Christian right

The Christian right is a spectrum of right-wing Christian political and social movements and organizations characterized by their strong support of conservative social and political values. The politically active social movement of the Christian right includes individuals from a wide variety of theological beliefs, ranging from moderately traditional movements within Lutheranism and Catholicism to theologically more conservative movements such as Evangelicalism, Pentecostalism and Fundamentalist Christianity.

Terminology

The terms Christian right and Religious Right are sometimes used interchangeably, although this is problematic. Fundamentalists across several religions often share with the Christian right certain positions on specific issues such as opposition to birth control, abortion, voluntary euthanasia, gay rights, separation of religion and government, evolution, public education, embryonic stem cell research, anticommunism, and antipathy for perceived changing moral standards. So while many leaders of the Christian right are outspoken critics of radical Islam, organizations composed of conservative Christians, Muslim social conservatives, and Orthodox Jews sometimes cooperate in national and international projects, especially through the World Congress of Families and United Nations NGO gatherings.

The term Christian right is considered pejorative by some observers, who suggest the term and the related term Religious Right are used primarily by the political left. (see also Christianophobia and Dominionism).

The term Christian right is used by authors from a wide range of political and religious viewpoints. For example, conservative American political commentator Kevin Phillips, feels the terms accurately describes the movement. Some 15% of the electorate in the United States tell pollsters they are allied with the Christian right, and it is an important voting block within the U.S. Republican Party. Much of the Christian Rights power within the American political system is attributed to their extraordinary turnout rate at the polls.The right is also highly motivated and driven to get out a viewpoint on an issue. As well as high voter turnout, they can be counted on to attend political events, knock on doors and distribute literature. Members of the Christian Right are willing to do the electoral work needed to see their canidate elected.In recent years, Christian right groups have appeared in other countries than the United States.

The term Culture War is used to describe the disagreements over social and political issues between the Christian right and its more liberal and secular opponents

History

In the early 1960's, the 'grass roots' form of the Christian Right gained attention through the political campaign of Barry Goldwater, drawing the attention of several conservative leaders, both regionally and nationally. The movement became prominent due to a variety of developments including the "shift in gravity" to the South and West, both in regards to population movements and to rising leaders in the "anti-establishment" of the West, which consequently led to more power in electoral votes. The disenfranchisement of Southern Democrats also contributed to the rise of the Right as a result of the dissolution over race, particularly after desegregation efforts following 1954 Brown v. Board of Education pushed members of the Southern elite to the Republican party. The Right also grew as a reaction of the progressive culture of the 1960s and a fear of social disintegration. A key event that prompted the disillusion of Southern Democrats with the Democratic Party was the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Christian Right strengthened as an influential movement through grassroots activists, intellectual think tanks (such as American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, Hoover Foundation, etc), and a wide range of media institutions and key media figures (i.e. National Review, Rupert Murdoch, and Rush Limbaugh).

By the late 1970s the New Religious Right or New Christian Right (see New Right) movement had become much more politically visible in the United States. Led by Robert Grant's Christian Voice, Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, Ed McAteer's Religious Roundtable Council, James Dobson's Focus on the Family, and Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, the New Religious Right combined conservative politics with evangelical and fundamentalist teachings.

The contemporary Christian right became increasingly vocal and organized in reaction to a series of United States Supreme Court decisions (notably Roe v. Wade) and also engaged in local battles over pornography, obscenity, taxation of private Christian schools, state sanctioned prayer in public schools, textbook contents (concerning evolution), homosexuality and abortion.

One early effort to institutionalize the Christian right as a politically-active social movement began in 1974 when Dr. Robert Grant, an early movement leader, founded American Christian Cause to advocate Christian moral teachings in Southern California. Concerned that Christians overwhelmingly voted in favor of President Jimmy Carter in 1976, Grant founded Christian Voice to mobilize Christian voters in favor of candidates who share their values. The birth of the New Christian right, however, is usually traced to a 1979 meeting where televangelist Jerry Falwell was urged to create a "Moral Majority" organization.

