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Moral Majority
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The Moral Majority, according to the Columbia Encyclopedia (Sixth Edition, 2001), is a "U.S. political action group composed of conservative, fundamentalist Christians. Founded (1979) and led (1979-87) by evangelist Rev. Jerry Falwell, the group played a significant role in the 1980 elections through its strong support of conservative candidates. It lobbied for prayer and the teaching of creationism in public schools, while opposing the Equal Rights Amendment, homosexual rights, abortion, and the U.S.-Soviet SALT treaties. The Moral Majority was dissolved in 1989." [1]
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The "Moral Majority" was a development of Protestant fundamentalism in the United States during the 1980s. The term itself was invented either by Jerry Falwell or his powerful backers. Falwell was the pastor at the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. As a primary leader of the "Moral Majority," ... he rose to national prominence and worked to enact a variety of social and political reforms across the country.
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Despite its relatively brief history as a formal organization, the Moral Majority had a major impact on America's political landscape and, more broadly, its popular culture. It played a key role in reintroducing religion to the realm of public debate, not just by addressing explicitly religious issues, such as school prayer, but by asserting the validity of religious belief as the foundation for public policy decisions, as in the controversy over abortion. Its stand on certain issues... produced a strong counterreaction among those Americans who supported feminism, reproductive choice, gay rights, and other liberal social trends, and pushed them to pursue a more active defense of their views. The Moral Majority thus helped to expand the debate between liberals and conservatives in American politics to include a broad range of social issues.
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Throughout the mid-1980s the Moral Majority worked on anticommunist campaigns and policies and for a clear-cut victory for the Central American policies of the Reagan administration. Ron Godwin, executive director of the Moral Majority, in 1983 served on the Citizen's Commission on the Crisis in the Americas, a 12-member conservative alternative to the Kissinger Commission. The Kissinger Commission (the National Bi-partisan Commission on Central America) was established by President Reagan to assist in establishing the administration's Central American policy. (10) In 1985 Falwell established the Liberty Federation which was to focus on "possible communistic takeovers" and other international issues. (14) Some sources stated that the Liberty Federation was an umbrella group that included the Moral Majority, another stated it was the new name for the Moral Majority, and others listed it as a separate organization. (19) The Liberty Federation had a political and educational arm called the Liberty Alliance.
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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.
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The founder of the Moral Majority was discovered without a pulse at Liberty University and pronounced dead at a hospital an hour later. Dr. Carl Moore, Falwell's physician, said he had a heart condition and presumably died of a heart rhythm abnormality.
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Moral Majority