Moral Majority

[[File:Jerry Falwell portrait.jpg|thumb|right|165px|[[Jerry Falwell Sr.]], the founder]]
{{uspolitics}}
''Perhaps you were looking for [[Mobocracy]]?''
{{cquote|Behind the idea of the Moral Majority was this notion that there could be a coalition of these different religious groups that all agree on abortion and homosexuality and other issues even if they never agreed on how to read the Bible or the nature of God|||John Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron and an expert on religious conservatives.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/obituaries/16falwell.html?_r=1&oref=slogin</ref>}}
  

The '''
Moron
 Moral 
Minority
 Majority''' was a 
[[cult]]
 special interest group founded by [[Jerry Falwell]],<ref>though Paul Weyrich originally developed the term [http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/w/paul_weyrich/index.html]</ref> designed to inject [[Christian]] [[fundamentalism]] into politics.  It was founded in 1979 and disbanded in the late 1980s, but its campaigning methods outlived it and were taken up by other right-wing organizations. 

==Policies==
{{cquote|♫I wanna be the minority,<br>♫I don't need your authority,<br>♫Down with the moral majority,<br>♫'Cause I wanna be the minority!|||Green Day, ''Minority''<ref>https://genius.com/Green-day-minority-lyrics</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDBlqu6KF4k</ref>}}

The Moral Majority was "[[Pro-life]]" and supported [[Bible]]-based morality, [[Classroom prayer]], "[[Family values]]", "[[Capitalism|Free enterprise]]", and [[Israel]]; they opposed [[Communism]], the [[Gay agenda]], [[Pornography]], and [[Sex education]].

==History==
The Moral Majority aimed to include [[Roman Catholic]]s, [[Mormon]]s, [[Jew]]s, and others with [[Conservative#United States|conservative]] opinions,{{fact}} though membership became predominantly [[Evangelical Christian]]. This inclusiveness became their downfall,{{cn}} as different right-wing groups began campaigning on different interests and the Moral Majority gradually lost support. Knowledgeable and otherwise unbiased scholars regard its founding as the beginning of the [[Religious Right]] in the [[United States]].{{cn}}

In 1981, the Moral Majority set up a fund of $3 million to lead a valiant fight against [[homosexuality]] in San Francisco by putting up advertisements to stir up [[homophobia|anti-gay sentiment]] and to try and persuade [[gay]] people to give up their 
lifestyle
 sexual orientation (the ''Chicago Tribune'' said that $3 million to stop homosexuality in San Francisco was "optimistic").<ref>[http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1981/02/16/page/50/article/majority-rule Majority Rule], leader column in ''Chicago Tribune'', February 16, 1981</ref> A quote from Dean Wycoff, a spokesman for the Moral Majority in Santa Clara, gives a rather representative flavor of the love and kindness that ran through this campaign:

{{cquote|I agree with capital punishment, and I believe homosexuality is one of those that could be coupled with murder and other sins.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/11/us/around-the-nation-coalition-in-san-francisco-to-fight-homosexuality.html AROUND THE NATION; Coalition in San Francisco To Fight Homosexuality], Associated Press in the ''New York Times''.
</ref>}}

''The New York Native'' noticed something:
{{cquote|Even as the Moral Majority was taking a full-page ad in the ''[[New York Times]]'' denying that they are against the civil rights of homosexuals, their leader was mailing out a fund-raising pitch with the slogan, “Let’s Stop The Homosexuals Once And For All” emblazoned across the top.|||<ref>[https://archive.org/details/nynative10/page/n7 "New York Native Issue 10], page 8.</ref>}}

==Inappropriate name==
The moral majority consisted of the same people that [[Richard Nixon]] called "the [[silent majority]]". It has been pointed out that the moral majority was neither moral nor a majority. They may well have been silent during his administration, though.

The name might be seen as a not so subtle [[argumentum ad populum]]: a similar kind of spirit runs in names like ''[[One Million Moms|One Million 
Morons
 Moms]]''.

==Notable people within the movement==

{{cquote|One of them said that God didn't listen to the prayers of a Jew. Another refused to share a platform with [[Phyllis Schlafly]], the moral majority's very own sweetheart, because she was a Catholic... They have said that one can't be a liberal and a good Christian at one and the same time so that if you don't vote right, you are going straight to hell whatever your religious beliefs are.|||[[Isaac Asimov]]<ref>http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/asimov.htm</ref>}}

*[[Jerry Falwell]] (founder; deceased)
*[[Robert Grant (Christian Leader)|Robert Grant]]
*[[Jesse Helms]] (deceased)
*[[James Kennedy (televangelist)|James Kennedy]] (deceased)
*[[Beverly LaHaye]] (deceased)
*[[Timothy LaHaye|Tim LaHaye]] (deceased)
*[[Trent Lott]]
*[[Judith A. Reisman]] (deceased)
*[[Pat Robertson]] (deceased)
*[[James Robison (televangelist)|James Robison]]
*[[Charles Stanley (evangelist)|Charles Stanley]] (deceased)
*[[Cal Thomas]]
*[[Richard Viguerie]]
*[[Paul Weyrich]] (deceased)
*[[Laszlo Pasztor]] - former {{wpl|Arrow Cross Party}} member and Nazi collaborator

==See also==
*[[Christian Coalition]]
*[[Jerry Falwell Jr.]] — disgraced son of the founder
*[[Mary Whitehouse]]
*[[New Right (United States)]]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji0GUBGR2Bo Dead Kennedys - Moral Majority]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Anti-abortion activists]]
[[Category:Anti-Catholicism]]
[[Category:Antifeminism]]
[[Category:Antisemitism]]
[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Culture wars]]
[[Category:Cults]]
[[Category:Fundamentalist Christian organizations]]
[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Misnomers]]
[[Category:Organizations]]
[[Category:Political action groups]]
[[Category:Right-wing activists]]
[[Category:Sexism]]
[[Category:United States politics]]
[[Category:We're on a mission from God]]

Categories: Anti-abortion activists, Anti-Catholicism, Antifeminism, Antisemitism, Christianity, Culture wars, Cults, Fundamentalist Christian organizations, Homophobia, Misnomers, Organizations, Political action groups, Right-wing activists, Sexism, United States politics, We're on a mission from God