In 1980 Christian leaders and members of the religious right rallied in Washington DC on April 29th and 30th, for an event called Washington for Jesus, founded by John Giminez, the pastor of Rock Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Dr. William Bright, Benson Idahosa from Africa, and many other high-profile Christians marched on Washington DC, in an effort to support Ronald Reagan's presidential run. Many of the beliefs of the religious right were outlined and solidified in speeches and statements made by leaders during the event. In 1981 Dobson extended his Focus on the Family radio efforts by founding the Family Research Council DC think tank.

In the late 1980s Pat Robertson founded the Christian Coalition, building from his 1988 presidential run, with Republican activist Ralph Reed, who became the spokesman for the Coalition. In 1992, the national Christian Coalition, Inc., headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, began producing voter guides which it distributed to conservative Christian churches. Under the leadership of Reed and Robertson, the Coalition quickly became the most prominent voice in the conservative Christian movement, its influence culminating with an effort to support the election of a conservative Christian to the presidency in 1996.

George W. Bush's electoral success owed much to his overwhelming support from white evangelical voters, who comprise 23% of the vote. In 2000 he received 68% of the white evangelical vote; in 2004 that percentage rose to 78%.

During Bush's presidency, conflicts arose in the leadership of the Christian right, as a new guard of evangelicals such as megachurch preacher Rick Warren and National Association of Evangelicals leader Rich Cizik took stands on issues outside the traditional Christian right issues, including global warming, torture, and poverty and AIDS in Africa. The new generation of leaders also includes Randy Brinson, who founded Redeem the Vote in 2004 as an evangelical counterpart to Rock the Vote.

Christian Right Institutions in the United States

Political

National Organizations

See also: Christian Coalition of America and Eagle Forum

In the 1990s, one of the foremost political groups was the Christian Coalition of America, which has attempted to weave religious conservativism into a broader message that emphasizes taxes, healthcare, and education . Political activists worked within the Republican party locally and nationally to influence party platforms and nominations . More recently Dr. James Dobson's group Focus on the Family, based in Colorado Springs and its lobbying arm the Family Research Council in Washington D.C have gained enormous clout among Republican lawmakers. While strongly advocating for these "moral issues", Dobson himself is more wary of the political spectrum and much of the resources of his group are devoted to other aims such as media.

See also: Moral Majority and Christian Voice

Partisan Activity of Churches

Small churches self-identified as within the Christian right have taken overtly partisan actions, which are generally considered inappropriate in most conservative Protestant churches, and which could threaten these organizations' tax-exempt status. In one notable example, the pastor of the East Waynesville Baptist Church in Waynesville, North Carolina "told the congregation that anyone who planned to vote for Democratic Sen. John Kerry [the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004] should either leave the church or repent". The church later expelled nine members who had voted for Kerry and refused to repent.

Values voters summit

From October 19 to October 21, 2007 the Family Research Council convened a summit of several hundred conservative Christian activists in Washington, DC. The mission of the meeting was to conduct a straw poll on who is the best choice for religious conservatives.

The difference of votes contrasted, as to the online poll and the onsite poll.

Leading candidates, online poll

• No. 1: Mitt Romney, 27.62%
• No. 2: Mike Huckabee, 27.15%
• No. 3: Ron Paul, 14.98%
• No. 4: Fred Thompson, 9.77%

Leading candidates, onsite poll

• No. 1: Mike Huckabee, 51.26%
• No. 2: Mitt Romney, 10.40%
• No. 3: Fred Thompson, 8.09%
• No. 4: Tom Tancredo, 6.83%

Educational

Falwell's Liberty University was founded as Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971 and was accredited in 1980; its law school was accredited in 2006. Pat Robertson's CBN University, founded in 1978, was accredited in 1984, renamed Regent University in 1990. The Regent Law School was fully accredited in 1996. The two universities and their law schools have numerous conservative activists and politicians as alumni, and have hosted important speeches by conservative national politicians since Ronald Reagan.

