Religious right
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term 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.
Conservative critics object that the term Religious Right involves stereotyping by leftwing political activists. Others believe that such stereotyping is minimal, and the term "religious right" is used more often than other similar terms (such as "religious left") simply because in the United States a significant number of evangelical Christians are allied with right-wing political movements.
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. Some historians have traced the strong nationalism and political activism of modern Christians back to the Puritans who came out of England in the 1600's. The nationalist heraldry of the yellow ribbon seen in America today goes back to the sashes worn by soldiers of Oliver Cromwell's Puritan Army that went to war against King Charles I of England during the English Civil War.
External links
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.
