appropriation of a Human Right and How to Counter It. Bielefeld: transcript. <nowiki>ISBN 978-3-8376-6827-8</nowiki>. | |||
* Himmelstein, Jerome L. 1990. ''To The Right: The Transformation of American Conservatism''. ]. | * Himmelstein, Jerome L. 1990. ''To The Right: The Transformation of American Conservatism''. ]. | ||
* Kruse, Kevin M. ''One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America''. ], 2015. {{ISBN|0465049494}}. | |||
* Marsden, George. ''Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism''. | * Marsden, George. ''Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism''. | ||
* |
* Marsh, Charles. ''Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007). | ||
* Martin, William. 1996. ''With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America'', New York: ]. {{ISBN|0-7679-2257-3}}. | |||
*{{cite book |authorlink1=John Micklethwait |last1=Micklethwait |first1=John|authorlink2=Adrian Wooldridge |first2=Adrian |last2=Wooldridge |year=2004 |title=The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America |publisher=] |location=] |isbn=1-59420-020-}} | |||
* Mascolo, Lo Gionathan. 2023. ''The Christian Right in Europe Movements, Networks, and Denominations''. Bielefeldt. transcript. <nowiki>ISBN 978-3-8376-6038-8</nowiki>. | |||
* {{cite book |author-link1=John Micklethwait |last1=Micklethwait |first1=John|author-link2=Adrian Wooldridge |first2=Adrian |last2=Wooldridge |year=2004 |title=The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America |publisher=] |location=New York City |isbn=978-1-59420-020-5|title-link=The Right Nation }} | |||
* Noll, Mark. 1989. ''Religion and American Politics: From the Colonial Period to the 1980s''. | * Noll, Mark. 1989. ''Religion and American Politics: From the Colonial Period to the 1980s''. | ||
* Noll, Mark and Rawlyk, George: ''Amazing Grace: Evangelicalism in Australia, Canada, Britain, Canada and the United States:'' ]: McGill-Queens University Press: 1994: ISBN |
* Noll, Mark and Rawlyk, George: ''Amazing Grace: Evangelicalism in Australia, Canada, Britain, Canada and the United States:'' ]: McGill-Queens University Press: 1994: {{ISBN|0-7735-1214-4}}. | ||
* {{cite journal |author-last=O'Donnell |author-first=Jonathon |date=September 2020 |title=The deliverance of the administrative state: Deep state conspiracism, charismatic demonology, and the post-truth politics of American Christian nationalism |editor1-last=Stausberg |editor1-first=Michael |editor1-link=Michael Stausberg |editor2-last=Engler |editor2-first=Steven |editor2-link=Steven Engler |journal=] |publisher=] |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=696–719 |doi=10.1080/0048721X.2020.1810817 |s2cid=222094116 |issn=1096-1151}} | |||
* Ribuffo, Leo P. 1983. ''The Old Christian right: The Protestant Far Right from the Great Depression to the Cold War''. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-598-2. | |||
* Preston, Andrew, Bruce J. Schulman, and Julian E. Zelizer, eds. ''Faithful Republic: Religion and Politics in Modern America'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) viii, 213 pp.; Essays by scholars | |||
*Rosin, Hanna. ''God's Harvard''. Orlando: Harcourt, Inc. ISBN 978-0-15-101262-6. | |||
* Ribuffo, Leo P. 1983. ''The Old Christian right: The Protestant Far Right from the Great Depression to the Cold War''. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. {{ISBN|0-87722-598-2}}. | |||
* Smith, Jeremy Adam, 2007, ''''. Public Eye magazine, Winter 2007–08. | |||
* Shields, Jon A., "Framing the Christian Right: How Progressives and Post-War Liberals Constructed the Religious Right", ''Journal of Church and State'', 53 (Autumn 2011), 635–55. | |||
* Smith, Jeremy Adam, 2007, "Living in the Gap: The Ideal and Reality of the Christian Right Family". ''The Public Eye'', Winter 2007–08. | |||
* Wald, Kenneth. 2003. ''Religion and Politics in the United States''. | * Wald, Kenneth. 2003. ''Religion and Politics in the United States''. | ||
* Wilcox, Clyde. ''Onward Christian Soldiers: The Religious Right in American Politics''. survey by two neutral scholars | * Wilcox, Clyde. ''Onward Christian Soldiers: The Religious Right in American Politics''. survey by two neutral scholars. | ||
*{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Daniel K. |
* {{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Daniel K. |title=God's Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfkBh3hL0x4C |year=2010 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-19-534084-6}} | ||
* {{cite book |last=Wills |first=Garry | |
* {{cite book |last=Wills |first=Garry |author-link=Garry Wills |title=Under God: Religion and American Politics |year=1990 |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-671-65705-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/undergodreligion00will }} | ||
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Latest revision as of 12:18, 8 January 2025
Socially conservative political ideology rooted in Christianity This article is about right-wing movements influenced by Christianity. For religious right-wing movements unrelated to Christianity, see Religious right. Not to be confused with Conservative Christianity, a grouping of overlapping and denominationally diverse theological movements within Christianity that seeks to retain the orthodox and long-standing traditions and beliefs of Christianity.The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (March 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The Christian right, otherwise referred to as the religious right, are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with their interpretation of the teachings of Christianity.
In the United States, the Christian right is an informal coalition which was formed around a core of conservative Evangelical Protestants and conservative Roman Catholics. The Christian right draws additional support from politically conservative mainline Protestants, Orthodox Jews, and Mormons. The movement in American politics became dominant in American conservatism starting in the late 1970s. The Christian right gained powerful influence within the Republican party during the presidency of Ronald Reagan in the United States in the 1980s. Its influence draws from grassroots activism as well as from focus on social issues and the ability to motivate the electorate around those issues. It is part of social conservatism in the United States.
The Christian right has advanced socially conservative positions on issues such as creationism in public education, school prayer, temperance, Christian nationalism, Christian Zionism, and Sunday Sabbatarianism, as well as opposition to the teaching of biological evolution, embryonic stem cell research, LGBT rights, comprehensive sex education, abortion, euthanasia, use of drugs, and pornography. Although the term Christian right is most commonly associated with politics in the United States, similar Christian conservative groups can be found in the political cultures of other Christian-majority countries.
Terminology
The Christian right is also known as the New Christian Right (NCR) or the Religious Right, although some consider the religious right to be "a slightly broader category than Christian Right".
John C. Green of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life states that Jerry Falwell used the label religious right to describe himself. Gary Schneeberger, vice president of media and public relations for Focus on the Family, states that "erms like 'religious right' have been traditionally used in a pejorative way to suggest extremism. The phrase 'socially conservative evangelicals' is not very exciting, but that's certainly the way to do it."
Evangelical leaders like Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council have called attention to the problem of equating the term Christian right with Evangelical Protestants. Although evangelicals constitute the core constituency of the Christian right, not all evangelicals fit the description, and a number of Roman Catholics are also members of the Christian right's core base. The problem of description is further complicated by the fact that the label religious conservative or conservative Christian may apply to other religious groups as well. For instance, Anabaptist Christians (most notably Amish, Mennonites, Hutterites, the Bruderhof Communities, Schwarzenau Brethren, River Brethren and Apostolic Christians) are theologically, socially, and culturally conservative; however, there are no overtly political organizations associated with these Christian denominations, which are usually uninvolved, uninterested, apathetic, or indifferent towards politics. Evangelical theologian and pastor Tim Keller stated that conservative Christianity (theology) predates the Christian right (politics). Keller asserted that being a theological conservative does not require a person to be a political conservative, and that some political progressive views around economics, helping the poor, the redistribution of wealth, and racial diversity are compatible with theologically conservative Christianity. Conservative writer Rod Dreher has stated that a Christian can be theologically conservative while still holding left-wing economic views or even socialist views.
