The Transformation of the Christian Right’s Moral Politics

Abstract: For at least the past four decades, the Christian Right’s political advocacy has epitomized morality politics in the US. In recent years, however, the Christian Right has transformed how it approaches various moral and cultural issues, appealing to the language and process of political rights. This reframing of cultural concerns has coincided with the declining cultural status of conservative Christianity. This article analyzes three issue areas—abortion, free speech, and religious freedom—documenting how conservative Christianity has altered its approach to public politics, coming to embrace individual rights language and arguments over and above common morality. The article also analyzes the whether this growing rights talk has contributed to extending support to the rights of others, finding mixed results. As conservative Christians have embraced the rights commitment for themselves, there has been a corresponding growth of political tolerance for others. At the same time, there remain prominent challenges to supporting pluralistic politics. While questions about the commitment to pluralism remain, the evolution of the Christian Right’s cultural style of politics has important implications, as the last vestige of communitarian politics routinely engages politics using the language of liberalism. Moral politics are now routinely rights politics.

Standort
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
Umfang
Online-Ressource
Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
The Transformation of the Christian Right’s Moral Politics ; volume:17 ; number:1 ; year:2019 ; pages:25-44 ; extent:20
The Forum ; 17, Heft 1 (2019), 25-44 (gesamt 20)

Urheber
Lewis, Andrew R.

DOI
10.1515/for-2019-0001
URN
urn:nbn:de:101:1-2412251545124.902075267788
Rechteinformation
Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
Letzte Aktualisierung
15.08.2025, 07:24 MESZ

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Beteiligte

  • Lewis, Andrew R.

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