Well, as someone who grew up in a liberal fundamentalist household in the 1970's (yes, as Balmer notes, we do exist) is it revisionist history if these struggles actually occurred in our daily lives long before the media picked up on them?

Anti-women and anti-sex.

If they had the choice, would they prefer acquiring tax-exempt status over being champions of today's "fame & fortune" issues?

In other words, are they for sale?

I find it very interesting that the early language on abortion had to do with "sharp restrictions" and "frustration" of abortion rights.

It seems that the position evolved only over time to be banning all abortion.

The Christian right was morally humiliated by the civil rights movement. Preachers like Falwell who’d defended segregation were painfully aware that the wider culture viewed their politics as unchristian & immoral. In response, they sought to reassert their moral status, retake the high ground, put their tormentors on the defensive, by shifting the center of public moral discourse from issues of race & poverty to those of sexuality. If not for the tremendous resentment white Southern conservatives felt in the wake of the civil rights movement, the emotional energy behind fundamentalist Protestant anti-abortion activism would have been much weaker.

There's no question that early evangelical leaders were originally drawn to politics by the loss of tax-exempt status for their segregated schools, which happened via a series of court rulings before Roe v. Wade was even a twinkle in Harry Blackmun's eyes.

Well, yes and no.

The first IRS restrictions were laid down under the Nixon administration, but the real firestorm came later. It was becoming evident that a number of segregation academies were still benefitting from tax-exempt status in the late '70s, so Carter's IRS Commissioner Jerome Kurtz tightened the regulations.

That fight was, according to Viguerie and Weyrich, the spark for the religious right. They organized new networks in 1978 to protest the regulations, and then built on those a year later to form the Moral Majority, etc.

But on the larger point, yes, evangelicals and fundamentalists didn't care about abortion until the late '70s.

The Christian right was morally humiliated by the civil rights movement. Preachers like Falwell who’d defended segregation were painfully aware that the wider culture viewed their politics as unchristian & immoral. In response, they sought to reassert their moral status, retake the high ground, put their tormentors on the defensive, by shifting the center of public moral discourse from issues of race & poverty to those of sexuality. If not for the tremendous resentment white Southern conservatives felt in the wake of the civil rights movement, the emotional energy behind fundamentalist Protestant anti-abortion activism would have been much weaker.

Anti-rationalist & pro emotionalist

Always has been their agenda & always will be their agenda

"Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory." - John Kenneth Galbraith

Money and segregation were certainly issues for Falwell and others

Kevin, it is rich with irony liberals are now complaining about Dr. Jerry Falwell being a racist. What about the liberal support for the racists Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton? What about the bigoted attacks against Mitt Romney's Mormonism by Sharpton and other liberals? The modern version of segregation and Jim Crow laws is affirmative action. How come liberals still support it? Until liberals reject Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and end affirmative action, conservatives will never believe liberals are sincere in their desire to end racism.

Also, for the record, Falwell's school -- Lynchburg Christian Academy -- was opened as a school for whites only, but admitted a small number of black students soon thereafter.

He wasn't an outright segregationist, but his comments on King et al. at the time were highly critical. Go check out his famous "Ministers and Marches" speech where he denounces the Selma campaign.

The modern version of segregation and Jim Crow laws is affirmative action.

Yes, because trying to ensure a racially diverse workplace and student body is exactly the same as trying to ensure a racially exclusive workplace and student body.

And they say the conservative intellectual movement is dead.

wishIwuz2 >"...are they for sale?"

Always have been, always will be

The temple money changers had nothing, absolutely nothing on these people

"Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist." - John Maynard Keynes

What's more, it was only after abortion and gay bashing were added to the evangelical mix that the Christian Right became a genuine, broad-based "movement."

Abortion became their Emmanuel Goldstein, a focus for their hatred.

It was only in recent decades that opposition to abortion became a "non-feminist", "conservative" issue. Before that the sides were, if anything, reversed. Early feminists were anti-abortion, and Planned Parenthood didn't come out in favor of legalized abortion until 1969.

Why the recognition of Zimbabwe? That part I don't get.

Another conservative myth is that the Supreme Court forced something on the states that no one wanted.

