Religious right
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The Religious Right, is a broad label applied to a number of political and religious movements and groups. These groups have particularly conservative and right wing views; and it primarily focuses on the phenomena in the United States. Sometimes the term Religious Right is used interchangeably with the term Christian Right, although some argue for a distinction. The main article on the topic of politically active conservative Christians in the United States is at the Christian Right page.
While many nations have conservative religious institutions that interact with conservative political institutions, the term "Religious Right" is most commonly applied to groups within the United States. Internationally, many of the same trends are seen as reflecting forms of religious Fundamentalism.
Proponents of using the term Religious Right argue that in addition to Christians, there are conservative Jews and Muslims active in a broad coalition. Opponents argue that Christians vastly outnumber Jews and Muslims in this coalition, and that using the term Religious Right masks this fact.
Use of the term Religious Right is thought by some to be an example of stereotyping by liberal media and leftwing political activists. Others believe that there is no stereotyping at all, and the term "religious right" is used more often than other similar terms (such as "religious left") simply because in the United States the Christian Right forms a more unified group than others of the Christian community.
See also
- Christian right
- Evangelical left
- Family values
- Judeo-Christian
- Evangelicalism
- Fundamentalism
- Dominionism
- Dominion Theology
- Christian Zionism
Contrast: Christian left
References
Diamond, Sara. 1995. Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States. New York: Guilford.
Martin, William. 1996. With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America, New York: Broadway Books.
Ribuffo, Leo P. 1983. The Old Christian Right: The Protestant Far Right from the Great Depression to the Cold War. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
External Links
- Christian Coalition (http://www.cc.org)
- Faith and Values Coalition (http://www.faithandvalues.us)
- Americans United for Separation of Church and State (http://www.au.org)
- People for the American Way (http://www.pfaw.org)
- I Hate Pat Robertson - Monitoring the Religious Right (http://www.ihatepatrobertson.com)
- Biblical Resource Database (http://www.plymouthbrethren.org)
- Theocracy Watch (http://www.theocracywatch.org)