Moral Majority

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Roger W. Stump

Starting in the mid-1970s, a resurgence of political activity began to develop among conservative Christians in the United States. Alarmed by what they perceived to be the moral decline of American society, they sought to introduce a new social agenda into American politics aimed at fighting the forces of secularization. They subsequently established a number of organizations to promote this agenda, the most prominent of which was the Moral Majority. Founded in 1979 by Jerry Falwell, an influential Baptist minister and televangelist, the Moral Majority joined with other political conservatives to promote the restoration of traditional moral values in American society. Falwell and his followers played a significant role in the election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980, and in following years sought to focus national attention on the controversial topics of abortion, gay rights, pornography, the exclusion of prayer from public schools, and the Equal Rights Amendment. The Moral Majority also advocated conservative positions on a variety of more secular issues, such as a balanced budget and defense spending. In 1989 Falwell disbanded the group, claiming that it had fulfilled its original mission of introducing support for social reform into American politics. Since then, it has continued to serve as a model for political activism among religious conservatives in the United States.

The Moral Majority was established with the support of various religious and political groups wanting to counter the liberal trends that had emerged within American society during the 1960s and 1970s. By mobilizing conservative Christians, they hoped to produce a rightward shift in the balance of power in American politics. To strengthen the influence of the Moral Majority, Falwell also attempted to expand its constituency beyond its original core within the fundamentalist Protestant community. The group thus came to include a diversity of other religious groups, including Mormons, conservative Roman Catholics, and Orthodox Jews. In addition, Falwell did not establish official connections between the Moral Majority and any specific political party, on the grounds that the organization's agenda focused primarily on moral issues rather than politics. In its status as an independent organization, not tied to any party or religious denomination, the Moral Majority represented an extension of existing fundamentalist strategies in the United States, which since the 1920s had concentrated on creating new institutions rather than reforming existing ones.

The Moral Majority proved to be very successful in building its coalition of like-minded conservatives. By the 1980 election, it included upwards of 2 million members, and perhaps twice that many during its peak years in the mid-1980s. In spreading its message to potential members, the Moral Majority used two distinct strategies, again following the approaches adopted by fundamentalist Christians. First, it made extensive use of the mass media, and particularly broadcasting. Falwell himself had gained considerable experience in the media as the host of the Old-Time Gospel Hour, a syndicated religious program dating back to the 1950s. The rapid growth of televangelism during the 1970s and 1980s provided a natural outlet for the Moral Majority's message, and helped it to find a sizable audience. The Moral Majority also benefitted from the attention of the mainstream news media, who saw in Falwell an articulate and readily accessible spokesman for the religious right. Through the extensive news coverage that Falwell received, particularly during the national political campaigns of the early 1980s, the Moral Majority became the leading symbol of the religious right's new political influence.

The other strategy adopted by the Moral Majority in spreading its message focused on the development of an extensive grassroots network. The key elements of this network were the many local chapters of Moral Majority established across the country. These organizations sought to implement the agenda of the Moral Majority at the local level through their involvement in political races and community issues, and they represented the primary vehicle through which the movement's followers became involved in its activities. Although their impact was not as conspicuous as that of the movement's national leaders, the local chapters had a lasting influence on religious conservatives by demonstrating the effectiveness of local political action. Local strategies thus became widely adopted by former members as they continued the work of the Moral Majority after it was disbanded in 1989.

Although Falwell asserted that the decision to disband the Moral Majority derived from its success in achieving its goals, a number of factors had contributed to a decline in the group's influence by the end of the 1980s. The Moral Majority faced extensive criticism from political liberals and moderates, who accused the group of trying to impose its own moral and religious views on America's pluralistic society. At the same time, some conservative Christians faulted the Moral Majority for its involvement in secular political issues, arguing that it should focus on its core religious message. Scandals involving televangelists Jim Baker and Jimmy Swaggart during the late 1980s also did much to discredit conservative Christian institutions; and the failure of televangelist Pat Robertson in the 1988 Republican presidential primary cast doubt on the continuing political strength of religious conservatives, at least at the national level.