MORAL MAJORITY: ORIGINS OF THE NEW CHRISTIAN RIGHT
Keywords:
Moral Majority, Jerry Falwell, Christian right, American conservatism, right radicalismAbstract
The article presents an attempt to show the role of the organization “Moral majority” in forming the American Christian right and the relations between the Christian right and conservative and fundamentalist movements. The author pays attention to the leaders who founded the organization, specifically Jerry Falwell and Paul Weyrich, who influenced the formation and development of the organization. The reasons why the “Moral Majority” quickly gained popularity in American society are examined. Among them, the author discusses changes in American society that caused frustration of the traditionally minded part of society, and the role of televangelism and fundamentalist clergy in its popularity. The author analyzes the documents of the “Moral Majority”, sermons and television speeches of Jerry Falwell and other leaders of the organization, the materials of the “Moral Majority Report” and “The Fundamentalist Journal”, etc. Through the lens of the sources, an attempt to highlight the range of problems at the core of the agenda of the “Moral Majority” is made. They include opposition to the gay movement and the women's rights movement, fight against abortion and pornography, discussions on educational problems, and US foreign policy issues. Such problems, according to the “Moral majority”, showed the decay of American society and the need for its salvation by Christian forces. The author concludes that the “Moral majority” was a key organization able to unite American Christians around social problems and had contributed to their “political awakening”. Due to the “Moral majority”, politics became a priority for the church again, which led to the emergence of the new Christian right movement and to changes in American conservatism as a whole.References
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