History
Background and predecessors
In 1863, representatives from eleven Christian denominations in the United States organized the National Reform Association. The organization's goal was to amend the U.S. Constitution to make the country a Christian state. The National Reform Association is one of the first organizations through which adherents from several Christian denominations worked together in an attempt to enshrine Christianity in American government. The Christian Civic League of Maine, founded in 1897, and other early organizations of the Christian right supported the aims of the temperance movement. During the 19th and early 20th century there were also a number of evangelicals who supported progressive causes. The Scopes trial in 1925 reportedly resulted in most evangelicals abandoning the political arena in an organized fashion. However, an evangelical subculture arose, which was largely secluded from the outside world, but consisted of a number of organizations and institutions, and would ultimately lay the groundwork for the emergence of the religious right in the late 1970s.
While the influence of the Christian right is typically traced to the late 1970s, Daniel K. Williams argues in God's Own Party that it had actually been involved in politics for most of the twentieth century. He also notes that the Christian right had previously been in alliance with the Republican Party in the 1940s through 1960s on matters such as opposition to communism and defending "a Protestant-based moral order". Similarly, scholar Celestini Carmen traces the John Birch Society (JBS)'s focus on culture war issues and rhetoric of apocalypticism, conspiratorialism, and fear to the rise of the Christian right through JBS members and Christian right activists Tim LaHaye, Phyllis Schlafly, and others.
In light of the state atheism espoused by communist countries during the height of the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s, secularization came to be seen by many Americans as the biggest threat to American and Christian values. These fears resulted in a number of actions by the federal government throughout the 1950s, including the establishment of the National Day of Prayer, the addition of the words "In God We Trust" to U.S. currency, and the addition of the words "Under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. The alienation of Southern Democrats from the Democratic Party contributed to the rise of the right, as the counterculture of the 1960s provoked fear of social disintegration amongst many conservatives. In addition, as the Democratic Party became identified with liberal policies and nontraditional societal values, social conservatives joined the Republican Party in increasing numbers. Despite these trends, many white evangelicals remained politically inactive and were not a unified voting bloc, with many believing political activism and engagement to be inconsistent with their beliefs.
Early history and rise, 1970s-1980s
The movement that would become the religious right had much of its origin in the work and activism of conservative operative Paul Weyrich, who had foreseen the potential to organize evangelicals and conservative Catholics into a political force in the early 1960s, and had reportedly started trying to do so during the 1964 Presidential election campaign. Weyrich tried a number of wedge issues throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, including abortion, pornography, the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, and school prayer, without success. Weyrich was not successful until the legality of segregation academies began to be challenged in the early 1970s. In 1970, the Internal Revenue Service adopted a policy of rescinding the tax exempt status of private schools which did not admit African Americans, and the following year, the Supreme Court ruled in Coit v. Green that organizations that voluntarily practice racial discrimination are not eligible for tax exemption. The origin of this case was a legal challenge to the tax exempt status of a group of segregation academies in Holmes County, Mississippi. Many of the schools targeted by these rulings were church-sponsored, and these actions reportedly caught the attention of a number of evangelical leaders, including Jerry Falwell. The largest educational institution targeted by the IRS was Bob Jones University, which lost its tax exemption in 1976 due to its policy prohibiting interracial dating. This action reportedly further caught the ire of evangelical leaders, many of whom believed that the IRS was overstepping its legal authority. Weyrich also sought to frame the IRS crackdown on segregation academics as an issue of government intrusion and attacks on religious freedom, effectively diverting attention from the racial aspect of the issue.
In the 1976 Presidential election, Jimmy Carter, who described himself as an evangelical and a born-again Christian, received the support of a majority of American evangelicals and the emerging Christian right largely because of his much-acclaimed religious conversion. However, the issue of segregation academies carried over into Carter's presidency, and in 1978, the IRS proposed a new rule which would have revoked the tax exemption of private schools based on their racial demographic composition relative to that of their respective communities. While this rule never went into effect, it provoked fierce backlash and protests from evangelical leaders and church congregants alike, with many believing it to be an attack on non-discriminatory institutions and religious freedom. The IRS reportedly received over 150,000 letters in opposition to this proposal, mostly from Christians. This action reportedly encouraged many white evangelicals to become politically active for the first time, and turned them against Jimmy Carter. Weyrich later stated that what got evangelicals involved in politics was "Jimmy Carter’s intervention against the Christian schools, trying to deny them tax-exempt status on the basis of so-called de facto segregation", and Richard Viguerie said that the 1978 IRS action "kicked a sleeping dog." Others, including religious right leader Ed Dobson and conservative activist Grover Norquist have affirmed this as the beginnings of the religious right.
Around the same time, Weyrich began to realize that support for segregation academies was not a viable issue, and began to look for other issues. The unexpected success of mostly Catholic anti-abortion activists in the 1978 midterms convinced Weyrich that opposition to abortion might work as a wedge issue to keep evangelicals politically mobilized. He favored the issue because it could be framed in the context of family values and be used to claim moral superiority, as well as attack second-wave feminism. Prior to this time, the Catholic Church was the only Christian denomination that was staunchly anti-abortion, with many Protestant and evangelical denominations, including the Southern Baptist Convention, either supporting the legalization of the procedure in some circumstances, or not taking a stance on the issue. The following year, filmmaker Frank Schaeffer produced a series of anti-abortion films titled Whatever Happened to the Human Race?, starring his father, evangelist Francis Schaeffer and pediatric surgeon Dr. C. Everett Koop. That same year, abortion was reportedly suggested as a wedge issue during a conference call between a number of religious right leaders, although many were still skeptical of its ability to mobilize evangelicals. Schaeffer's films were also reportedly met with tepid reception during a tour in which they were shown at numerous churches around the United States, and leaders like Jerry Falwell were initially hesitant to utilize abortion, believing that its stereotype amongst evangelicals as a "Catholic issue" would hinder its ability to politically mobilize them. It was not until the early 1980s that abortion would become in effect the signature wedge issue of the religious right, and conservative evangelicals began joining the anti-abortion movement in large numbers.
In 1979, the Moral Majority, widely considered the first religious right organization, was founded by Falwell, Weyrich, and other associates, and began emphasizing such issues as abortion, pornography, gay rights, and opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, and a perceived moral decline of the United States, and played a major role in mobilizing evangelicals to support Ronald Reagan in the 1980 Presidential election. In response to the rise of the Christian right, the 1980 Republican Party platform assumed a number of its positions, including adding support for a restoration of school prayer. While the platform also opposed abortion and leaned towards restricting taxpayer funding for abortions and passing a constitutional amendment which would restore protection of the right to life for unborn children, it also accepted the fact that many Americans, including fellow Republicans, were divided on the issue. At this time, both major political parties were divided internally on the abortion issue, and it was not until the late 1980s that abortion came to be viewed as a strictly partisan issue. Over the next two decades religious citizens became more politically active in a time period labeled the New Christian Right. In addition to the Moral Majority (which dissolved in the late 1980s), the religious right came to be associated with a number of organizations throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, the Alliance Defending Freedom the Family Research Council and the American Center for Law & Justice.
Later history, 1990s to present
Since its inception, the Christian Right has engaged in battles over abortion, euthanasia, contraception, pornography, gambling, obscenity, Christian nationalism, Sunday Sabbatarianism (concerning Sunday blue laws), state sanctioned prayer in public schools, textbook contents (concerning creationism), homosexuality, and sexual education. Ralph Reed, the chairman of the Christian Coalition, stated that the 1988 presidential campaign of Pat Robertson was the 'political crucible' that led to the proliferation of Christian Right groups in the United States. The Christian right is perhaps best known for its allliance with the U.S. anti-abortion movement and its efforts to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which established abortion as a constitutionally protected right in the U.S. 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.
