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Revision as of 16:42, 13 September 2004

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:

• against legal abortion
• against homosexuality
• supporting its vision of family life
• censorship of media outlets that promote what it sees as an 'anti-family' agenda

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 lead 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.

Compare with Moralism

People:

• Jerry Falwell
• Pat Robertson

• Homosexuality
• Political advocacy groups in the U.S.
• U.S. religious history