Bob Jones University, a Protestant Fundamentalist university, was founded in 1927. George W. Bush spoke at the school's chapel hour on February 2, 2000 as presidential candidate. Protestant college Patrick Henry College was incorporated in 1998 and officially opened in 2000. It was granted full accreditation in 2007.

Media

See also: 700 Club, Christian Broadcasting Network, and Contemporary Christian Music

The media has played a major role in the rise of the Christian Right since the 1920s and has continued to be a powerful force for the movement today. The political agenda of the Christian Right has been disseminated to the public through a variety of media outlets including radio broadcasting, television, and books. Religious broadcasting began in the 1920s through the radio. Between the 1950s and 1980s, TV became a powerful way for the Christian Right to influence the public through shows such as Pat Robertson's 700 Club and The Family Channel. The use of the Internet has also helped the Christian Right reach a much larger audience. Websites from varying organizations can be easily accessed from the Internet. The Christian Coalition, for example, has used the Internet to inform the public, as well as sell merchandise and gather members.The role of the media for the Religious Right was influential in its ability to connect Christian audiences to the larger American culture while at the same time bringing together religion, politics, and culture that was personal and practical.

Contemporary Christian Music has grown in popularity since the late 1960’s. Music that is influenced by the styles of mainstream culture, but with lyrics of biblical reference and contemporary controversial themes airs on Christian radio stations. Contemporary Christian Music has a large influence on the youth of the Christian Right, making Christian musicians role models within the Christian community.

Moral issues and general beliefs

Educational issues

• Support for state sanctioned prayer in public schools

• Support for homeschooling, and private schooling, generally as an alternative to secular education rather than for Libertarian reasons.

• The Christian Right strongly advocates for a system of educational choice mainly through the support of school vouchers.
  • Vouchers would be government funded and could be redeemed for "a specified maximum sum per child per years if spent on approved educational services". This method would allow parents to determine which school their child attends while relieveing the economic burden associated with private schools.

• Modification of public school curriculum, including:
  • Promotion of the teaching of creationism and intelligent design as opposed to evolution
  • On the issue of sexual education in public school's, a spectrum of views exist, from advocating no sex education in public schools to advocating abstinence until marriage, to advocating complete modesty and chastity. The Christian Right has been successful in pushing abstinence only curricula, in fact 30 percent of America's sexual-education programs are abstinence based . These programs promote abstinence until marriage as the only way to prevent against pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and the other emotional issues that could arise from sexual activity. Unlike comprehensive sex-education programs, alternatives such as contraception and birth-control are only mentioned, in the context of their failure rates.

The Christian Right has made inroads on issues of the public school because many of their followers have been able to influence the curriculum of school districts by running for and winning school board elections. Research suggests that these candidates run to apply their religious or moral beliefs to school policies.

Human life

• Stronger regulation or prohibition of abortion, especially third trimester abortions and intact dilation and extraction (also referred to as "partial birth abortion".) The Christian Right believes life begins at the moment of conception, and therefore abortion is murder. The Christian Right is adamantly Pro Life; this is one of the concepts that unifies the expansive Christian Right.

• Generally opposed to euthanasia, although many members of the Christian Right draw a distinction between aiding one's death and allowing one to die.

• Regulation and restriction of certain applications of biotechnology; in particular, both therapeutic and reproductive human cloning and stem cell research that involves the destruction of human embryos. See also bioethics.

Foreign policy

• Support for isolationism
• Support for militarism
• Support for military spending

Role of Government

• Support the idea that government's proper role is to cultivate virtue, not to interfere with the natural operations of the marketplace or the workplace.
• Opposition to specific federal funding
  • sees federal funding for sciences (especially controversial ones) as unnecessary and dangerous

Middle-eastern foreign policy positions

(attributable to beliefs about biblical prophecy or to inter-religious conflict)

• Support for the war in Iraq

• Strong political support for Israel

Some groups, such as American Christian Zionists, believe that the establishment of the state of Israel was a precursor to the Second Coming of Christ, and that war between the Jews and Arabs was prophesised in the Bible. Ed McAteer, founder of the Moral Majority, said "The Bible does not contain the word of God. Listen to me closely. The Bible is the word of God. I believe that we are seeing prophecy unfold so rapidly and dramatically and wonderfully and, without exaggerating, makes me breathless."

