Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T19:11:14.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Christian Right in Twentieth Century America: Continuity and Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Clyde Wilcox
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Although there has been substantial academic interest in the New Christian Right, to date there has been little effort to place it in a larger historical context. There have been three waves of fundamentalist Christian Right activity in this century, and there are a number of similarities between the contemporary organizations and earlier ones. The contemporary fundamentalist Right, however, is a more sophisticated political movement than its predecessors, with an expanded issue agenda and more widespread public awareness. More recently, a pentecostal Right has begun to become active in politics. For a number of historic reasons, this pentecostal Right may have greater potential to unite conservative Christians than does its fundamentalist counterpart.

Type
Religion and Politics
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , Fall 1988 , pp. 659 - 681
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. Guth, James, “The New Christian Right,” in The New Christian Right, ed. Liebman, R. and Wuthnow, R. (New York: Aldine, 1983)Google Scholar; Robert Liebman, “Mobilizing the Moral Majority,” ibid.; Margaret Latus, “Ideological PACs and Political Action,” ibid.; and idem, “Mobilizing Christians for Political Action: Campaigning with God on Your Side,” in New Christian Politics, ed. Bromley, D. and Shupe, A. (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1982).Google Scholar

2. Guth, James, “The Politics of Preachers: Southern Baptist Ministers and Christian Right Activism,”Google Scholar in Bromley, and Shupe, , New Christian Politics.Google Scholar

3. Yinger, Milton and Cutler, Stephen, “The Moral Majority Viewed Sociologically,”Google Scholar in Bromley, and Shupe, , New Christian PoliticsGoogle Scholar; Simpson, John, “Moral Issues and Status Politics,”Google Scholar in Liebman, and Wuthnow, , New Christian RightGoogle Scholar; Kell-stedt, Lyman, “The Falwell Issue Agenda: Sources of Support among White Protestant Evangelicals,” in An Annual in the Sociology of Religion, ed. Lynn, M. and Moberg, D. (New York: JAI Press, 1988)Google Scholar; Stockton, Ronald, “The Falwell Core: A Public Analysis” (Presented at the Annual Meeting for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Chicago, 1985).Google Scholar

4. Shupe, Anson and Stacey, William, “The Moral Majority Constituency,”Google Scholar in Liebman, and Wuthnow, , New Christian RightGoogle Scholar; idem, “Public and Clergy Sentiments Toward the Moral Majority: Evidence from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex,” in Bromley, and Shupe, , New Christian PoliticsGoogle Scholar; Tamney, Joseph and Johnson, Stephen, “The Moral Majority in Middletown,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 22(1983): 145–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Buell, Emmett and Sigelman, Lee, “An Army that Meets Every Sunday? Popular Support for the Moral Majority in 1980,” Social Science Quarterly 66(1985): 426–34Google Scholar; Will, Jeffrey and Williams, Rhys, “Political Audiology aned Political Action in the New Christian Right,” Sociological Analysis 47, no. 2(1986): 160–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Wilcox, Clyde, “Popular Support for the Moral Majority in 1980: A Second Look,” Social Science Quarterly 68(1987): 157–67Google Scholar; Guth, James and Green, John, “The GOP and the Christian Right: The Case of Pat Robertson's Contributors” (Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, 1987).Google Scholar

5. Pierand, Richard and Wright, James, “No Hoosier Hospitality for Humanism: The Moral Majority in Indiana,”Google Scholar in Bromley, and Shupe, , New Christian PoliticsGoogle Scholar; Georgianna, Sharon; “The Moral Majority and Fundamentalism: Plausibility and Dissonance” (Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 1984).Google Scholar

6. Wilcox, Clyde, “Religious Orientation and Political Attitudes: Variations within the New Christian Right,” American Politics Quarterly 15(1987): 274–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, “America's Radical Right Revisited: A Comparison of the Activists in the Christian Right in Two Decades,” Sociological Analysis 48(1987): 45–58.Google Scholar

