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The Evolving Politics of the Christian Right

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Matthew C. Moen
Matthew C. Moen*
Affiliation:
University of Maine
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Extract

A recent essay by Ralph Reed (19%), Executive Director of the Christian Coalition, proves that religious conservatives are still divided over the propriety of political activism, nearly two decades after the rise of the Christian Right. Reed's principal message is that the Christian Right must be willing to compromise to retain its political relevance, but his admonition at the end is that “at heart, what America needs is not political revolution but spiritual renewal.” Which matters more, collective political goals or individual spiritual commitment? Which better serves religious conservatives, practicing or eschewing politics? Those questions have bedeviled religious conservatives throughout the 20th century, (Jelen 1991; Wilcox 1992) with the theological fault line running so deep that Christian-Right leaders still straddle the fissure.

Reed's essay also illuminates some of the political tensions within the Christian Right. He argues for a pragmatic approach to politics, criticizing “purists” for their exclusionary language, inflammatory rhetoric on the social issues, and immutable goals in the face of certain defeat. He suggests “the religious right must give ground or risk irrelevance,” calling for language in the 1996 Republican Party platform that stresses the moral dimension of abortion, but drops the long-standing plank calling for a constitutional amendment banning the procedure.

Type
Research Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , September 1996 , pp. 461 - 464
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 1996

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