27 Facts About Christian right

Since the late 1970s, the Christian right has been a notable force in both the Republican Party and American politics when Baptist pastor Jerry Falwell and other Christian leaders began to urge conservative Christians to involve themselves in the political process.

Since about 1980, the Christian right has been associated with several institutions including the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council.

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 voters that coexist in the Christian right are highly motivated and driven to get out a viewpoint on issues they care about.

The birth of the New Christian right is usually traced to a 1979 meeting where televangelist Jerry Falwell was urged to create a "Moral Majority" organization.

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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.

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.

Outside the United States, as well as among American Catholics and Mainline Protestants, Christian right conservatives have generally come to accept the theory of evolution.

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.

Christian right is in favour 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.

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 [have] broken out in state party organizations" between supporters of the Christian right and other conservatives.

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.

Many evangelical Protestant supporters of the religious Christian right have strongly supported the state of Israel in recent decades, encouraging support for Israel within the United States government.

The Christian right has supported incremental steps to make abortion less available.

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 Christian right maintains that the chemical properties of morning-after pills make them abortifacients and that the politics of abortion is influencing scientific judgments.

Christian right 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.

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.

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.

Criticisms of the Christian right often come from Christians who believe Jesus' message was centered on social responsibility and social justice.

Christian right has tried to recruit social conservatives in the black church.

Christian right 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 Christian 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 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.

The Australian Christian right Lobby argues for opposition to same-sex marriage in state and federal politics.

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In Mexico, the interests of the Christian right are represented by different political organisations and civil associations.

Christian right has a strong position in several Conservative parties worldwide, although many members of these parties would, paradoxically, strongly oppose such views.