7. Smidt, Corwin, “Evangelicals vs. Fundamentalists: An Analysis of the Political Characteristics and Importance of Two Major Religious Movements within American Politics,” Western Political Quarterly (forthcoming)Google Scholar; idem, “The Mobilization of Evangelical Voters in 1980: An Initial Test of Several Hypotheses,” Southeastern Political Review (forthcoming); idem, “Evangelicals and the 1984 Election: Continuity or Change?’ American Politics Quarterly 15(1987): 419–44Google Scholar; idem, “‘Praise the Lord’ Politics: A Comparative Analysis of the Social Characteristics and Political Views of American Evangelical and Charismatic Christians,’ Sociological Analysis (forthcoming); Kellstedt, Lyman, “Evangelical and Political Realignment’ (Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D. C, 1986)Google Scholar; Jelen, Ted, “The Effects of Religious Separatism on White Protestants in the 1984 Presidential Election,” Sociological Analysis 48(1986)Google Scholar; Beatty, Kathleen and Walter, Oliver, “The Religious Right and Electoral Change” (Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, 1983)Google Scholar; Wilcox, Clyde, “Evangelicals and Political Tolerance,” in Religion and American Political Behavior, ed. Jelen, T. (New York: Praeger, forthcoming).Google Scholar

8. Sandeen, Ernest, The Roots of Fundamentalism (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1970).Google Scholar

9. Jorstad, Erling, The Politics of Doomsday (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1970).Google Scholar

10. Ammerman, Nancy, Bible Believers: Fundamentalists in the Modern World (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987).Google Scholar

11. Marsden, George, Fundamentalism and American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980).Google Scholar

12. Hunter, James, “The Evangelical Worldview Since 1890,” in Piety and Politics, ed. Neuhaus, R. and Cromartie, M. (Washington, D. C.: Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1987).Google Scholar

13. Quebedeaux, Richard, The New Charismatics II (New York: Harper & Row, 1983).Google Scholar

14. Smidt, , “‘Praise the Lord’ Politics.”Google Scholar

15. Poloma, Margaret, The Charismatic Movement (Boston: G. K. Hall & Company, 1982).Google Scholar

16. Marsden, , Fundamentalism.Google Scholar

17. Ibid.

18. Quebedeaux, , New Charismatics.Google Scholar

19. Marsden, , Fundamentalism.Google Scholar

20. See Furniss, Norman, The Fundamentalist Controversy, 1918–1931 (Hamden, CT: Archon books, 1963)Google Scholar, for a detailed account of these organizations.

21. Early support for fundamentalist churches was strong in northern, urban areas, and among the well educated. It was not until the 1930's that the current pattern of support in the South and Midwest among those of lower socio-economic status developed.

22. Marsden, , Fundamentalism.Google Scholar

23. Hofstadter, Richard, The Paranoid Style in American Politics (New York: Random House, 1965).Google Scholar

24. Marsden, , Fundamentalism.Google Scholar

25. Ribuffo, Leo, The Old Christian Right (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1983).Google Scholar

26. Ferkiss, Victor, “Political and Intellectual Origins of American Radicalism, Right and Left,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (1962): 1–12.Google Scholar

27. Ribuffo, , Old Christian Right.Google Scholar

28. Hunter, , “The Evangelical Worldview Since 1890.”Google Scholar

29. Speer, James, “The New Christian Right and Its Parent Company: A Study in Political Contrasts,”Google Scholar in Bromley, and Shupe, , New Christian Politics.Google Scholar

30. McCarthy, John and Zald, Mayer, “Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory,” American Journal of Sociology 82(1977): 1212–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

31. Jorstad, , Politics of Doomsday.Google Scholar

32. The founder of the Defenders of the Christian Faith, Winrod, was unable to buy radio time in the United States after his sedition trial. This undoubtedly limited support for the organization (Ribuffo, , Old Christian Right).Google Scholar

33. Wilcox, Clyde, “Popular Backing for the Old Christian Right: Explaining Support for the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade” Journal of Social History 21(1987): 117–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

34. Claubaugh, Gary, Thunder on the Right (Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1974).Google Scholar

35. Jorstad, , Politics of Doomsday.Google Scholar

36. Wolfinger, Raymond et al. , “America's Radical Right: Politics and Ideology,” in The American Right Wing, ed. Schoenberger, R. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969).Google Scholar

37. Hunter, , “The Evangelical Worldview Since 1890.”Google Scholar

38. Wilcox, , “Popular Backing for the Old Christian Right.”Google Scholar

39. Wolfinger, et al. , “America's Radical Right.”Google Scholar

40. Wilcox, , “America's Radical Right Revisited.”Google Scholar

41. Wilcox, Clyde, “Sources of Support for the Old Right: A Comparison of the John Birch Society and the Anti-Communism Crusade” (Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association, Chicago, 1987).Google Scholar

42. Wuthnow, Robert, “The Political Rebirth of American Evangelicals,”Google Scholar in Liebman, and Wuthnow, , New Christian Right.Google Scholar

