Christian Right and Congress PDF Download

Author: Matthew C. Moen
Publisher: University Alabama Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Author: John C. Green
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 9781589014299
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
From the first rumblings of the Moral Majority over twenty years ago, the Christian Right has been marshalling its forces and maneuvering its troops in an effort to re-shape the landscape of American politics. It has fascinated social scientists and journalists as the first right-wing social movement in postwar America to achieve significant political and popular support, and it has repeatedly defied those who would step up to write its obituary. In 2000, while many touted the demise of the Christian Coalition, the broader undercurrents of the movement were instrumental in helping George W. Bush win the GOP nomination and the White House. Bush repaid that swell of support by choosing Senator John Ashcroft, once the movement's favored presidential candidate, as attorney general. The Christian Right in American Politics, under the direction of three of the nation's leading scholars in the field of religion and politics, recognizing the movement as a force still to be reckoned with, undertakes the important task of making an historical analysis of the Christian Right in state politics during its heyday, 1980 to the millennium. Its twelve chapters, written by outstanding scholars, review the impact and influence of the Christian Right in those states where it has had its most significant presence: South Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Colorado, California, Maine, and Oregon and Washington. Since 1980, scholars have learned a good deal about the social characteristics, religious doctrine, and political beliefs of activists in and supporters of the Christian Right in these states, and each contribution is based on rigorous, dispassionate scholarship. The writers explore the gains and losses of the movement as it attempts to re-shape political landscapes. More precisely, they provide in-depth descriptions of the resources, organizations, and the group ecologies in which the Christian Right operates-the distinct elements that drove the movement forward. As the editors state, "the Christian Right has been engaged in a long and torturous 'march toward the millennium,' from outsider status into the thick of American politics." Those formative years, 1980-2000, are essential for any understanding of this uniquely American social movement. This rigorous analysis over many states and many elections provides the clearest picture yet of the goals, tactics, and hopes of the Christian Right in America.

Author: Matthew C. Moen
Publisher: University Alabama Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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This book chronicles and analyzes the remarkable changes that occurred in the Christian Right from its emergence in the late 1970s through the 1980s.

Author: Clyde Wilcox
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429974531
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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They have money, influence, power - and they turn out to vote. "They" are groups like Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, and Concerned Women for America (all parts of the Christian Right. But, are they a serious threat to religious liberty, bent on creating a theocratic state, or the last defenders of religion and family values in America). Bringing the story of the religious right up to the Obama administration, this revised fourth edition explores the history of the movement in twentieth and early twenty-first century American politics. The authors review the expansion of the Christian Right through George W. Bush's second administration and evaluate how the religious right fared in the 2006 and 2008 elections. Although figureheads of the religious right remain in the news, their power in Washington may be declining, and the authors consider the fate of the religious right under the Obama administration. Examining how the religious right both does and does not fit into the proper role of religious groups in American politics, Onward Christian Soldiers? is an essential addition to the Dilemmas in American Politics series.

Author: Nils Schnelle
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3640278240
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2008 in the subject Politics - Region: USA, grade: 1,50, Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, language: English, abstract: This thesis will address the political movement of the Christian Right, one of the most controversial movements in the American political system. Its critics have accused it of trying to establish a theocracy in the United States, of trying to strip homosexuals of their civil rights, and called it fascist, to name but a few allegations. Leaders of the Christian Right, on the other hand, have harshly attacked those they made out as advocates of “secular humanism”, have accused them of anti-Christian bigotry, and have repeatedly employed extreme rhetoric when addressing their (political) adversaries. Within about twenty-five years, the movement developed from almost complete political abstinence into a highly organized political force. The subject is appealing for research for several reasons: firstly, it is a good example of how vivid and influential religion and religiously motivated political action still are, in spite of the secularization theory widely adhered to in the respective period of time. It is also still current, as there has been some fluctuation in terms of activity and degree of organization, but so far the Christian Right has not ceased to exist. The goal of the thesis is to explore the emergence of the movement, to portrait the developments that brought theologically conservative Protestants (Evangelicals) – from isolation and retreat into a subculture – to active and organized political involvement. The central questions to be answered are linked to the controversy surrounding the movement: (1) Has the Christian Right been trying to accomplish what its critics fear, a theocracy, and a Christian nation in which there would be no place for dissenters? (2) Is the Christian Right a legitimate movement operating within the frame of the political system, or is it set out to ultimately change that system? Resulting from those questions is the evaluation of the Christian Right’s performance so far (regardless of what can be concluded to answer the above questions): (3) Which of its goals have been achieved, what balance can be drawn?

Author: Robert C. Liebman
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 9780202367484
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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This book of original essays provides an objective and enlightening analysis of the emergence and changing forms of the New Christian Right. The subject is in itself important in contemporary American life, but in addition The New Christian Right reexamines standard theories of social movements and the relationship between religion and politics in America today. The book presents findings from original research, including surveys, personal interviews with elites, analysis of financial documents, reanalysis of existing data, and analysis of direct-mail solicitations and other primary literature. The New Christian Right is balanced and objective rather than partisan and evaluative. Using non-technical and non-jargonistic language, the authors raise questions concerning the nature of religion, the role of status groups, and contemporary directions in American culture.