In the 2016 Presidential election, the religious right staunchly supported President Donald Trump, who promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. Many evangelicals were initially hesitant to support Trump, due to his character flaws and lack of religiosity. Trump ultimately appointed three justices to the Supreme Court, all of whom voted to overturn the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022. Trump's support amongst evangelicals has also been attributed by some, including journalist Tim Alberta, to be a result of a fear that many white evangelicals have of losing their power. Since the 1990s, the share of Americans who identify as Christian has declined, part of a larger trend of a decline of Christian affiliation throughout the Western World. Alberta, and others, have argued that many white evangelicals see Trump as a savior figure, and that his rhetoric about returning the United States to a perceived state of former greatness, embodied by his campaign slogan "Make America Great Again", resonates strongly with them. In addition to their declining numbers, many have also reported a fear of being under siege by an increasing secularizing world, which some scholars and commentators have argued has led them to embrace Trump's policies. On many occasions, Trump has stated that he believes Christianity is under attack in the United States. Trump continued to receive strong support from the religious right in the 2020 and 2024 Presidential elections. Since the 2010s, the religious right has increasing supported other measures targeting the separation of church in state, including school vouchers and efforts to integrate the Bible and The Ten Commandments into public school curricula.
Organizational ability
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.
Political leaders and institutions
Led by Robert Grant advocacy group 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 Foundation and The Heritage Foundation, and Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, the new Religious Right combined conservative politics with evangelical and fundamentalist teachings. 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. 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. 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.'"
Weyrich would then engineer a strong union between the Republican Party and many culturally conservative Christians. Soon, Moral Majority became a general term for the conservative political activism of evangelists and fundamentalists such as Pat Robertson, James Robison, and Jerry Falwell. 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."
Institutions in the United States
National organizations
An early attempt to bring the Christian right into American politics began in 1974 when Robert Grant, a movement leader, who founded the American Christian Cause to advocate Christian ideological teachings in Southern California. Concerned that Christians overwhelmingly voted for President Jimmy Carter in 1976, Grant founded Christian Voice to rally Christian voters behind socially conservative candidates. Prior to his alliance with Falwell, Weyrich sought an alliance with Grant. Grant and other Christian Voice staff soon set up their main office at the headquarters of Weyrich's Heritage Foundation. The alliance between Weyrich and Grant fell apart in 1978.
In the late 1980s, Pat Robertson founded the Christian Coalition of America, building from his 1988 presidential run, with Republican activist 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. 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 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.
Political activists lobbied within the Republican party locally and nationally to influence party platforms and nominations. 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. 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.
In an essay written in 1996, Ralph Reed argued against the 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.
Partisan activity of churches
Overtly partisan actions by churches could threaten their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status due to the Johnson Amendment of the Internal Revenue Code. In one notable example, the former pastor of the East Waynesville Baptist Church in Waynesville, North Carolina "told the congregation that anyone who planned to vote for Democratic Sen. John Kerry should either leave the church or repent". The church later expelled nine members who had voted for Kerry and refused to repent, which led to criticism on the national level. The pastor resigned and the ousted church members were allowed to return.
The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian right group now known as the Alliance Defending Freedom, started the Pulpit Freedom Initiative in 2008. ADF states that "he goal of Pulpit Freedom Sunday is simple: have the Johnson Amendment declared unconstitutional – and once and for all remove the ability of the IRS to censor what a pastor says from the pulpit."
Electoral activity
Both Christian right and secular polling organizations sometimes conduct polls to determine which presidential candidates will receive the support of Christian right constituents. One such poll is taken at the Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit. George W. Bush's electoral success owed much to his overwhelming support from white evangelical voters, who comprise 23% of the vote. In 2000 he received 68% of the white evangelical vote; in 2004 that percentage rose to 78%. In 2016, Donald Trump received 81% of the white evangelical vote.
Education
The Home School Legal Defense Association was co-founded in 1983 by Michael Farris, who would later establish Generation Joshua and Patrick Henry College, and Michael Smith. This organization attempts to challenge laws that serve as obstacles to allowing parents to home-school their children and to organize the disparate group of homeschooling families into a cohesive bloc. The number of homeschooling families has increased in the last twenty years, and around 80 percent of these families identify themselves as evangelicals.
The main universities associated with the Christian right in the United States are:
- Bob Jones University – Protestant Fundamentalist institution, founded in 1927.
- Christendom College – Roman Catholic institution, founded in 1977
- Liberty University – Baptist institution, founded in 1971
- Regent University – Evangelical Christian institution, founded in 1977
Media
The media has played a major role in the rise of the Christian right since the 1920s and has continued to be a powerful force for political Christianity today. The role of the media for the Religious right has been influential in its ability to connect Christian audiences to the larger American culture while at the same time bringing and keeping religion into play as both a political and a cultural force. The political agenda of the Christian right has been disseminated to the public through a variety of media outlets including radio broadcasting, television, and literature.
Religious broadcasting began in the 1920s through the radio. Between the 1950s and 1980s, TV became a powerful way for the Christian right to influence the public through shows such as Pat Robertson's The 700 Club and The Family Channel (now Freeform). The Internet has also helped the Christian right reach a much larger audience. These organizations' websites play a strong role in popularising the Christian right's stances on cultural and political issues, and inform interested viewers on how to get involved. For example, the Christian Coalition of America has used the Internet to inform the public, as well as to sell merchandise and gather members.
Views
Education
The Christian right strongly advocates for a system of educational choice, using a system of school vouchers, instead of public education. Vouchers would be government funded and could be redeemed for "a specified maximum sum per child per years if spent on approved educational services". This method would allow parents to determine which school their child attends while relieving the economic burden associated with private schools. The concept is popular among constituents of church-related schools, including those affiliated with Roman Catholicism.
Evolution
See also: Creation and evolution in public educationThe Protestant members of the Christian right in the United States generally promote the teaching of creationism and intelligent design as opposed to, or alongside, biological evolution. Some supporters of the Christian right have opposed the teaching of evolution in the past, but they did not have the ability to stop it being taught in public schools as was done during the Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, in which a science teacher went on trial for teaching about the subject of evolution in a public school. Other "Christian right organizations supported the teaching of creationism, along with evolution, in public schools", specifically promoting theistic evolution (also known as evolutionary creationism) in which God is regarded as the originator of the process.
Members of and organizations associated with the Christian right, such as the Discovery Institute, created and popularized the modern concept of intelligent design, which became widely known only with the publication of the book Of Pandas and People in 1989. The Discovery Institute, through their intelligent design initiative called the Center for Science and Culture, has endorsed the teach the controversy approach. According to its proponents, such an approach would ensure that both the strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary theory were discussed in the curriculum. This tactic was criticized by Judge John E. Jones III in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, describing it as "at best disingenuous, and at worst a canard."
The overwhelming majority of scientific research, both in the United States and elsewhere, has concluded that the theory of evolution, using the technical definition of the word theory, is the only viable explanation of the development of life, and an overwhelming majority of biologists strongly support its presentation in public school science classes. Outside the United States, as well as among American Catholics and Mainline Protestants, Christian conservatives have generally come to accept the theory of evolution.
Sex education
Some Christian groups advocate for the removal of sex education literature from public schools, for parental opt-out of comprehensive sex education, or for abstinence-only sex education. Sam Harris has written that thirty percent of America's sex-education programs are abstinence based and ineffective.
Schooling
The Christian right promotes homeschooling and private schooling as a valid alternative to public education for parents who object to the content being taught at school. The percentage of children being homeschooled rose from 1.7% of the student population in 1999 to 2.2% in 2003, and much of this increase has been attributed to the desire to incorporate Christian teachings into the curriculum. In 2003, 72% of parents who homeschooled their children cited the ability to provide religious or moral instruction as the reason for removing their children from public schools. The Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case established that creationism cannot be taught in public schools, and in response officials have increasingly appropriated public funds for charter schools that teach curricula like Accelerated Christian Education.
Sunday Sabbatarianism
The Christian right is in favor of legislation that maintains and promotes Sunday Sabbatarianism, such as Sunday blue laws that forbid shopping and restrict the sale of alcohol on Sundays, which is the Lord's Day in mainstream Christianity.
