Voting For God: The History and the Future of the Christian Right as a Voting Bloc

Voting For God: The History and the Future of the Christian Right as a Voting Bloc

Robert Garrison
14 June 2009

Abstract: I have long considered myself an “Evangelical Christian Voter” and have supported the public policy positions of the Christian Right. For years, the words, “Christian Right”, Religious Right” and “Evangelical Christian” have been used by pollsters and pundits to describe those who have a strongly held political worldview based upon a conservative, literal interpretation of the Bible and vote according to what the Bible has to say regarding today’s public policy issues. What is this movement’s history? How did it get started? Who were the people behind it?  How did it become such a crucial voting bloc? This paper will answer these questions.

For years, the words, “Christian Right”, Religious Right” and “Evangelical Christian” have been used by pollsters and pundits to describe those who have a strongly held political worldview based upon a conservative, literal interpretation of the Bible and vote according to what the Bible has to say regarding today’s public policy issues. My purpose in writing this paper is to examine this movement’s history and to articulate a prescription for the movement’s continued success in the future.

The Movement’s Beginnings

The modern-day evangelical movement began in the late 50’s and early 60’s. This was an era in which anti-communist feeling was at a fever pitch. Many preachers of the day spoke out against the evils of communism. One of the movements’ earliest leaders was the Rev. Billy Graham. Graham held crusades (revival meetings) believing that if a person’s spiritual condition was changed, social and moral problems could be changed as well. When Graham’s popularity began to increase in the 1950’s, he began to use his sermons to bemoan social ills and urged his audience to come together to change what was wrong in society. If the Protestant ministers of the day were concerned about the communist threat abroad, a more imminent threat at home was the potential election of a Roman Catholic President. Many Protestant ministers including Billy Graham (http://205.188.238.109/time/magazin0e/article/0,9171,979573-6,00.html), and Norman Vincent Peale openly supported Nixon. The issue of John F. Kennedy’s Catholicism was finally put to rest when Kennedy gave a speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association (a group of Protestant ministers) in which he assured them, “I am not the Catholic candidate for President.. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters; and the church does not speak for me. Whatever issue may come before me as President, if I should be elected, on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject, I will make my decision in accordance with these views — in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be in the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressure or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise” (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkhoustonministers.html). The speech helped to ease many fears and Kennedy was elected.

 The next front in the Evangelical Movement centered on the case of Engel V. Vitale (1962). This case effectively banned prayer in public schools. President Kennedy responded by saying that even though some people may disagree with the decision, the country must abide by it. In the 1964 presidential election, a new schism began to emerge within the Republican Party. On one side, was the Rockefeller wing of the party that held moderate views on public policy. On the other side was the emerging new “right-wing” of the party that backed Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater in the election. Goldwater spoke of the breakdown of the moral fiber of the nation and seemed to refer indirectly to the Engel case when he often asked, “Is this the time to remove God from public life?” (Quoted from With God on our Side DVD documentary). However, Goldwater’s appeals fell on deaf ears. Goldwater was seen as an extremist who was too willing to use nuclear weapons on America’s enemies. This was exemplified by the now infamous “Daisy Ad” which depicted a little girl picking daisies in a field with a gentleman doing a countdown in the background and ending with a giant mushroom cloud made by a nuclear explosion. Goldwater was defeated in a landslide by President Lyndon  B. Johnson. After the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Southern Democrats who opposed the civil rights plank in the Democratic Party’s platform began to defect to the Republican Party in record numbers. Southern votes for Republicans went from 16% in 1964 to 43% in 2002, (Bibby & Schaffner (2008), p. 34). After the turmoil of the 1960’s, the electorate wanted a candidate who would promise the return of law and order in the U.S. and end the Vietnam War. They turned to Richard Nixon who won the 1968 presidential election by a wide margin. Billy Graham delivered a prayer at Nixon’s inauguration in 1969 (footage taken from With God on our Side documentary). Rev. Graham again supported Nixon in 1972. Graham even asked Nixon to speak on Youth Night at one of Graham’s crusade and the audience cheered him (footage taken from With God on our Side documentary). Graham came to regret his support for Nixon in light of the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s subsequent resignation.

