Religion in Public Life

The question of the proper role of pietism and of ghostlyly establish clean-living convictions within American familiar life has been hotly debated during the previous(prenominal) fifteen years. The rise of the Moral Majority promptly previous to the first Reagan presidential campaign and the presidential candidacies of appointive ministers wiretap Robertson and Jesse Jackson directed the media spotlight to the issue of religion and politics. These years have been a time of aggressive Christian politics, as evangelistics entered the semi governmental fray seeking to mold existence policies that would conform to their own sacred convictions. On issues ranging from abortion to defense in the public schools, evangelistics sought to use the instruments of the American semipolitical system to forward their interests and values. Since their agenda fit snugly with that of shut up politicians, advocates for public religion were generally associated with conservative politica l causes. During the eighties the Moral Majority targeted liberal politicians for kill in congressional elections. Alliances of evangelical Christians and conservative politicians introduced bills into state legislatures mandating silent prayer or moments of silence at the beginning of the school day in the hope of reversing a trend they viewed as increasingly unconnected to religion. Abortion became the litmus test for evangelical Christian politics, and the pro-life movement gathered an increasingly diverse group of religious folk under its banner.

During the decade of the 1990s overt evangelical politics beca me less prominent in our national political ! life. The scandals in the evangelical community involving such(prenominal) important figures as Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggert, and Jerry Falwell drove Christian politics somewhat into the background, and the deciding(prenominal) defeat suffered by Pat Robertson in the 1988 Republican primaries indicated the limits of living for such candidates within the American electorate. 1 The national forum of evangelicals in Houston, Texas, following the 1992 Republican... If you want to get a in force(p) essay, crop it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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