Role of government
Supporters of the Christian right have no one unified stance on the role of government since the movement is primarily one that advocates social conservatism; in fact, "struggles broken out in state party organizations" between supporters of the Christian right and other conservatives. It promotes conservative interpretations of the Bible as the basis for moral values and enforcing such values by legislation. Some members of the Christian right, especially Catholics, accept the Catholic Church's strong support for labor unions.
Church and state relations
See also: AccommodationismThe Christian right believes that separation of church and state is not explicit in the American Constitution, believing instead that such separation is a creation of what it claims are activist judges in the judicial system. In the United States, the Christian right often supports their claims by stating that the country was "founded by Christians as a Christian Nation." Members of the Christian right take the position that the Establishment Clause bars the federal government from establishing or sponsoring a state church (e.g., the Church of England), but does not prevent the government from acknowledging religion. The Christian right points out that the term "separation of church and state" is derived from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson, not from the Constitution itself. Furthermore, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) takes the view that the concept of "separation of church and state" has been used by the American Civil Liberties Union and its allies to inhibit public acknowledgment of Christianity and restrict the religious freedoms of Christians.
Thus, Christian right leaders have argued that the Establishment Clause does not prohibit the display of religion in the public sphere. Leaders, therefore, believe that public institutions should be allowed, or even required, to display the Ten Commandments. This interpretation has been repeatedly rejected by the courts, which have found that such displays violate the Establishment Clause. Public officials though are prohibited from using their authority in which the primary effect is "advancing or prohibiting religion", according to the Lemon Supreme Court test, and there cannot be an "excessive entanglement with religion" and the government. Some, such as Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, argue that the First Amendment, which specifically restricts Congress, applies only to the Congress and not the states. This position rejects the incorporation of the Bill of Rights.
Generally, the Christian right supports the presence of religious institutions within government and the public sphere, and advocates for fewer restrictions on government funding for religious charities and schools. Both Catholics and Protestants, according to a 2005 Gallup study, have been supportive of school prayer in public schools.
Economics
Early American fundamentalists, such as John R. Rice often favored laissez-faire economics and were outspoken critics of the New Deal and later the Great Society. The contemporary Christian right supports economic conservative policies such as tax cuts and social conservative policies such as child tax credits.
Middle East
See also: Christian ZionismMany evangelical Protestant supporters of the religious right have strongly supported the state of Israel in recent decades, encouraging support for Israel within the United States government. Some of them have linked Israel to Biblical prophesies; for example, Ed McAteer, founder of the Moral Majority, said "I believe that we are seeing prophecy unfold so rapidly and dramatically and wonderfully and, without exaggerating, makes me breathless." This belief, an example of dispensationalism, arises from the idea that the establishment of Israel is a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Jesus, because it represents the Biblically prophesied Gathering of Israel. A 2017 poll indicates that this belief is held by 80% of evangelicals, and that half of evangelicals consider it an important cause of their support for the state of Israel.
During the Lebanese Civil War that started in 1975 and ended in 1990, many Christian parties endorsed the right's political viewpoints such as the Christian Lebanese phalanges which is known as the Kataeb Party, and later, the right's political viewpoints were also endorsed by the Lebanese Armed Forces because their power and influence were threatened by the growing power and influence of the more radical Islamist and left-wing movements, such as the Shiite Amal Movement, and the Progressive Socialist Party in the 1980s.
Abortion and contraception
See also: Bioethics and Consistent life ethicHistorically, large percentages of American Catholics and Evangelical Protestants oppose and have opposed abortion, believing that life begins at conception and that abortion is murder. Therefore, those in the movement have worked toward the overturning of Roe v. Wade (1973), and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). The Christian right has also supported incremental steps to make abortion less available. Such efforts include bans on late-term abortion (including intact dilation and extraction), prohibitions against Medicaid funding and other public funding for elective abortions, removal of taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide abortion services, legislation requiring parental consent or notification for abortions performed on minors, legal protections for unborn victims of violence, legal protections for infants born alive following failed abortions, and bans on abortifacient medications.
The Christian right element in the Reagan coalition strongly supported him in 1980, in the belief that he would appoint Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade. They were astonished and dismayed when his first appointment was Sandra Day O'Connor, whom they feared would tolerate abortion. They worked hard to defeat her confirmation but failed.
The Christian right contends that morning-after pills such as Plan B and Ella are possible abortifacients, able to interfere with a fertilized egg's implantation in the uterine wall. The labeling mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Plan B and Ella state that they may interfere with implantation, but according to a June 2012, The New York Times article, many scientists believe that they work only by interfering with ovulation and are arguing to have the implantation language removed from product labels. The Christian right maintains that the chemical properties of morning-after pills make them abortifacients and that the politics of abortion is influencing scientific judgments. Jonathan Imbody of the Christian Medical Association says he questions "whether ideological considerations are driving these decisions." Specifically, many Catholic members, as well as some conservative Protestant members, of the Christian right have campaigned against contraception altogether.
See also: Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health OrganizationIn May 2022, Politico published a leaked draft majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito. It would overturn Roe and Casey by nullifying the specific privacy rights in question, eliminating federal involvement, and leaving the issue to be determined by the states. Through a statement made by the Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, the Court confirmed the document's authenticity but said that it was not a final decision or the Justice's final decision, which was expected by June or July.
The decision was issued on June 24, 2022, ruling 6–3 to reverse the lower court rulings; a more narrow 5–4 ruling overturned Roe and Casey. The majority opinion stated that abortion was not a constitutional right, and that states should have discretion in regulating abortion. The majority opinion, written by Alito, was substantially similar to the leaked draft. Chief Justice Roberts agreed with the judgment upholding the Mississippi law but did not join the majority in the opinion to overturn Roe and Casey.
Biotechnology
Due to the Christian right's views regarding ethics and to an extent due to negative views of eugenics common to most ideologies in North America, it has worked for the regulation and restriction of certain applications of biotechnology. In particular, the Christian right opposes therapeutic and reproductive human cloning, championing a 2005 United Nations ban on the practice, and human embryonic stem cell research, which involves the extraction of one or more cells from a human embryo. The Christian right supports research with adult stem cells, amniotic stem cells, and induced pluripotent stem cells which do not use cells from human embryos, as they view the harvesting of biological material from an embryo lacking the ability to give permission as an assault on a living being.
The Christian right also opposes euthanasia, and, in one highly publicized case, took an active role in seeking governmental intervention to prevent Terri Schiavo from being deprived of nutrition and hydration.
Opposition to drugs
Further information: Woman's Christian Temperance Union and List of anti-cannabis organizationsThe Christian right has historically supported the temperance movement, thus supporting causes such as maintaining Sunday blue laws, adding alcohol packaging warning messages to bottles and limiting alcohol advertising. It has advocated for the prohibition of drugs and has opposed efforts to legalize marijuana.
Sex and sexuality
Main articles: Christianity and homosexuality, Christianity and transgender people, and Same-sex marriage in the United States Further information: Discrimination in the United States, LGBT rights opposition, and Public opinion of same-sex marriage in the United StatesThe modern roots of the Christian right's views on sexual matters were evident in the years 1950s–1960s, a period in which many conservative Christians in the United States viewed sexual promiscuity as not only excessive, but in fact as a threat to their ideal vision of the country. Beginning in the 1970s, conservative Christian protests against promiscuity began to surface, largely as a reaction to the "permissive Sixties" and changes in sexual behavior confirmed by Roe v. Wade and the LGBT rights movement. The Christian right proceeded to make sexuality issues a priority political cause.
Anita Bryant organized Save Our Children, a widespread campaign to oppose legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The group argued that gay people were "recruiting" or "molesting children" in order to make them gay. Bryant said, "As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children," and also said that "If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters." The Bryant campaign achieved success in repealing some city anti-discrimination laws, and proposed other citizen initiatives such as a failed California ballot question designed to ban gay people or those who supported LGBT rights from holding public teaching jobs. Bryant's campaign attracted widespread opposition and boycotts which put her out of business.