43. Ammerman, , Bible Believers.Google Scholar

44. Wald, Kenneth, Religion and Politics in the United States (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987).Google Scholar

45. Guth, , “Politics of the Christian.”Google Scholar

46. Liebman, , “Mobilizing the Moral Majority.”Google Scholar

47. Guth, , “New Christian Right.”Google Scholar

48. Wilcox, , “Religious Orientations and Political Attitudes.”Google Scholar

49. The Moral Majority took positions opposing sanctions against South Africa, favoring military aid to the contras, favoring a balanced budget amendment and a return to the gold standard, and opposing gay rights and the ERA.

50. Buell, and Sigelman, , “An Army Meets Every Sunday?”Google Scholar; Wilcox, , “Popular Support for the Moral Majority in 1980”Google Scholar; Sigelman, Lee, Wilcox, Clyde and Buell, Emmett, “An Unchanged Minority: Popular Support for the Moral Majority in 1980 and 1984” (Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Washington, D. C., 1987).Google Scholar

51. Ibid.; Shupe, and Stacey, , “The Moral Majority Constituency,”Google Scholar in Liebman, and Wuthnow, , New Christian RightGoogle Scholar; Johnson, Stephen and Tamney, Joseph, “Support for the Moral Majority: A Test of a Model,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 23(1984): 183–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

52. Wilcox, , “Popular Support for the Moral Majority in 1980.”Google Scholar

53. Simpson, , “Moral Issues and Status Politics,”Google Scholar in Liebman, and Wuthnow, , New Christian RightGoogle Scholar; Stockton, , “The Falwell Core”Google Scholar; Kellstedt, , “The Falwell Issue Agenda.”Google Scholar

54. Smidt, , “‘Praise the Lord’ Politics.”Google Scholar

55. Langenbach, Lisa, “Mixed Blessings: Evangelical Elites and the Potential Robertson Presidential Candidacy” (Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Political Science Association, Philadelphia, 1987).Google Scholar

56. Although few of the Robertson contributors belonged to fundamentalist churches, fully 53 percent identified themselves as fundamentalists. The Guth and Green survey allowed for multiple religious identifications, so most of these fundamentalists also identified themselves as charismatics. It may be that these respondents used the label fundamentalist to identify their position on biblical inerrancy (Guth, James and Green, John, “Robertson's Republicans: Christian Activists in Republican Politics,” Election Politics 4 [1987]: 9—14).Google Scholar

57. Ibid.

58. Truman, David, The Governmental Process (New York: Knopf, 1951).Google Scholar

59. Salisbury, Robert, “An Exchange Theory of Interest Groups,” Midwest Journal of Political Science 13(1969): 1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

60. McCarthy, and Zald, , “Resource Mobilization and Social Movements.”Google Scholar

61. Zwier, Robert, Born-Again Politics: The New Christian Right in America (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1982).Google Scholar

62. Liebman, , “Mobilizing the Moral Majority,”Google Scholar in Liebman, and Wuthnow, , New Christian Right.Google Scholar

63. Gusfield, Joseph, Symbolic Crusade: Status Politics and the American Temperance Movement (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1963)Google Scholar; Page, Ann and Clelland, Donald, “The Kanawha County Textbook Controversy: A Study in Politics of Lifestyle,” Social Forces 57(1978): 265–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

64. Wilcox, , “America's Radical Right Revisited.”Google Scholar

65. Zwier, , Bom-Again Politics.Google Scholar

66. Wolfinger, et al. , “America's Radical Right,”Google ScholarSchoenberger, , American Right WingGoogle Scholar; Wilcox, , “America's Radical Right Revisited’Google Scholar; idem, “Sources of Support for the Old Right.”

67. Smidt, , “‘Praise the Lord’ Politics.’Google Scholar

68. E.g., Rifkin, Jeremy with Howard, Ted, The Emerging Order (New York: Ballantine, 1979).Google Scholar

69. Ammerman, , Bible Believers.Google Scholar

70. Poloma, , Charismatic Movement.Google Scholar

71. Quebedeaux, , New Charismatics II.Google Scholar

72. Poloma, , Charismatic MovementGoogle Scholar; Smidt, , “‘Praise the Lord’ Politics.”Google Scholar

73. Wilcox, , “Evangelicals and Political Tolerance,”Google Scholar in Jelen, , Religion and American Political Behavior.Google Scholar