Following the Second Coming, two-thirds of Jews will be killed, and the survivors will accept Jesus, some believe. Gershom Gorenberg said, "The Jews die or convert. As a Jew, I can’t feel very comfortable with the affections of somebody who looks forward to that scenario. They don’t love real Jewish people. They love us as characters in their story, in their play, and that’s not who we are, and we never auditioned for that part, and the play is not one that ends up good for us. If you listen to the drama they’re describing, essentially it’s a five-act play in which the Jews disappear in the fourth act."

Yossi Alfer has also criticised this view, saying "It’s not good for the Jews. We have to get God out of this conflict if we’re going to have any chance to survive as a healthy, secure Jewish state."

Separation of church and state

See also: Separation of church and state, Separation of church and state in the United States, Dominionism, Christian Reconstructionism, Theonomy, List of people and organizations associated with Dominionism, and David Barton

A number of prominent members in the Christian right have argued that the separation of church and state does not exist in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. David Barton is the author of a book titled The Myth of Separation, which he states "proves that separation of church and state is a myth." He states that pastors are allowed to endorse political candidates from the pulpit as long as they make it clear it's their own personal opinion and not an official church endorsement. Barton's view is contradicted by the Internal Revenue Service, which administrates tax-exempt status, and which states that tax-exempt charitable organisations, including churches, are prohibited by federal law from intervening in political campaigns. Pat Robertson has argued that while the First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion", it does not prohibit civil servants from displaying the Ten Commandments or other items relating to religion. This interpretation has been repeatedly rejected by the courts, which have found that such displays violate the Establishment Clause. Robertson further states:

There is nothing in the Constitution about separation of church and state. It doesn't exist. This is a fiction that has been created by courts over the last few years, and, as Jefferson said, by allowing them to interpret the Constitution we have become under the tyranny of an oligarchy.

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has stated:

I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that’s what we need to do — is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.

Some tendencies which are common among the Christian Right include:

• Support for the presence of religion in the public sphere and the official activities thereof
  • In the United States, often supported by the claim that the country was "founded by Christians as a Christian Nation"
  • In the UK, some similar policies are followed, based on the view that Britain’s status as a constitutionally Christian nation should be protected and restored, for instance by enforcing the Blasphemy Law, increasing school prayer and regarding those in public life as accountable to God.
• Promotion of conservative or literal interpretations of the Bible as the basis for moral values, and enforcing such values by legislation
• Reducing restrictions on government funding for religious charities and schools. However, some politically conservative churches refuse government funding because of their restrictions regarding acceptance of homosexuality and other issues; others endorse President Bush's "faith-based initiatives" and accept funds.
• Active private and religious involvement in charitable works (parachurch organization) such as disaster relief, medical care, adoption, help for women with problem pregnancies, development in Third World countries, and partnering with government programs to accomplish the same objectives.
• Opposition to Wicca and other Neopagan faiths receiving equal recognition and freedom of religious expression (see religious discrimination against Neopagans)
• Opposition to "judicial activism" by federal judges giving decisions perceived as liberal in cases affecting the above issues.
• Strong support for national leaders, with suggestions that they are "chosen by God"
• Support of conservative candidates

Sexuality and reproduction

• Opposition to promiscuity (through prostitution, premarital sex, or homosexuality.)

• Opposition to legalization of same-sex marriage

(Groups such as the Focus on the Family and Traditional Values Coalition prefer to describe such measures as special rights for homosexuals.)

• The general belief that one who practices homosexuality can be rehabilitated by means of prayer, faith, or an interaction with God and the Christian community in order to change his or her sexual orietation.

• Opposition to sexual practices diverging from heterosexual relations within the context of monogamous marriage.