From the late 1970s onwards, some conservative Christian organizations such as the Christian Broadcasting Network, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, the American Family Association, and the Christian Coalition of America, along with right-wing Christian hate groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church, have been outspoken against LGBT rights. Late in 1979, a new religious revival among conservative Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics ushered in the Republican coalition politically aligned with the Christian right that would reign in the United States between the years 1970s and 1980s, becoming another obstacle for the progress of the LGBTQ rights movement. During the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, LGBTQ communities were further stigmatized as they became the focus of mass hysteria and suffered isolation, marginalization and violence.
The Christian right champions itself as the "self-appointed conscience of American society". During the 1980s, the movement was largely dismissed by political pundits and mainstream religious leaders as "a collection of buffoonish has-beens". Later, it re-emerged, better organized and more focused, taking firm positions against abortion, pornography, sexual deviancy, and extreme feminism. Beginning around the first presidency of Donald Trump, Christian conservatives have largely refrained from engaging in debates about sexual morality.
Influential Christian right organizations at the forefront of the anti-gay rights movement in the United States include Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, and the Family Research Institute. An important stratagem in Christian right anti-gay politics is in its rejection of "the edicts of a Big Brother" state, allowing it to profit from "a general feeling of discontent and demoralization with government". As a result, the Christian right has endorsed smaller government, restricting its ability to arbitrate in disputes regarding values and traditions. In this context, gay rights laws have come to symbolize the government's allegedly unconstitutional " with individual freedom".
The central tenets of Focus on the Family and similar organizations, such as the Family Research Council, emphasise issues such as abortion and the necessity of gender roles. A number of organizations, including the New Christian Right, "have in various ways rejected liberal America in favor of the regulation of pornography, anti-abortion legislation, the criminalization of homosexuality, and the virtues of faithfulness and loyalty in sexual partnerships", according to sociologist Bryan S. Turner.
Some members of the Christian right view same-sex marriage as a central issue in the culture wars, more so than other gay rights issues and even more significantly than abortion. The legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts in 2004 changed the Christian right, causing it to put its opposition to these marriages above most other issues. It also created previously unknown interracial and ecumenical coalitions, and stimulated new electoral activity in pastors and congregations.
Criticism
Criticisms of the Christian right often come from Christians who believe Jesus' message was centered on social responsibility and social justice. Theologian Michael Lerner has summarized: "The unholy alliance of the Political Right and the Religious Right threatens to destroy the America we love. It also threatens to generate a revulsion against God and religion by identifying them with militarism, ecological irresponsibility, fundamentalist antagonism to science and rational thought, and insensitivity to the needs of the poor and the powerless."
Commentators such as Rob Schenck, Randall Balmer, and Charles M. Blow criticized the Christian right for its tolerance and embrace of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election despite Trump's failure to adhere to any of the principles advocated by the Christian right groups for decades. In a 2023 interview with NPR, Russell D. Moore stated that he had come to believe that Christianity was "in a crisis" after hearing multiple pastors speak of congregation members rejecting quotes from the Sermon on the Mount as "liberal talking points" and not backing down upon being informed of their source.
Interpretation of Christianity
See also: Christian leftOne argument which questions the legitimacy of the Christian right posits that Jesus Christ may be considered a leftist on the modern political spectrum. Jesus' concern with the poor and feeding the hungry, among other things, are argued, by proponents of Christian leftism, to be core attributes of modern-day socialism and social justice. However, others contend that while Jesus' concern for the poor and hungry is virtuous and that individuals have a moral obligation to help others, the relationship between charity and the state should not be construed in the same manner.
According to Frank Newport of Gallup, "there are fewer Americans today who are both highly religious and liberal than there are Americans who are both highly religious and conservative." Newport also noted that 52% of white conservatives identify as "highly religious" while only 16% of white liberals identify as the same. However, African-Americans, "the most religious of any major racial or ethnic group in the country", are "strongly oriented to voting Democratic". While observing that African-American Democrats are more religious than their white Democrat counterparts, Newport further noted, however, that African-American Democrats are "much more likely to be ideologically moderate or conservative."
Some criticize what they see as a politicization of Christianity because they say Jesus transcends political concepts.
Mikhail Gorbachev referred to Jesus as "the first Socialist".
Race and diversity
The Christian right has tried to recruit social conservatives in the black church. Prior to the 2016 United States presidential election, African-American Republican Ben Carson emerged as a leader of the Christian right. Other Christian African-Americans who identify with conservatism are Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, rapper Kanye West, Alveda King, and pastor Tony Evans.
LGBT rights
Whilst the Christian right in the United States generally identifies with aspects of LGBT rights opposition, other Christian movements argue that the biblical texts only oppose specific types of divergent sexual behaviour, such as paederasty (i.e. sexual intercourse between boys and men). During the Trump administration, there was a growing push for religious liberty bills, aimed to exempt individuals and businesses from anti-discrimination laws intended to protect LGBT people, if they claimed that their actions were motivated by religious beliefs. Among the most powerful organizations that promoted anti-LGBT and anti-transgender legislation under the Trump administration is the Alliance Defending Freedom.
Use of dominionism labeling
Some social scientists have used the word "dominionism" to refer to adherence of dominion theology, as well as to the influence in the broader Christian Right of ideas inspired by Dominion Theology. Although such influence (particularly of Reconstructionism) has been described by many authors, full adherents to Reconstructionism are few and marginalized among conservative Christians.
In the early 1990s, sociologist Sara Diamond defined dominionism in her PhD dissertation as a movement that, while it includes Dominion Theology and Reconstructionism as subsets, is much broader in scope, extending to much of the Christian Right. She was followed by journalists who included Frederick Clarkson and Chris Hedges and others who have stressed the influence of Dominionist ideas on the Christian right.
The terms "dominionist" and "dominionism" are rarely used for self-description, and their usage has been attacked from right-leaning quarters. Stanley Kurtz labeled it "conspiratorial nonsense", "political paranoia", and "guilt by association", and decried Hedges' "vague characterizations" that allow him to "paint a highly questionable picture of a virtually faceless and nameless 'Dominionist' Christian mass." Kurtz also complained about a perceived link between average Christian evangelicals and extremism such as Christian Reconstructionism:
The notion that conservative Christians want to reinstitute slavery and rule by genocide is not just crazy, it's downright dangerous. The most disturbing part of the Harper's cover story (the one by Chris Hedges) was the attempt to link Christian conservatives with Hitler and fascism. Once we acknowledge the similarity between conservative Christians and fascists, Hedges appears to suggest, we can confront Christian evil by setting aside "the old polite rules of democracy." So wild conspiracy theories and visions of genocide are really excuses for the Left to disregard the rules of democracy and defeat conservative Christians – by any means necessary.
Lisa Miller of Newsweek said that many warnings about "dominionism" are "paranoid" and she also said that "the word creates a siege mentality in which 'we' need to guard against 'them.'" Ross Douthat of The New York Times noted that "many of the people that writers like Diamond and others describe as 'dominionists' would disavow the label, many definitions of dominionism conflate several very different Christian political theologies, and there's a lively debate about whether the term is even useful at all." According to Joe Carter of First Things, "the term was coined in the 1980s by Diamond and is never used outside liberal blogs and websites. No reputable scholars use the term for it is a meaningless neologism that Diamond concocted for her dissertation", while Jeremy Pierce of First Things coined the word "dominionismist" to describe those who promote the idea that there is a dominionist conspiracy.
Another criticism has focused on the proper use of the term. Berlet wrote that "some critics of the Christian Right have stretched the term dominionism past its breaking point", and argued that, rather than labeling conservatives as extremists, it would be better to "talk to these people" and "engage them". Sara Diamond wrote that "iberals' writing about the Christian Right's take-over plans has generally taken the form of conspiracy theory", and argued that instead one should "analyze the subtle ways" that ideas like Dominionism "take hold within movements and why."
