Have We Forgotten How to Forgive?
The new moral minority could take some lessons from the old Moral Majority
Remember the Moral Majority? Founded in 1979 by the legendary Southern Baptist minister and televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr., it was a group of religious leaders and conservative lawmakers that aimed to spread right wing Christian values across an increasingly secular (and, to their minds, increasingly depraved) nation. The group gained huge cultural and political influence during the Reagan administration and set the tone for American conservatism through most of the 1980s. Nationwide efforts to curtail sex education in public schools? The Moral Majority was there. Those famous campaigns to censor art and defund the NEA because it supported artists like Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe? An effort brought to you by Republican Sen. Jesse Helms and the Moral Majority.
The Moral Majority’s biggest target, at least aside from abortion, was the so-called homosexual agenda and in 1981 it proposed the Family Protection Act, which would have barred federal funds from “any organization that suggests that homosexuality can be an acceptable alternative lifestyle.” The bill was defeated, but the anti-gay crusading continued despite a cultural tide moving decidedly in the other direction. When Ellen DeGeneres came out as gay on her television…
