How Fringe Christian Nationalists Made Abortion a Central Political Issue

[Quixote1818]

By Katherine Stewart


The most popular origin story of Christian nationalism today, shared by many critics and supporters alike, explains that the movement was born one day in 1973, when the Supreme Court unilaterally shredded Christian morality and made abortion “on demand” a constitutional right. At that instant, the story goes, the flock of believers arose in protest and threw their support to the party of “Life” now known as the Republican Party. The implication is that the movement, in its current form, finds its principal motivation in the desire to protect fetuses against the women who would refuse to carry them to term.

This story is worse than myth. It is false as history and incorrect as analysis. Christian nationalism drew its inspiration from a set of concerns that long predated the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade and had little to do with abortion. The movement settled on abortion as its litmus test sometime after that decision for reasons that had more to do with politics than embryos. It then set about changing the religion of many people in the country in order to serve its new political ambitions. From the beginning, the “abortion issue” has never been just about abortion. It has also been about dividing and uniting to mobilize votes for the sake of amassing political power.

*

On a crisp morning in January 2018, tens of thousands of marchers throng the National Mall in the annual March for Life. The crowd tilts female and young, and the overwhelming majority is white. A good number are clustered in church or campus youth groups and facing down the cold with parkas and Uggs or duck boots to protect their feet from the chill.

More: https://lithub.com/how-fringe-christian-nationalists-made-abortion-a-central-political-issue/

[JCMach1]

1. It's not fringe... It has been cultivated among the Talibornagain

and Catholic RWers for 50 yrs

[Elessar Zappa]

4. They're becoming a smaller percentage of the population every year.

It just appears that they’re a large group because they have a loud microphone.

[hedda_foil]

2. Thanks, Quixote1818! I've saved this to use in my classes on the 1970s!

[walkingman]

3. You might find this interesting. It is a good explanation

of why and how the Evangelical movement made Pro-life a major issue. Almost all leaders in the evangelical movement were pro-choice until the late 70's - including Billy Graham and the leader of the SBC (Southern Baptist Convention).

[DickKessler]

5. Really should've been left to Congress to find a sensible compromise, like in many countries.

Instead of relying on the courts, the least democratic branch of government.

[TlalocW]

6. The religious right coalesced

Around supporting segregation when federal monetary support for their non-religious (on paper) institutions, etc. went on the chopping block thanks to - of all people - Richard Nixon (though they tried to blame Jimmy Carter). When they finally gave up on that (on paper), they decided that it was pretty cool that a bunch of right-wing preachers like them had come together and "contributed" to the national dialogue so they picked a new topic - abortion - as their banner issue.

TlalocW

[Docreed2003]

7. This is an important article and should be shared widely

I think this quote captures exactly my experience growing up in evangelical circles in the 80's and what we have seen play out in our politics as evangelicals have risen to prominence.

From the beginning, the New Right sought radical change. They would establish themselves “first as the opposition, then the alternative, finally the government,” according to Conservative Caucus chair Howard Phillips. “We will not try to reform the existing institutions. We only intend to weaken them and eventually destroy them,” said Weyrich protégé Eric Heubeck, writing for the Free Congress Foundation. “We will maintain a constant barrage of criticism against the Left. We will attack the very legitimacy of the Left. We will not give them a moment’s rest . . . We will use guerrilla tactics to undermine the legitimacy of the dominant regime.”

[jalan48]

8. K&R

Great article. The right wing/Christian takeover has been building for decades.