The Paradoxes Facing the Christian Right in Election 2024
“When evangelicals exploded onto the scene as a political force in the late 1970s, they did so under the banner of the Moral Majority. The movement’s name reflected its presumption that most Americans would agree with its views on abortion and homosexuality. More than 40 years later, it’s clear that these views are held only by a diminishing minority that has kept its political influence only because organizations like the FRC have assembled one of the most effective voting machines in modern history. They’ve harnessed the power of politicized churches to get the faithful to the polls, often flouting federal rules about the separation of church and state. As senior research analyst at Political Research Associates, Frederick Clarkson has noted [politicalresearch.org], white evangelicals in the United States have declined in numbers in recent years but risen or at least held steady as a proportion of voters, demonstrating, he told me, that ‘the Christian right is the best organized faction in American politics.’”