• An emphasis on the value of the nuclear family in raising children.

• Opposition to divorce (as social disapproval rather than calls for legal restrictions)

• Opposition to birth control and contraceptive methods.

• Neutral to opposing attitudes towards social policies designed to facilitate women working outside the home.

• Opposition to trafficking in persons for sex slavery worldwide.

• Opposition to pornography, because they characterize certain sex acts as despicable or they view it as immoral exploitation of persons.

United Nations

• Opposes participation in the United Nations, fearful of a “one-world government” developing
• Common concern was that world organization posed a danger to American national sovereignty.
• Liberals are hopeful that participation in the UN could bring about world peace with a unified body to make the decisions and resolve conflicts across the globe; to conservatives, the United Nations is considered a concrete enemy representing a loss of authority and autonomy.

Diversity, apartheid, and indigenous rights

The conclusions of a review of 112 studies on Christian faith and ethnic prejudice were summarised by a later study as being that "white Protestants associated with groups possessing fundamentalist belief systems are generally more prejudiced than members of nonfundamentalist groups, with unchurched whites exhibiting least prejudice." The original review found that its conclusions held "regardless of when the studies were conducted, from whom the data came, the region where the data were collected, or the type of prejudice studied." More recently, at least eight studies have found a positive correlation between fundamentalism and prejudice, using different measures of fundamentalism.

A number of prominent members of the Christian right, including Jerry Falwell and Rousas John Rushdoony, have in the past supported segregation, the former in a 1958 sermon in which he argued that integration would lead to the destruction of the white race.

In Thy Kingdom Come, Randall Balmer recounts comments that Paul M. Weyrich, who he describes as "one of the architects of the Religious Right in the late 1970s", made at a conference, sponsored by a Religious Right organization, that they both attended in Washington in 1990:

In the course of one of the sessions, Weyrich tried to make a point to his Religious Right brethren (no women attended the conference, as I recall). Let's remember, he said animatedly, that the Religious Right did not come together in response to the Roe decision. No, Weyrich insisted, what got us going as a political movement was the attempt on the part of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to rescind the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University because of its racially discriminatory policies.

Bob Jones University had policies which refused black students enrolment until 1971, admitted only married blacks from 1971 to 1975, and prohibited interracial dating and marriage between 1975 and 2000.

In an interview with The Politico, University of Virginia theologian Charles Marsh, author of Wayward Christian Soldiers and the son of a Southern Baptist minister, stated:

As someone who grew up in Mississippi and Alabama during the civil rights movement, … my reading is that the conservative Christian movement never was able to distinguish itself from the segregationist movement, and that is one of the reasons I find so much of the rhetoric familiar — and unsettling. By the end of the civil rights movement, the way was set for this marriage of the Republican Party and conservative Christians. … At the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi in 1980, (Ronald) Reagan's statement "I am for states' rights" was a remarkable moment in the conservative South. The Southern way of life was affirmed and then deftly grafted into national conservative politics.

Nineteen percent of all African Americans consider themselves members of the Religious Right, which is more than 1.7 times the national average (11%), nearly double the rate for all U.S. whites (10%), and about the same as for white evangelicals (20%).

Dominionism

Main article: Dominionism

Sara Diamond, Frederick Clarkson, and some other critics of the Christian right claim that the Christian right's political agendas are a form of Dominionism influenced by Dominion Theology and Christian Reconstructionism; the latter two are related philosophies that regard the Bible as the only strictly true reference for civics, government, scientific theory or any scholarly pursuit. Many in the Christian right oppose this point of view, and no major Christian right leader has gone on record as advocating Reconstructionism, although some admit being influenced by Reconstructionist philosophical writings.

However, tiny Dominionist sect "Christian Exodus," which chose Bible Belt Anderson, South Carolina as a good place to take over local politics and government, has failed to find any support among Christians in the area, and has been unable to get a foothold on their objective.

