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The Moral Majority movement was an organization made up of conservative Christian political action committees, which campaigned on issues it believed central to upholding its Christian conception of the moral law, a perception it believed represented the majority of people's opinions (hence the movement's name). The organization officially dissolved in 1989 but lives on in the Christian Coalition network initiated by Pat Robertson. With a membership of millions the Moral Majority was one of the largest conservative lobby groups in the United States. Among issues it campaigned on were:
The Moral Majority had adherents in the two major United States political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, though it exercised more influence on the former than the latter.
In 1981, a series of exposes by Memphis reporter Mike Clark led to the condemnation of the interactions between Moral Majority and the Republican Party.
Though it claimed to represent the views of the majority of citizens, opinion polls as well as election and referendum outcomes suggest that it was less representative of public opinion than its name suggests. This, combined with what some saw as discrimination and elitism, led a humorist to remark, "The Moral Majority is neither moral nor a majority." The phrase has been repeated to the point where the original attribution is lost to history.
1 Notable people within the movement
- Jerry FalwellJerry Falwell (born August 11, 1933 in Lynchburg, Virginia) is an American fundamentalist Baptist pastor, televangelist and founder of the Moral Majority. His parents were Carey and Helen Falwell. He has a fraternal twin brother, Gene. Life and career Fal
- Pat Robertson
2 See also
- MoralismMoralism is the philosophy of adherence to morality. Unlike religious fundamentalism moralists place no value in deferring to a religious doctrine, rather frame terms and actions with a universal humanist ethic. See Universalism Secular Humanism Ethics.
Christian fundamentalism and evangelicalism
LGBT rights opposition
Political advocacy groups in the U.S.
U.S. religious history
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