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Onward christian soldiers chapter 2
1. Chapter 2
The Christian Right inTwentieth-CenturyAmerica
Onward Christian Soldiers?
The Religious Right in American Politics
2. The Fundamentalist Religious Revolt
In the early 20th century two religious movements emerged
that would later provide the major constituencies for the
Christian Right:
1. Fundamentalism
2. Pentacostalism
3. Social Gospel
Protestant churches, using Darwin’s natural selection theory,
preached a social gospel of responsibility to the poor and
disadvantaged.
Social gospel – in this view, Darwin’s theory implied that
humans were perfectible. The best way to pursue perfection
was to ameliorate the conditions of poverty and ignorance.
4. Fundamentalist Doctrine
At the core of fundamentalist doctrine were three core ideas:
1. Premillenialism - a doctrine about the timing of the second
coming of Christ.
2. Dispensationalism – the belief that God has dealt with
humans under different covenants in different eras.
3. The belief that the way to know God’s will was to study the
Bible.
5. The Fundamentalist Movement
The fundamentalist movement generated enormous religious
energy.
The most distinctive characteristic doctrinal element of
fundamentalism was separatism.
Separatism – the importance of keeping themselves apart
from the impure world and from doctrinally impure
Christians.
6. The Pentecostal Movement
Pentecostals originally focused on the immanent power of
God and especially of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
Pentecostals believe the Holy Spirit imparts to many special
religious gifts:
Glossolalia (speaking in tongues)
Faith healing
Prophecy
Being “slain by the Spirit”
7. Hostility Between the Movements
1. The doctrinal differences that seem minor to those outside
of the evangelical tradition are quite important to those
within it.
2. Both movements arose at approximately the same time and
therefore competed for the same set of members.
3. There are differences in style that accompany the doctrinal
distinctions.
8. The Fundamentalist Political Revolt
In the 1920s the fundamentalist movement spilled over into
politics when fundamentalist ministers began challenging
scientific theories.
The antievolution groups used a variety of tactics in their
efforts to pass state laws banning the teaching of evolution.
9. The Scopes Trial
The climax of the antievolution crusades was the Scopes
trial.
JohnThomas Scopes stood accused in 1925 of teaching
evolution in the public schools. He was defended by Clarence
Darrow.
The fundamentalist view of evolution was defended by
William Jennings Bryan, a democratic presidential candidate.
10. The Anticommunist Crusades
AfterWorldWar II the Soviet Union emerged as the only serious
international rival to the United States.
Senator Joseph McCarthy and others charged that much of
America’s government was infiltrated by communist agents.
However, the fundamentalist anticommunist crusades were not
well known even among those conservative fundamentalists most
sympathetic to their message.
11. The Fundamentalist Right of the 1980s
In the late 1970s, a new fundamentalist Christian Right was
organized.This wave of activity was due to:
1. A series of local political movements across the country
demonstrating the potential political energy of
fundamentalists and evangelicals in politics.
2. The presidential candidacy of Jimmy Carter, a born-again
Southern baptist.
12. The Moral Majority
This was the fundamentalist group of the 1970s and 1980s
that attracted the most attention.
Its leader was Jerry Falwell, an eager advocate of the
Christian Right.
The Moral Majority built its organization primarily through
pastors in the Baptist Bible Fellowship (BBF).
13. The Robertson Campaign
In 1987 Marion “Pat” Robertson announced that he would
seek the Republican presidential nomination.
On his Baptist television show, the 700 Club, he spoke in
tongues and healed by faith.
His campaign got off to a good start but was soon mired by
scandal due in part to other televangelists. Ultimately, he
was badly defeated.
14. The Christian Right, 1920-1990
Continuity and Change
The waves of Christian Right activity between 1920 and
1990 had several things in common:
Each was mobilized through infrastructure and communication
channels already in place.
Each was built around one or more preachers who used the
technology of the time to reach an increasingly broader mass
audience.
15. A Second Coming?
The Christian Right, 1990-2004
At the end of the 1980s the Christian Right seemed defeated
yet the Christian Coalition made a concerted effort to keep
the movement going.
An incarnation of the Christian Right has had considerable
success in forging ecumenical ties.
Christian Right leaders have made an effort to adopt the
secular language of politics and also the language of
victimization.
16. The Passing of the Guard:
The Christian Right After 2004
Since the 2004 election of President Bush there has been
considerable change in the Christian Right.
Today Christian Right groups face major financial shortfalls and
there is some evidence that younger evangelicals are less
supportive of the Christian Right.
Today it must find a way to appeal to new members without losing
the intense support of its most ardent members.
17. The Target Constituency of the
Christian Right
Most analysts agree that the principal target audience of the
Christian Right remains the white evangelical community,
especially its fundamentalist and pentecostal wings.
However, the contemporary Christian Right is also targeting
conservative Catholics, mainline Protestants, andAfrican
Americans.
18. White Evangelicals
White evangelicals are united by a common core theology:
they share a belief in the importance of a personal conversion
experience that involves repenting of sin and accepting Jesus
Christ as personal savior.
However, there are many varying beliefs between
fundamentalists, pentecostals, charismatics, and other
evangelicals.
19. Conservative White Catholics
The Christian Right has made special appeals to conservative
Catholics even though they did not feel welcome in the
Moral Majority.
Many Catholics support some of the key issues of the
Christian Right. Catholics are attracted to the movement’s
support of Christian schools, family values, and great
prominence of Christian faith in public life.
20. White Mainline Protestants
Although movement leaders seldom mention mainline
Protestants as a target for future mobilization, there are
morally conservative Christians in Presbyterian, Methodist,
Lutheran, and Episcopal churches acrossAmerica.
In the South, a substantial minority of white mainline
Protestants who regularly attend church support much of the
Christian Right agenda.
21. Ethnic and Racial Minority Christian
Groups
Although it is primarily among white evangelicals that the
Christian Right has recruited its activists,African Americans
and Latinos have also displayed conservative leanings on
social and economic policies.
On economic issues there are large gaps between white
evangelicals and the four religious communities of black
mainline, black evangelical, Latino Protestant, and Latino
Catholic.
22. Issue Groups in the Target
Constituency
For the Christian Right to make significant gains among
white and black evangelicals, white mainline Protestants,
white Catholics,African Americans and Latinos it is in part
dependent on the issue agenda of the movement.
There is considerable support in each religious constituency
for some of the key values of the movement.