Dan Olinger, a professor at the Fundamentalist Bob Jones University in Greenville said, “We want to be good citizens and participants, but we’re not really interested in using the iron fist of the law to compel people to everything Christians should do.”

And Bob Marcaurelle, interim pastor at Mountain Springs Baptist Church in Piedmont, said the Middle Ages were proof enough that Christian ruling groups are almost always corrupted by power. “When Christianity becomes the government, the question is whose Christianity?” Marcaurelle asked. February 12, 2007, The State, Columbia, SC "Pastors don’t embrace movement"

Movements outside the United States

Beyond the United States, other western nations have their own Christian right movements. A brief summary and evaluation of those movements follow.

Australia

See also: Recognition of same-sex relationships in Australia

In Australia, the Christian right has had mixed fortunes. In the case of the anti-abortion movement, there has been considerable fragmentation between the Federation of Right to Life Associations and Right to Life Australia. The latter favours direct action tactics, and has tended to alienate public opinion. Two other organisations that both began in 1995 with a Christian right focus and agenda were the Australian Christian Coalition, now known as the Australian Christian Lobby, and Salt Shakers. The Australian Christian Lobby has its headquarters in Canberra with State Offices, whilst Salt Shakers has a single office in Melbourne. Over time the Australian Christian Lobby has moved from the political right to a centre right position whilst Salt Shakers has not. Both have had their wins and losses over the 11 years that they have been operating. Both organisations form loose coalitions with other like minded organizations. These coalitions are issue focused and come and go as issues come and go.

In New South Wales, Reverend Fred Nile and his Christian Democratic Party have occupied two to three Legislative Council seats since the 1980s. Nile has been conspicuously unsuccessful in his efforts against the popular Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, and lesbian/gay rights legislation in general, as well as abortion.

Similarly, his former vehicle, the South Australia-based Festival of Light has been ebbing in recent years. In that state, the Family First political party has been elected at the state and federal upper house levels. Victoria used to be the headquarters of the National Civic Council, a conservative Catholic organisation that still produces News Weekly, a conservative Catholic news publication that opposes free market capitalism as well as reproductive choice, voluntary euthanasia and lesbian/gay rights.

For a decade, this movement delayed the introduction of medical abortion in Australia (1996-2005). As time went on, all Australian states and territories either partially or fully decriminalised abortion access, although keeping abortion-on-demand illegal. Eventually, a unified multipartisan pro-choice movement insured passage of legislation that repealed obstacles within the federal Therapeutic Goods Act.

The former Liberal-National Coalition Australian federal government under John Howard banned same-sex marriage and had threatened to legislate against proposed civil unions for lesbians and gay men at the federal level, as it had previously done against euthanasia law reform after the Northern Territory parliament carried it out in 1995. Euthanasia marks a particular point of conflict. In 2005, the Howard administration passed an anti-euthanasia Criminal Code Amendment (Suicide Related Offences) Act, which made it illegal to "aid or abet the suicide or attempted suicide" or "incite or counsel another person to commit suicide". However, with its 2007 defeat, the Australian Labor Party controls all jurisdictions. Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has stated he personally opposes same-sex marriage.

Canada

See also: Same-sex marriage in Canada

Canada has had a Charter of Rights and Freedoms since the Canadian Constitution was patriated in 1982. As a result, there have been major changes in the law's application to issues that bear on individual and minority group rights. Abortion rights were completely decriminalized after two R. v. Morgentaler cases (in 1988 and in 1993). A series of provincial superior court decisions allowing same-sex marriage, led the federal government to introduce legislation that introduced same sex marriage in all of Canada. The current prime minister, Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party of Canada, stated before taking office that he would hold a free vote on the issue , but declared the issue closed after a vote in the Canadian House of Commons in 2006 .

A number of groups can be characterized as religiously motivated and right of centre. Pro-family groups such as REAL Women of Canada and pro-life supporters within Campaign Life Coalition, and political parties like the Christian Heritage Party of Canada and Family Coalition Party of Ontario, as well as Focus on the Family Canada, a satellite of the US-based multinational Focus on the Family, based in Colorado Springs, might all be included. These political parties have never been elected to office in legislative bodies, however.

