Episode Details

Recent United States Supreme Court decisions on the questions of abortion rights and prayer in public school have suggested to many observers that the Court is following a theocratic Christian paradigm in passing its verdicts. The Christian Right’s involvement in politics has been a staple of twentieth-century American society and has been championed by Billy Graham in his magazine Christianity Today, Jerry Falwell with his Moral Majority, and Pat Robertson in his presidential campaigns. At its worst, the Christian Right helped to prop up a genocidal dictator in Guatemala and at its most effective it has made significant changes to American law. How have evangelicals shaped conservatism and what can that tell us about their impact on contemporary politics?