Dan Olinger, a professor at the fundamentalist Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, said, "We want to be good citizens and participants, but we're not really interested in using the iron fist of the law to compel people to do everything Christians should do." Bob Marcaurelle, interim pastor at Mountain Springs Baptist Church in Piedmont, said the Middle Ages were proof enough that Christian ruling groups are almost always corrupted by power. "When Christianity becomes the government, the question is whose Christianity?" Marcaurelle asked.
Movements outside the United States
While the Christian right is a strong movement in the United States, it also has a presence in Canada. Alan Curtis suggests that the American Christian right "is a phenomenon that is very hard for Europeans to understand." Robin Pettitt, a professor at Kingston University London, states, however, that like the Christian right in the US, Christian Democratic movements in Europe and Latin America are "equally driven by the debate over the role of the state and the church in political, social and moral life."
Australia
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In Australia, the Christian right draws from both Catholics and Protestants. Historically, the first Christian right party was the Democratic Labor Party. The Democratic Labor Party was formed in 1955 as a split from the Australian Labor Party (ALP). In Victoria, and New South Wales, state executive members, parliamentarians and branch members associated with the Industrial Groups or B. A. Santamaria and "The Movement" (and therefore strongly identified with Roman Catholicism) were expelled from the party, and formed the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). Later in 1957, a similar split occurred in Queensland, with the resulting group subsequently joining the DLP. The party also had sitting members from Tasmania and New South Wales at various times, though it was much stronger in the former mentioned states. The goals of the party were anti communism, the decentralization of industry, population, administration and ownership. The party decided, in its view that the ALP was filled with communists, that it would preference the ruling conservative Liberal and Country parties over the ALP. However, it was more morally conservative, militantly anti-communist and socially compassionate than the Liberals.
The DLP heavily lost ground in the federal election of 1974 that saw its primary vote cut by nearly two-thirds, and the election of an ALP government. The DLP never regained its previous support in subsequent elections and formally disbanded in 1978, but a small group within the party refused to accept this decision and created a small, reformed successor party (now the Democratic Labour Party). Though his party was effectively gone, Santamaria and his National Civic Council (NCC) took a strong diametrically opposed stance to dominant Third Way/neoliberal/New Right tendencies within both the ALP and Liberal parties throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
The B. A Santamaria and the Democratic Labor party produced many alumni who became the base of the Christian right in Australia. In Liberal party, these were Tony Abbott and Kevin Andrews. Outside the Liberal party, conservative commentator's such as Greg Sheridan and Gerrard Henderson also had links to Santamaria. Within the Australian Labor Party (ALP), this alumni can be found in the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), which de-affiliated from the ALP with the industrial Groups in the 1950s, and then re-affiliated in the 1980s. The SDA opposed gay marriage and abortion, which were some reasons for workers to form another competing union. Tony Burke, who opposed euthanasia, came from the SDA. Currently, the NCC functions as a minority organization within the Christian Right.
The more Protestant strands of the Christian Right have been far more diverse. Fundamentalist Christianity directly inspired Fred Nile and his parties. Nile in 1967–68 was assistant director of the Billy Graham Crusade in Sydney. The Christian Democratic Party (initially known as the "Call to Australia" party) is on the strongly religious conservative end of the Australian political spectrum, promoting social conservatism, opposing gay rights and abortion. It gained 9.1% of the vote in the New South Wales (NSW) state election of 1981, Its support base has generally been restricted to NSW and Western Australia, where it usually gains between 2–4% of votes, with its support being minuscule in other states. The party started to fall apart in 2019 when the moderate faction member, Paul Green, lost his seat, and when a faction of younger people attempted to dismiss the governing board. Whilst this failed, it opened up a rift between the traditional party factions that led to prolonged legal disputes and the party winding up in 2022. Fred Nile would quickly join a new party.
The Family First Party is a former political party which was linked with Pentecostal Church and other smaller Christian denominations, and was also identified with the strongly religious conservative end of the Australian political spectrum. It has had one or two members in the SA parliament since 2002, and in 2004 also managed to elect a Victorian senator. Its electoral support is small, with the largest constituencies being South Australia (4–6%), and Victoria (around 4%). Family First generally receives lower support in national elections than in state elections. Family First was merged with the Australian Conservatives Party in 2017.
Outside of the Catholic links to B.A. Santamaria and the minor Protestant parties, some party members of the Liberal and National Party Coalition and the Australian Labor Party also support some of the values of the Christian right on abortion and gay rights. The Australian Christian Lobby argues for opposition to same-sex marriage in state and federal politics.
Brazil
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In Brazil, the evangelical caucus have a great influence at the parliament and in the society in general. The bloc promotes strong socially conservative positions, like opposition to abortion, LGBT rights, marijuana legalization, sexual and gender education at schools and support to decrease of age of defense of infancy. Except for left-wing and far-left parties with strong social progressive beliefs like Workers' Party or Socialism and Liberty Party, Christian conservatives can be found in all political parties of Brazil, but nevertheless they are more common associated with parties like Social Democratic Party, Democratas, PSL, Social Christian Party, Brazilian Republican Party, Patriota and in the Party of the Republic. In 2016, Marcelo Crivella, a licensed pentecostal pastor from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, won in a runoff the election to mayor of Rio de Janeiro, the second biggest city in Brazil, with the Brazilian Republican Party, making for the first time an evangelical bloc member mayor of a big city in Brazil. In 2018, Jair Bolsonaro was elected president with massive support of conservative Catholics, Charismatics, Evangelicals and Pentecostals; Another candidate, Cabo Daciolo, from Patriota, attracted much attention from media and public in general, despite a lower votation. Both had a right-wing populist, Christian Nationalist program, but Bolsonaro was near to a national conservative and economic liberal one, contrasting with an Ultranationalist, theocratic and protectionist style of Daciolo.
Canada
Further information: Social conservatism in Canada See also: Abortion in CanadaReligion has been a key factor in Canadian politics since well before the Canadian Confederation was established in 1867, when the Conservatives were the party of traditionalist Catholics and Anglicans and the Liberals were the party of Protestant dissenters and anti-clerical Catholics. This pattern largely remained until the mid-twentieth century when a new division emerged between the Christian left (represented by the Social Gospel philosophy and ecumenicism) and the Christian right (represented by fundamentalism and biblical literalism). The Christian left (along with the secular and anti-religious left) became supporters of the New Democratic Party while the right moved to the Social Credit Party, especially in Western Canada, and to a lesser extent the Progressive Conservatives.
The Social Credit Party, founded in 1935, represented a major change in Canadian religious politics. Until that time, fundamentalists had shunned politics as "worldly", and a distraction from the proper practice of religion. However, the new party was founded by fundamentalist radio preacher and Bible school teacher William Aberhart or "Bible Bill". Aberhart mixed his own interpretation of scripture and prophecy with the monetary reform theories of social credit to create a movement that swept across Alberta, winning the provincial election of 1935 in a landslide. Aberhart and his disciple Ernest Manning then governed the province for the next forty years, several times trying to expand into the rest of Canada.
In 1987, Manning's son, Preston Manning, founded the new Reform Party of Canada, which soon became the main party of the religious right. It won majorities of the seats in Western Canada in repeated elections, but was unable to break through in Eastern Canada, though it became the official opposition from 1997 to 2003 (Reform was renamed the Canadian Alliance in 2000). In 2003 the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives merged to create the Conservative Party of Canada, led by Stephen Harper, a member of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, who went on to become prime minister in 2006.
