WWJD: Weaponize Worship for the GOP? :o

Jerry Falwell, the televangelist and American pastor, unified disgruntled conservative Christians around moral and social issues—coalescing into “political” issues. The Moral Majority, a conservative political organization, emerged under Falwell’s leadership in response to a suspicion of federal overreach and regulation. Prior to the emergence of the Moral Majority, white evangelicals lacked a shared identity; Falwell unified this large group of individuals with attacks on “unwelcome social changes” such as the legalization of abortion with Roe v. Wade, the movement for gay rights, and the “rising rates of crime” (Williams). As the article points out, political scientists were skeptical of the budding relationship between Republican President Ronald Reagan and the Moral Majority; they argued that “as secular conservatives focus on economic issues and ignore social issues, Evangelicals are likely to become somewhat impatient with such conservatives” (Williams). However, as Williams argues, the fusion of conservative economic issues were rooted in faith-based arguments; for example, Falwell frequently argued that an increase in defense spending was a “divine mandate from God” in response to the “atheist” communists abroad.

Largely in response to the Brown decision, Falwell escalated his racist, vitriol attacks against desegregation efforts and, in the process, alienated himself from more moderate Republican leaders at the time. Additionally, the earliest members of TRBC were majority white working-class, undereducated southern folks. Initially, this contributed to Falwell being “at odds” with Republican leadership (Williams). However, as social movements progressed and the perceived rate of “immorality” increased with it, Falwell shifted his political commitments to align closely with conservative Republican leaders. As Falwell viewed it, the attack on religion by the federal government (re: criminalizing prayer in public schools) was the result of an “overbearing state” (Williams). This led to the emergence of a Moral Majority, spearheaded by Falwell, and the unification between conservatives and white evangelicals in response to “unwelcome” social changes.

As we learned in class, the Sunbelt region was the recipient of massive amounts of military-defense spending. And, as the article notes, Falwell came of age during the economic revitalization of the South. In addition to his own personal experiences, Falwell viewed large defense spending and tax cuts through a theological and moral lens. High taxes, the product of an “overbearing” federal government, impeded upon religion as evidenced by Falwell’s multiple run-ins with the IRS (re: run-a-church-like-a-business philosophy). Similarly, massive amounts of defense spending, as noted above, were a divine mandate by God to protect against Soviet aggression (the “godless communists”).