The 1970’s: The Assent of the Evangelicals and Carter’s Election.

In the 1970’s, evangelicalism came into its own. This upsurge in popularity was due to the campaign and election of Jimmy Carter. After the presidential scandals of the Nixon era, Americans were drawn to Carter’s Southern, homespun values, including his claim to b a “born again” Christian. This was the first time the news media had heard this term and wondered what it meant. (In popular Christian parlance, the term “born again” refers to one who has converted to Christianity and has decided  to live a Christian life). 1976 was also called “The Year of the Evangelicals” by some news magazines (quoted in With God on our Side documentary). In 1976, Christian records grossed $75 million and Christian broadcasting grossed $1 ½ billion (statistics from With God on our Side documentary). Carter was one of the first candidates to “wear his religion on his sleeve.” However, the fascination and good will expressed by Christians to Carter was short-lived. After Carter was elected, he expressed support for Roe V. Wade (the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion) Carter also expressed support for The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The ERA was opposed by Christian groups because they believed that giving women more rights (such as equal pay) would drive women from their homes and thus undermine their traditional roles of stay-at-home mothers. As the 1980 election neared, Christians realized they couldn’t support Carter in good conscience.

At this time, the Reverend Jerry Falwell rose to national provenience. Falwell preached his first sermon against abortion in 1978. In an address to the nation on Vietnam broadcast on November 3rd, 1969, President Richard Nixon used the phrase “silent majority” to describe the many Americans who did not participate in the counterculture movement  or protest the war in Vietnam (see http://www.watergate.info/nixon/silent-majority-speech-1969.shtml for the text of the speech). In 1979, Falwell modified this phrase at the suggestion of Paul Weyrich and formed the Moral Majority, a political lobbying group that was made up of many different denominational leaders both Protestant and Catholic. At the time, Falwell announced in a press conference that the Moral Majority was “not a religious organization it is a political organization. Otherwise we could not get 72,000 pastors from all different denominations- Catholic Jewish, Protestants, Mormons, etc. (quoted in God is on our Side documentary). Falwell stated that Christians now have three responsibilities: “1) get people saved (converted to Christianity) 2) get them baptized and 3) get them registered to vote” (quoted in With God on our Side documentary). The Moral Majority was formed back in 1979 with a “pro-life, pro-traditional family, pro-national defense and pro-Israel platform” (taken from http://www.moralmajority.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=29). By 1980, more than 100,000 Evangelical and Catholic pastors and rabbis had joined with the Moral Majority. It also registered 8.5 million new voters and raised $70 million for its cause. In 1989, Falwell decided to disband the Moral Majority to focus on his Christian college Liberty University, but his political influence continued as he founded a newsletter to keep Christians informed about social, moral and political issues important to them. In 2004, Falwell re-launched  the Moral Majority as The Moral Majority Coalition. The Coalition’s efforts helped reelect President George W. Bush and elected many pro-life politicians to office (information taken from http://www.moralmajority.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=29). Falwell promised to lead the organization for four years, but Falwell died in 2007. Today, The Moral Majority Coalition focuses on voter registration, get-out-the-vote drives, political mobilization and political recruitment of lay Christians and prayer for the nation. Another organization that merits a brief mention is the Christian Voice. It was founded in 1978 and claims to be “the first of the Christian Right groups that predates the Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, (etc.) (taken from http://www.christianvoiceonline.com/about/) Christian Voice also originated the Congressional Report Card (a list of how members of Congress vote on issues of importance to Christians) and the Candidates Scoreboard (which performs the same function for presidential candidates as the Congressional Report Card). I had never heard of this organization before researching this paper, however Dad Rather (former CBS News anchor) has been quoted as saying, “Among the largest and most influential of the groups trying to re-establish the nation’s Christian foundation is Christian Voice” (quote taken from http://www.christianvoiceonline.com/about/). 