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, introduced by the patriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982, has been controversial within the Christian right in Canada. Although this Charter entrenches rights and freedoms (such as the freedom of religion) that central in the belief systems of the Christian right, it has also been interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada to strike down many laws supported by the Christian right. In 1982, the Supreme Court struck down Canada's Lords' Day Act, which required many stored to be closed on Sundays, as an infringement the freedom of conscience and religion. Abortion, partly decriminalized in 1969 by an act of Parliament, was completely decriminalized after the two R. v. Morgentaler cases (in 1988 and in 1993). Parliament attempted to pass a new law governing abortion in 1993, but this legislation failed after a tie vote in the Senate. A series of provincial superior court decisions which legalized same-sex marriage led the federal government to introduce legislation that legalized same-sex marriage in all of Canada. Before he took office, former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper stated that he would hold a free vote on the issue, and declared the issue closed after it was voted down in the House of Commons in 2006.
In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down Canada's prostitution law in Canada v Bedford, prompting the Stephen Harper government to introduce a new prostitution law fashioned after the Nordic Model. In 2015, the Supreme Court struck down Canada's prohibition on euthanasia in Carter v Canada, again leading Parliament to pass a new law governing euthanasia. The Christian right has been critical of all these judicial decisions and have generally been the greatest advocates for the stringent laws against abortion, same-sex marriage, prostitution, and euthanasia, though in differing degrees. For instance, the Christian right in Canada is strongly and vocally organized on the topic of abortion, but criticism of same-sex marriage is far more seldom. In 2021 the Canadian government passed Bill C-4, banning conversion therapy nationwide, which received opposition from the Christian Right and Conservative members of parliament. Christian Pastors altered their preaching schedules to criticize and discuss this new law.
The Caribbean, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa
Main article: Political influence of Evangelicalism in Latin America Further information: Conservative wave and World ChristianityChristian right politics in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa is strongly connected with the growing propagation of the Evangelical-Pentecostal movement in the Global South and Third World countries. Roman Catholics in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa, despite being normally socially conservative, tend to be more left-wing in economics due to the traditional teachings of the Catholic social doctrine. Evangelical-Pentecostal Christians, on the other hand, are mostly from the neo-Pentecostal movement, and thus believers in the Prosperity theology that justifies most of their neoliberal economic ideas. They are also strongly socially conservative, even for Latin American standards.
Mexico
In Mexico, the interests of the Christian right are represented by different political organisations and civil associations. The most notable case is the National Action Party, a conservative party aligned with Christian Democratic ideas, notably influenced by the Social teaching of the Catholic Church, and which has held the presidency of Mexico twice. The party's platform states strong opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and the legalisation of drugs, among many other conservative policies. In addition, prominent figures in the party have been linked to Catholic Church organisations. The evangelical caucus, albeit for a relatively short time, was represented by the Social Encounter Party and the Solidarity Encounter Party, the latter being the successor to the former. Both parties were founded by Hugo Eric Flores, who according to some sources was an evangelical minister before entering politics. Initially statewide for Baja California, Social Encounter came to govern that state in coalition with the National Action Party. The party would later be officialised as a political party at the federal level. Other organisations and associations adhering to the ideals of the Christian right include the Frente Nacional por la Familia, the Organización del Bien Común, colloquially known as El Yunque and with close ties to the PAN, and the Legionaries of Christ, a Roman Catholic clerical religious order of priests and candidates for the priesthood established in Mexico.
Netherlands
In the Netherlands, Calvinist Protestants have long had their own political parties, now called the Reformed Political Party (SGP) on the right, and the ChristianUnion (CU) in the center. For generations they operated their own newspapers and broadcasting association. The SGP has about 28,000 members, and three out of 150 members of the Dutch parliament's lower house. It has always been in opposition to the government.
Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, Ian Paisley led a Protestant fundamentalist party, the Democratic Unionist Party, which had a considerable influence on the province's culture. For a time after the 2017 United Kingdom general election, the DUP provided confidence and supply to the governing Conservative Party, although this agreement provoked concern from socially liberal elements of the party about possible DUP influence on social policy. Although there is no evidence this occurred. Karen Armstrong has mentioned British evangelical leader Colin Urquhart as advocating positions similar to the Christian Right.
Other countries
In Fiji, Sodelpa is a conservative, nationalist party which seeks to make Christianity the state religion, while the constitution makes Fiji a secular republic. Following the 2014 general election, Sodelpa is the main opposition party in Parliament.
In Hungary, the ruling national-conservative party Fidesz can also be considered to be a party of the Christian right. Viktor Orbán is known for his use of conservative Christian values against immigration and the rise of Islam in Europe.
In the Philippines, due to Spanish colonization, and the introduction of the Catholic Church, religious conservatism has a strong influence on national policies. Some have argued that the U.S. Christian right may have roots in the Philippines.
In Poland, the Roman Catholic national-conservative party Law and Justice can be considered to be a party of the Christian right.
In Russia, the United Russia has collaborated closely with the Russian Orthodox Church, support the Kremlin's appeal to social conservatives.
In Scandinavia, the Faroe Island's Centre Party is a bible-oriented fundamentalist party with about 4% of the vote. However, the Norwegian Christian People's Party, the Swedish Christian Democrats and Danish Christian Democrats are less religiously orthodox and are similar to mainstream European Christian Democracy.
In Switzerland, Federal Democratic Union is a small conservative Protestant party with about 1% of the vote.
Associated minor political parties
Some minor political parties have formed as vehicles for Christian right activists:
- Australian Christians (Australia)
- Christian Democratic Party (Australia)
- Christian Party of Austria (Austria)
- Botswana Movement for Democracy (Botswana)
- We Believe (Bolivia)
- Alliance for Brazil (Brazil)
- Patriota (Brazil)
- Christian Heritage Party (Canada)
- National Restoration Party (Costa Rica)
- Christian Democratic People's Party (Hungary)
- Kataeb Party (Lebanon)
- Christian Liberal Party (South Korea)
- Christian Values Party (Sweden)
- Katipunan ng Demokratikong Pilipino (Philippines)
- Federal Democratic Union (Switzerland)
- Reformed Political Party (Netherlands)
- Nicaraguan Party of the Christian Path (Nicaragua)
- The Christians (Norway)
- Law and Justice (Poland)
- Alliance for the Union of Romanians (Romania)
- Christian Party (United Kingdom)
- Christian People’s Alliance (United Kingdom)
- Indian National Christian Party (India)
- Christian Liberty Party (United States)
- American Solidarity Party (United States)
- Constitution Party (United States)
- Prohibition Party (United States)
- Democratic Unionist Party (United Kingdom)
- Traditional Unionist Voice (United Kingdom)
- Christian Conservative Party, a political party in Norway
- Conservative Christian Party – BPF, a political party in Belarus
Groups
- Roman Catholic Church (social, moral, and cultural issues)
- Southern Baptist Convention
- Assemblies of God
- Presbyterian Church in America
- Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod
- Continuing Anglicans
- Conservative evangelicalism
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
See also
- Alliance Defending Freedom
- Anti-Semitism in Christianity
- American Center for Law & Justice
- Bible Belt (United States)
- Bible Belt (Netherlands)
- Catholic Church and Nazi Germany
- Chalcedon Foundation
- Christian fascism
- Christian fundamentalism
- Christian Identity
- Christian libertarianism
- Christian nationalism
- Christian reconstructionism
- Christian terrorism
- Christianity and other religions
- Christianity and politics
- Christianity and violence
- Christian values
- Christian Zionism
- Clerical fascism
- Concerned Women for America
- Dominion theology
- Family values
- Focus on the Family
- Integralism
- Independent Baptist
- Liberty Institute
- Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience
- National Catholicism
- Neopatriarchy
- New Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement
- Orthodox Anglican Communion
- PragerU
- Radical right (United States)
- Radical right (Europe)
- Religion and authoritarianism
- Theoconservatism
- Theonomy
- Traditional Anglican Church
- Traditionalist Catholicism
- Traditionalist conservatism
- True Orthodox church
References
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More than half of all Christian right candidates attend evangelical Protestant churches, which are more theologically liberal. A relatively large number of Christian Right candidates (24 percent) are Catholics; however, when asked to describe themselves as either "progressive/liberal" or "traditional/conservative" Catholics, 88 percent of these Christian right candidates place themselves in the traditional category.