These groups have had little success in advancing their agenda when faced with Charter challenges on the grounds of gender equality or protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the trend has been toward increased liberalization in these areas.

United Kingdom

See also: Civil partnerships in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has also had an active Christian right movement, whose fortunes peaked during the 1980s, under the Conservative Party administration of Margaret Thatcher, a social conservative. However, Mary Whitehouse and her National Viewers and Listeners Association (now Mediawatch-uk) were the only political beneficiaries of tighter censorship legislation and policy during the eighties. The Thatcher administration passed Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, the effect of which was disputed but which aimed to reduce the "promotion" of homosexuality by local authorities.

During the 1990s, John Major pursued a softer stance, and Edwina Currie, a libertarian Conservative MP, produced a private members bill to reduce the gay male age of consent from twenty-one to sixteen. However, the British Parliament accepted eighteen as a compromise age of consent. In 2001, full age of consent equality prevailed. From 1997 to 2007, Tony Blair was Prime Minister, and fully supportive of lesbian/gay rights. Under his Labour Party government, Clause 28 was repealed, the gay male age of consent was equalised at sixteen (2001), civil partnership legislation (civil unions) were introduced, and gay adoption reform passed after several libertarian Conservative MPs crossed the floor to support the measure.

Many Christian right issues are treated of matters of conscience by major parties for the purposes of the parliamentary whip, meaning the policies of parties are less important than those of individual members. In recent years, none of the major political parties has promoted such policies, and parliament has moved away from them in free votes. Outside the major political parties, there have been campaigns from small hard-line groups such as The Christian Institute and the Scottish Christian Party. Despite occasional attempts to reduce time limits for abortion access, British pro-life groups have been unsuccessful at limiting women's abortion access, due to that country's long-established and vigilant pro-choice movement. Some newspapers such as the Daily Mail and Daily Express run campaigns and print right-leaning coverage on subjects such as pornography and some of the aims of gay rights campaigners.

Britain, Canada and New Zealand have all faced repeated attempts to introduce voluntary euthanasia legislation, or decriminalise voluntary euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide through the courts, in the case of Canada. However, to date, none of these reform efforts have passed the select committee stage in any national, federal or provincial parliament. For example, a euthanasia law reform bill has just been postponed in the United Kingdom's House of Lords, after a massive anti-euthanasia/pro-care rally in London.

Electoral activism

Australia

In Australia Protestant fundamentalist movements have supported conservative state or provincial or national governments. In the case of Australia's Fred Nile, he has strongly supported former Australian federal Prime Minister John Howard and his (Liberal Party of Australia/National Party of Australia) Coalition federal government, as has South Australia's Family First party, represented at the state and federal levels.

Canada

Similarly, in Canada, REAL Women of Canada and Campaign Life Coalition vociferously supported Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party of Canada in the Canadian general election held in late 2005. Thirteen federal Conservative MPs voted against a 2006 federal bill that would have repealed legislation that introduced same-sex marriage in Canada. In the Canadian federal election of 2006 for a variety of reasons, Harper and the Canadian Tories only succeeded in achieving a minority government, and seem to have backed away from divisive tactics like repeal of federal same-sex marriage legislation.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, a unitary state, with a single parliamentary chamber, there was little opportunity for social conservative niche parties to influence politics until the electorate voted for Mixed Member Proportional electoral reform at a referendum held in 1993.