Author: Jan G. Linn
Publisher: Universal-Publishers
ISBN: 1581124244
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
Silence may be golden, but not when it comes to the extremes of the Christian Right. That is why Jan Linn wrote his new book, What's Wrong With The Christian Right, just released by BrownWalker Press. As a former college and seminary teacher and author of ten previous books, Linn uses the Christian Right's own words and actions to show the extent to which it is trying to reshape both American politics and Christianity into its own image. The book describes in detail the agenda of the Christian Right, the tactics it employs, and the ways it plays loose with truth. It is also a call to action to everyone disturbed by the power and influence of the Christian Right. With careful documentation, this book exposes the extent to which the Christian Right is influencing American politics, who its political allies are, the ways it is working to re-shape America into its own image, and the hypocrisy it practices in the process. The book also takes issue with the Christian Right's agenda on major issues, and the distorted image its extremism presents of Christianity. What's Wrong With The Christian Right is ultimately a call to all liberal minded people, especially people of faith, to join the effort to offset the Christian Right as the dominant religious voice in America today. Several outstanding leaders in their field have commended the book to a wide reading audience. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, former General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ, calls the book "a must read." Dr. Albert Pennybacker, founder of the Clergy Leadership Network, describes it as "a book for these times." Dr. Arvid Lundy, retired from Los Alamos National Laboratories and a non-Christian agnostic, describes the book as "a joy to read." James Autry of People for the American Way describes it "a careful, thoughtful, well researched examination of those we call the Christian Right."

Author: Daniel K. Williams
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199798877
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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When the Christian Right burst onto the scene in the late 1970s, many political observers were shocked. But, as God's Own Party demonstrates, they shouldn't have been. The Christian Right goes back much farther than most journalists, political scientists, and historians realize. Relying on extensive archival and primary source research, Daniel K. Williams presents the first comprehensive history of the Christian Right, uncovering how evangelicals came to see the Republican Party as the vehicle through which they could reclaim America as a Christian nation. A fascinating and much-needed account of a key force in American politics, God's Own Party is the only full-scale analysis of the electoral shifts, cultural changes, and political activists at the movement's core--showing how the Christian Right redefined politics as we know it.

Author: Michael Corbett
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113557975X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
This text examines the interaction between politics and religion in the United States from the days of the early colonial period through the 1990s. It sets the contemporary discussion of politics and religion in the larger context of the entire scope of US history, and traces significant themes over time showing students how the events of the 1990s have their roots in a long process of development.

Author: William Curtis Martin
Publisher: Broadway
ISBN: 0767922573
Category : Christianity and politics
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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The rise of the Religious Right is one of the most important political and cultural stories of our time. To many, this controversial movement threatens to upset the nation's delicate balance of religious and secular interests. To others, the Religious Right is valiantly struggling to preserve religious liberty and to prove itself as the last, best hope to save America's soul. In With God on Our Side --the first balanced account of conservative Christians' impact on post-war politics--William Martin paints a vivid and authoritative portrait of America's most powerful political interest group. Although its members now number between forty and sixty million people, the Religious Right has not always carried the tremendous--and growing--political clout it enjoys today. A hundred years ago, scattered groups of conservative Christians worked fervently to spread the Gospel, but their involvement in politics was marginal. Early in this century, however, a series of charismatic and ambitious leaders began transforming the movement; by the election of John F. Kennedy as our first Catholic president, the Religious Right had found its voice. Politics and religion began mixing as never before. From Richard Nixon's strategic manipulation of Graham's religious influence in the 1970s, to Ronald Reagan's association with Falwell's Moral Majority in the 1980s, to the Christian Coalition's emergence as a slick, sophisticated political machine, the line separating the pulpit from the presidency became increasingly blurred. Now, preachers such as Graham, Falwell, and Pat Robertson preside over ministries so vast and well organized that most politicians can ill afford to ignore their views--or lose their votes. In recent years, the Religious Right's political influence has propelled it into spheres beyond pure politics. Race relations, abortion and reproductive rights, school curricula, the nature and role of the family--conservative Christians have embraced all of these socially charged issues, and their activism has irrevocably altered the way America confronts its thorniest problems. How does a free society draw the line between Church and State without removing religious conviction from public life? What motivates individual Americans to do battle in the culture wars? Most importantly, when politicians and religiously motivated activists join forces, who holds the reins? Drawing on over 100 new interviews with key figures in the movement, William Martin brilliantly captures the spirit of the age as he explores both sides of this dramatic debate. Written in conjunction with the producers of the public television series of the same name, this landmark book is essential reading for all Americans--conservative and liberal, fundamentalist and atheist--who care about the spiritual health and political future of our country. From the Hardcover edition.