The 1980’s and the Reagan Era

As the 1980 presidential election began to heat up, Republican candidate Ronald Reagan spoke to a gathering of evangelical leaders and he said, “I know that as a religious organization you can’t endorse me, but I endorse you and the work that you’re doing” (quoted in With  God on our Side documentary). In 1980, 26% of white voters described themselves as Evangelical Christians (statistic quoted in With God on our Side documentary). Reagan pledged to Falwell that he would support Human Life and voluntary school prayer Amendments to the Constitution. The school prayer Amendment failed to get the 2/3 majority needed for passage in the Senate. Jerry Falwell said in an interview featured on the With God on Our Side documentary that Reagan called him to tell him about the nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court; Falwell later agreed to support her nomination. Reagan also delivered his landmark “Evil Empire” speech during a meeting of the National Association of Evangelicals (see http://www.nae.net/index.cfm?FUSEACTION=nae.history). Evangelicals continued to play a prominent role in the 1984 election. During the 1984 Republican National Convention Evangelical ministers Jerry Falwell and James Robison both delivered benedictions. In his acceptance speech, Reagan said, “If our opponents were as vigorous in supporting our voluntary prayer amendment as they are in raising taxes, maybe we could get the Lord back in the schoolrooms and drugs and violence out” (Taken from http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1984/82384f.htm)

As the 1988 election approached, Evangelical Christians found themselves unsatisfied with the Reagan Administration’s record on the issues that were important to them. Therefore on October 1st, 1987, televangelist Pat Robertson, the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and host of The 700 Club, announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. Even though Robertson was popular and came in second place in the New Hampshire primary, he was ultimately defeated in 14 states by then-Vice President George H.W. Bush. A large amount of the blame for Robertson’s defeat can be attributed to the multiple scandals that beset the most popular televangelists of the day. Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, owners of the PTL (Praise the Lord) club and Jimmy Swaggart (a popular televangelist) were all faced with financial and sexual scandals. Despite these troubles, Republican candidate George H.W. Bush won 81% of the Evangelical Christian vote in the November election (statistic quoted from With God on our Side documentary). By this time the Evangelical vote share had risen from 26% in 1980 to 39% in 1988. Interviews conducted with Bush aides say that the elder Bush’s success among evangelicals can be largely attributed to the work of George W. Bush who effectively served as a liaison to the evangelical community during the ’88 campaign interviews quoted in With God on our Side documentary).  Once in office, the elder Bush strained his relationship with the evangelical community by inviting homosexual activists to the White House and expressing support for a hate crimes bill (source: With God on our Side documentary).

The 1990’s: Better Organization and Lobbying Efforts

In the 1990’s Evangelical Christians became fed up with the Republican Party and believed that kowtowing to Republican presidents was no longer acceptable. In 1990, Pat Robertson organized the Christian Coalition which became a special interest group lobbying on behalf of pro-life, pro-family legislative causes. Robertson appointed Ralph E. Reed Jr. as the first Executive Director of the Christian Coalition. In an interview, Reed said that he wanted the Christian Coalition “to be for Christians what the Chamber of Commerce is for business or what the AFL-CIO is for the labor movement” (quoted in With God on our Side documentary). Reed left the Christian Coalition in 1997. Today, the Christian Coalition declares that their mission and focus is to: 

• Represent the pro-family point of view before local councils, school boards, state legislatures and Congress 
• Speak out in the public arena and in the media 
• Train leaders for effective social and political action 
• Inform pro-family voters about timely issues and legislation 
• Protest anti-Christian bigotry and defend the rights of people of faith (taken from http://www.cc.org/about_us).