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In the past two decades, the American religious Right has become increasingly Catholic. I mean that both literally and metaphorically. Literally, Catholic writers have emerged as intellectual leaders of the religious right in universities, the punditocracy, the press, and the courts, promoting an agenda that at its most theoretical involves a reclamation of the natural law tradition of Thomas Aquinas and at its most practical involves appeals to the kind of common-sense, 'everybody knows,' or 'it just is' arguments that have characterized opposition to same-sex marriage ... Meanwhile, in the realm of actual politics, Catholic politicians have emerged as leading figures in the religious conservative movement.
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Indeed, such significant Christian Right leaders such as Pat Buchanan and Paul Weyrich are conservative Catholics.
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The temperance movement is the clearly identifiable origin of the contemporary Christian Right in Maine. The Maine Christian Civic League (MCCL)—the principal Christian Right group in the state began as a temperance organization in
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Those states — Georgia, Connecticut, Texas, Alabama and Minnesota — enjoy overwhelming voter support for an extra day of sales, but face opposition from members of the Christian right, who say that selling on Sunday undermines safety and tears apart families.
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Edward G. Dobson: "The Religious New Right did not start because of a concern about abortion. I want to go back and re-emphasize that. I sat in the non-smoke-filled back room with the Moral Majority, and I frankly do not remember abortion being mentioned as a reason why we ought to do something."
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The religious right did not get started in 1962 with prayer in school. And it didn't get started in '73 with Roe v. Wade. It started in '77 or '78 with the Carter administration's attack on Christian schools and Christian radio stations . That's where all of the organization flowed out of. It was complete self-defense.
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To summarize, in the Republican Party, many Catholic activists held conservative positions on key issues emphasized by Christian Right leaders, and they said that they supported the political activities of some Christian Right candidates.
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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.
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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.
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Some Christian Right leaders established their own institutions, such as Pat Robertson's Regents University and Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.
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Throughout the twentieth century, many evangelicals accepted theistic evolution ... Some Christian right organizations supported the teaching of creationism, along with evolution, in public schools.
- ^ Wilson, J. Matthew (October 22, 2007). From Pews to Polling Places: Faith and Politics in the American Religious Mosaic. Georgetown University Press. p. 178. ISBN 9781589013261.
Among Catholics and Latinos who practice other religious traditions, more than seven in ten support having organized prayer in public schools. ... Catholics are much more likely to state that both evolution and creationism should be taught in the schools.
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makes clear he isn't endorsing anyone or any party, but he's clear in his criticism of President Obama's positions on abortion and the family. ... 'I will always the right to life.' ... 'Spending is totally out of control, because government's doing more than it was designed to do.' ... 'The Bible makes no provision for the redefinition of marriage and the family, other than the one that is prescribed in the Bible by God and Jesus to be between a man and a woman. It is an illegitimate issue to accept or promote from a Christian standpoint.'
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Again, parties mobilised on religious grounds, most notable in the form of Christian Democratic parties found in, for example, Germany, but also, sometimes to a lesser extent, in much of the rest of Europe. Christian Democratic parties are also found in Chile and Mexico. It could be argued that the rise of the Christian right in the United States and its increased strength in the Republican Party is an example of this cleavage at work. The Christian right in the United States ... is equally driven by the debate over the role of the state and the church in political, social and moral life.
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Further reading
- Boston, Rob. 2000. Close Encounters with the Religious Right: Journeys into the Twilight Zone of Religion and Politics. Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-57392-797-0.
- Boyd, James H., Politics and the Christian Voter.
- Brown, Ruth Murray (2002). For a "Christian America": A History of the Religious Right. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-573-92973-8.
- Bruns, Roger A. 2002. Preacher: Billy Sunday and Big-Time American Evangelism. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07075-4.
- Compton, John W. 2020. The End of Empathy: Why White Protestants Stopped Loving Their Neighbors. Oxford University Press.
- Diamond, Sara. 1995. Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States. New York: Guilford. ISBN 0-89862-864-4.
- Dowland, Seth. Family Values and the Rise of the Christian Right (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015).
- Gloege, Timothy. 2015. Guaranteed Pure: The Moody Bible Institute, Business, and the Making of Modern Evangelicalism. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 1469621010.
- Green, John C., James L. Guth and Kevin Hill. 1993. "Faith and Election: The Christian right in Congressional Campaigns 1978–1988". The Journal of Politics 55(1), (February): 80–91.
- Green, John C. "The Christian Right and the 1994 Elections: A View from the States", PS: Political Science and Politics Vol. 28, No. 1 (Mar. 1995), pp. 5–8 in JSTOR.
- Hirschberger, Bernd; Voges, Katja (eds.): Religious Freedom and Populism: The Appropriation of a Human Right and How to Counter It. Bielefeld: transcript. ISBN 978-3-8376-6827-8.
- Himmelstein, Jerome L. 1990. To The Right: The Transformation of American Conservatism. University of California Press.
- Kruse, Kevin M. One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America. Basic Books, 2015. ISBN 0465049494.
- Marsden, George. Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism.
- Marsh, Charles. Wayward Christian Soldiers: Freeing the Gospel from Political Captivity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).
- Martin, William. 1996. With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America, New York: Broadway Books. ISBN 0-7679-2257-3.
- Mascolo, Lo Gionathan. 2023. The Christian Right in Europe Movements, Networks, and Denominations. Bielefeldt. transcript. ISBN 978-3-8376-6038-8.
- Micklethwait, John; Wooldridge, Adrian (2004). The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America. New York City: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-59420-020-5.
- Noll, Mark. 1989. Religion and American Politics: From the Colonial Period to the 1980s.
- Noll, Mark and Rawlyk, George: Amazing Grace: Evangelicalism in Australia, Canada, Britain, Canada and the United States: Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press: 1994: ISBN 0-7735-1214-4.
- O'Donnell, Jonathon (September 2020). Stausberg, Michael; Engler, Steven (eds.). "The deliverance of the administrative state: Deep state conspiracism, charismatic demonology, and the post-truth politics of American Christian nationalism". Religion. 50 (4). Taylor & Francis: 696–719. doi:10.1080/0048721X.2020.1810817. ISSN 1096-1151. S2CID 222094116.
- Preston, Andrew, Bruce J. Schulman, and Julian E. Zelizer, eds. Faithful Republic: Religion and Politics in Modern America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015) viii, 213 pp.; Essays by scholars
- Ribuffo, Leo P. 1983. The Old Christian right: The Protestant Far Right from the Great Depression to the Cold War. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-598-2.
- Shields, Jon A., "Framing the Christian Right: How Progressives and Post-War Liberals Constructed the Religious Right", Journal of Church and State, 53 (Autumn 2011), 635–55.
- Smith, Jeremy Adam, 2007, "Living in the Gap: The Ideal and Reality of the Christian Right Family". The Public Eye, Winter 2007–08.
- Wald, Kenneth. 2003. Religion and Politics in the United States.
- Wilcox, Clyde. Onward Christian Soldiers: The Religious Right in American Politics. survey by two neutral scholars.
- Williams, Daniel K. (2010). God's Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-534084-6.
- Wills, Garry (1990). Under God: Religion and American Politics. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-65705-5.
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- Anti-abortion movement in the United States
- Anti-pornography movement in the United States
- Catholic Church in the United States
- Christian movements
- Christian nationalism
- Christian terminology
- Christian Zionism in the United States
- Christianity and political ideologies
- Conservatism in South America
- Conservatism in the United States
- Evangelicalism in South America
- Evangelicalism in the United States
- Neoconservatism
- New Right (United States)
- Opposition to same-sex marriage in the United States
- Orthodox Judaism in the United States
- Paleoconservatism
- Prohibition in the United States
- Republican Party (United States)
- Right-wing ideologies
- Right-wing populism in the United States
- Social conservatism in the United States
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States