United Future New Zealand had been the only socially conservative party able to take advantage of this, but had not conspicuously succeeded in preventing sex work decriminalisation or civil union laws, and won reduced support at the New Zealand general election 2005. At that election, the Exclusive Brethren may have alienated urban voters from Don Brash and his National Party. In 2007 United Future lost its conservative Christian faction, and the party has rebranded itself as a sensible, moderate centre party.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher actively courted the conservative Christian vote throughout her tenure as Prime Minister (1979-1990). However, despite Clause 28 and stricter censorship law and policy, the Conservative Family Campaign proved to be divisive, and the Conservative Party has always had a more active socially liberal libertarian contingent than its Republican counterpart in the United States. The Conservative Family Campaign was closed down in the late nineties under John Major, and replaced with a less strident Conservative Christian Fellowship. To complicate matters, there are also left-wing evangelicals in British Protestant circles, who strongly disagree with the US Christian right over issues like social and environmental policies, and major evangelical and anti-abortion lobby groups like CARE, SPUC and LIFE have always been careful to appear nonpartisan, and not alienate social conservatives within the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats.

Under new Tory leader David Cameron, it appears that the British Conservatives have decided that there is no benefit in seeking socially conservative constituencies if they alienate younger, gay, urban professional or female voters.

Analysis

From the above, one can conclude that while other western Christian right movements model themselves after the US Christian right and seek closer ties with their dominant national centre-right parties, efforts backfired in New Zealand and perhaps Canada and have only succeeded in Australia, and only at the federal level, at that. In Britain, the Conservative Party has backed away from actively courting evangelical and fundamentalist voters out of fear of alienating other significant electoral interest constituencies.

Contrasting viewpoints

The Christian right, while being a fairly large movement, does not represent all evangelicals. Some who are theologically conservative are politically liberal, such as Tony Campolo and Stanley Hauerwas. The Christian Left includes some theological conservatives. Many evangelicals in both the United States and abroad are more or less politically neutral.

A recent study by the Barna Research Group concluded that most Americans under the age of 40 have a negative view of evangelical Christians as a result of the activities of the Christian Right.

The Christian Right is a movement that has been difficult to define due to the heterogeneity of the movement. Although the Right is virtually unanimous on certain issues such as abortion, some contrasting viewpoints can be found among people who identify themselves as members of the Right. For example, there are subgroups within the Christian Right which support some forms of contraception and civil unions but not gay marriage. There is also dissent regarding issues such as capital punishment and global warming.

See also

• List of people and organisations in the Christian right
• Americans United for Separation of Church and State
• American Center for Law & Justice
• Campaign to Defend the Constitution
• Christian Coalition of America
• Christian Democratic Party (Australia)
• Christian Left
• Christian Voice (USA)
• Dominion Theology
• Dominionism
• Family First Party (Australia)
• Family values
• Forward in Faith
• Intelligent design movement
• Moral Majority
• Opus Dei
• Religious left
• Religious right
• TheocracyWatch

Further reading

• Diamond, Sara. 1995. Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States. New York: Guilford. ISBN 0-89862-864-4.
• Green, John C., James L. Guth and Kevin Hill. 1993. “Faith and Election: The Christian right in Congressional Campaigns 1978–1988.” The Journal of Politics 55(1), (February): 80–91.
• Himmelstein, Jerome L. 1990. To The Right: The Transformation of American Conservatism. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Marsden, George. Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism.
• Martin, William. 1996. With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America, New York: Broadway Books. ISBN 0767922573
• Micklethwait, John and Adrian Wooldridge. 2004. The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America. Penguin Books. New York, NY. ISBN 1594200203
• Noll, Mark. 1989. Religion and American Politics: From the Colonial Period to the 1980s.
• Noll, Mark and Rawlyk, George: Amazing Grace: Evangelicalism in Australia, Canada, Britain, Canada and the United States: Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press: 1994: ISBN 0-7735-1214-4
• Ribuffo, Leo P. 1983. The Old Christian right: The Protestant Far Right from the Great Depression to the Cold War. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 0-87722-598-2.
• Smith, Jeremy Adam, 2007, Living in the Gap: The Ideal and Reality of the Christian Right Family. Public Eye magazine, Winter 2007-08.
• Wald, Kenneth. 2003. Religion and Politics in the United States.
• Wilcox, Clyde. Onward Christian Soldiers: The Religious Right in American Politics.
• Wills, Garry. Under God: Religion and American Politics.

See: Christian politics (index) for articles related to this subject.