The Christian Coalition says that it’s most important outreach is voter education. They send out pamphlets by direct mail that detail incumbent’s voting records and other candidate’s positions on the issue important to the Evangelical Christian cause such as abortion, homosexuality and school prayer. The Christian Coalition claims that its outreach efforts helped win back a congressional majority for the Republican Party in 1994. Another organization that has been instrumental in political mobilization has been the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). The NAE’s stated mission is to, “extend the kingdom of God through a fellowship of member denominations, churches, organizations, and individuals, demonstrating the unity of the body of Christ by standing for biblical truth, speaking with a representative voice, and serving the evangelical community through united action, cooperative ministry, and strategic planning” (taken from http://www.nae.net/index.cfm?FUSEACTION=nae.mission). Because of its commitment to community involvement, it naturally follows that this involvement would extend to the political arena. Under the leadership of Reverend Ted Haggard, there was a new emphasis on political involvement. Ted Haggard boasted in interviews that he was often part of conference calls with the George W. Bush White House in which the Evangelical agenda and Bush Administration policies were discussed. As has been mentioned before, George W. Bush had served as sort of a liaison between his father’s 1988 campaign and the Evangelical community. However, the younger Bush had since become Governor of Texas and thus was unable to perform the same function on the 1992 reelection campaign for his father. There was no  much of an effort to reach out to them in 1992 as the election was primarily about economic issues. George H.W. Bush lost the 1992 election, but nonetheless he still garnered the votes of 13.3 million Evangelicals. The movement seemed to decline during the Clinton Presidency, there was outrage over his sexual indiscretion, but the movement did not experience the electoral success during the 90’s that it had in previous years.

The 2000s and the George W. Bush Era

In the election of 2000, Evangelicals once again found a candidate that they could admire. Texas Governor George W. Bush announced his candidacy in 1999. During a Republican candidates’ debate in Iowa when asked what philosopher he most admired, Bush answered, “Christ because He changed my heart. When you accept Christ as (your) savior, it changes your heart” (quoted in With God on our Side documentary). During the campaign, Bush promised to “restore the honor and dignity of the office to which I am elected, so help me God” (quoted from http://www.2000gop.com/convention/speech/speechbush.html). Bush won the closest election in the nation’s history (he also carried the votes of 17 million Evangelicals) (statistic taken from With God on our Side documentary). One of the first things Bush did when he came to office was to sign an order forbidding U.S. taxpayer dollars from funding overseas abortions. President Bush signed an Executive Order to implement a Faith-Based and Community Initiative to give government money to community groups. President Obama has continued this initiative with modifications (see http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/AmendmentstoExecutiveOrder13199andEstablishmentofthePresidentsAdvisoryCouncilforFaith-BasedandNeighborhoodPartnerships/). On August 9th, 2001 President Bush announced in an address to the nation from his Texas ranch, that he would limit the number of stem cell lines used for medical purposes. (Many Evangelicals opposed the use of stem cells for medical purposes) When terrorists struck the nation on September 11th, 2001, Bush said, “Our nation saw evil.” In his 2002 State of the Union Address, Bush accused Iran, Iraq and North Koreas of being an “axis of evil” (quoted in With God on our Side documentary). Evangelicals respected President Bush even more because he made absolute moral assertions and declared that there was a difference between good and evil. In 2003, President Bush signed legislation to ban the practice of partial-birth abortion to the delight of many Evangelicals.

With this record of accomplishment, Bush won the 2004 election and garnered the votes of an estimated 23.6 million Evangelical voters. Evangelicals played a pivotal role in reelecting Bush. This was due in large part to the fact that eleven states had Marriage Protection Amendments on the 2004 ballot (measures that ensured that state constitutions defined marriage as between one man and one woman). A CBS News exit poll revealed that 22% of voters cited moral values as their main concern (see http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/03/politics/main653238.shtml). Since 1988, the Evangelical vote share rose again from 39% to around 48% in 2004 (statistics taken from With God on our Side documentary). In 2005, Bush got the opportunity to nominate two justices to the Supreme Court, (Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito). Their nominations were largely supported by Christian groups. During the 2006 mid-term congressional elections, the Evangelical movement came under fire in a way not seen since the Bakker/Swaggart scandals of 1988. It was revealed that Reverend Ted Haggard, President of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) had had a homosexual relationship with a male prostitute and had bought methamphetamine (see http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/us/03minister.html?_r=1&em&ex=1162702800&en=31f683c988424dfd&ei=5087%0A). Because of these allegations, Haggard resigned from the NAE and his church. Add to this the revelations of sexual misconduct on the part of former Republican Congressman Mark Foley (R-Florida) and it all spelled doom for the Republican Party as Democrats retook the House and Senate. In the 2008 election, Pat Robertson endorsed former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani (see http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/usnews/whispers/main3495695.shtml?source=search_story). Other Evangelicals supported the candidacy of Governor Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and a former pastor. However, the eventual nominee John McCain received a cool reception form Evangelicals; even his nomination of Evangelical Christian and governor of Alaska Sarah Palin failed to clinch a victory for McCain. McCain found himself forced to repudiate the endorsements of the Reverend John Hagee and Pastor Rod Parsley (two prominent Evangelical ministers) because of their harsh criticisms of Islam (see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/us/politics/23hagee.html?_r=1&em&ex=1211688000&en=cac841d277244547&ei=5087%0A). McCain lost to Senator Barack Obama.

The Future of Evangelicalism: Going Forward:

Having discussed the history of the Evangelical Movement at some length, I will now turn to the future of the movement. After the 2008 election, many pundits bemoaned the death of the “Religious Right”, but this is far from the truth. In an article published for  Church and State, in 2006, writer Rob Boston listed “The Top Ten Power Brokers of the Religious Right” (two of the people mentioned have since died) but the other eight were: Pat Robertson, Focus on the Family (James Dobson), President of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) John Sears, The American Family Association President Don Wildmon, American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) founder Jay Sekulow, The Family Research Council led by Tony Perkins, Concerned Women for America and The Traditional Values Coalition (see http://thirdworldtraveler.com/Religion/PowerBrokers_ReligousRight.html for complete article) Outside of these people and groups, there are a wide array of public policy issues that  evangelicals could be more vocal about. In addition to their traditional issues of abortion, gay marriage, school prayer, faith-based initiatives and support for religious expression in public (such as the public display of the Ten Commandments) Evangelicals could continue to contribute to education reform. They could be more vocal in their support of charter schools and curriculum reform and the teaching of character education in public schools. In the area of healthcare, evangelicals could continue to push for conscience clause enforcement (whereby doctors can refuse to perform abortion or assist in life-ending treatment on moral ground. Churches could get together and build more private hospitals and enhance their outreach activities to the poor and needy. On the issue of the environment, Christians could continue to express their belief that God created the Earth and that as God’s creation, they could urge people to keep the environment clean and less polluted; they could accomplish this through stressing the Biblical concept of “stewardship” (taking good care of what someone is entrusted with)  and by emphasizing the Boy Scout maxim of “leave the campsite better than you found it.” These and other issues could broaden the appeal of Evangelicals to the wider base of the Republican Party.

Throughout the last 50 years, The Evangelical Movement has seen its fair share of victories and defeats and it has, without question, significantly altered the American political landscape. I have always considered myself an Evangelical Christian voter and have faced criticism for my right-wing views by people who want the Republican Party to be more moderate. When I tried to start Young Republicans in my area, my local GOP state committeemen, told me that I couldn’t use the words “Evangelical Christian” in our Young Republicans literature. This encounter eventually led me to abandon my efforts to restart Young Republicans in my area and resign. It is my sincere hope that Evangelicals are not ignored by the parties in future election campaigns. The Evangelicals are a people that are passionate about the issues for which they advocate and passion is a vital element to this vibrant democratic republic called America.

Appendix A

Breakdown of White Evangelical Vote by Party: 1960-2004

(The above table was created using information obtained from the With God on our Side documentary)

References

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