They forget about the wave of states that were liberalizing their abortion laws during the late '60s and early '70s. These weren't just blue states like New York and California (where Gov. Ronald Reagan signed the abortion liberalization law), but also places like North Carolina.

Someone should point out to Michelle Goldberg that Catholics belong to a church, it's a denomination, a rather large one. It isn't a group as she states in the exerpt.

I quote from Randall Balmer on the subject over at my humble blog. He claims to be quoting Paul Weyrich.

If someone's going to argue that Balmer is wrong, they're going to need to go beyond "aah, doesn't seem like that to me."

My father was a minister and an executive with the American Baptist churches. One of the state's congregations brought in a graduate of Falwell's seminary as their ministry in the late 70's. In very short order the new minister tore the church apart by making anti-abortion the litmus test for members. This old established church's congregation was split in two with Falwell's minister taking the church out of the American Baptist denomination and affliating it with Falwell's group. The kicker was several months after they withdrew my father received a newsletter from Falwell's church proudly claiming credit for founding this "new" church. I don't think I ever saw him so mad.

My father could never stand the fundmentalists, and especially Falwell, becuase they distorted and destroyed the true message of Christ.

I am with K and Al helps prove the point I have argued for a number of years that a large portion of the Christian right has used abortion as a code for racism because it is a more acceptable stance in the wider culture.Instead of going after the "libruls" on race, they can go after them for abortions, tolerance of different sexual preferences, "activist courts" etc. The real proof is that they have stood by the Republican party which apart from paying lipservice to anti abortion policies really has not done as much on that score as it has in keeping policies designed to help minorities in check. The real problem for the Republicans is immigration--the Christian right hates the brown people as much as the black people, but too many Republicans like to exploit the cheap labor.

Why the recognition of Zimbabwe?

They supported the breakaway white government of Rhodesia, on which see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilateral_Declaration_of_Independence_(Rhodesia)

Similar to white racist support for the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Again, this reinforces the idea that anti-abortion politics for these people was driven in part by a displacement of resentment over their defeat by racial liberals. Most Southern white racists preferred to think of themselves as "just good people," & anti-abortion moralizing represented a form of asymmetrical warfare against critics of their racism, an opportunity to reassert their sense of righteousness, which gallingly had been called into question by the civil rights movement.

Ah... finally Mr. Drum is posting on Falwell...

Didn't want to have a hate thread eh?
Figured you wait a bit for the ardor to cool.
How "liberal" of you Mr. Drum.
No sense inflaming the right wing with angry left wing rhetoric.
Right?

Here is my take on Mr. Falwell:

Jerry was a con man who tricked poor and diseased people into sending him money because of his supposed direct pipeline to God.

Fuck him.
And fuck people who respect him.
The guy was a crook who preyed on the indigent.

He deserves nothing but spittle and scorn.

Got that?

One has to admire the intrusive and intolerant political faction for the way they have mobilized their constituency and framed the debate about issues of homosexuality and reproductive rights. One must also be dismayed and disillusioned about the poor performance of the political opposition to them, that is relied upon to prevent their imposition of authority upon us all.

CNN had a rabbi friend of Falwell's on, and he raved and raved about what a good friend of Israel Falwell had always been.

No mention that Falwell and his fellow conservative Christians support Israel because they believe that
Jewish control of Jerusalem -- and then the destruction of Jerusalem and all the Jews there -- is a precondition for the Rapture.

Nope. Just an image that Falwell saw his Jewish brethren as equals. More like targets.

Following up on K's comment, the hatred of the Supreme Court and the courts generally does not arise from Roe. It arises from Brown. There was a time when roadside signs reading "Impeach Earl Warren" were common throughout the South.

Here's a nice example: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/images/history_pic2.jpg

Jesus was a Liberal Jew who didn't say one word about abortion or homosexuality. Wonder how he and Jerry are getting along right now?

As the anti-apartheid movement (the group of activists I came out of) was gathering steam in the 80's, and Coca-Cola and Kodak were feeling the heat of boycotts, Falwell was advising his followers to invest in South Africa, and buy all the Krugerrands they could get their hands on.

I'm with ROTFLMLiberalAO, Falwell was a con man and if Jesus meant what he said, Falwell is in hell right now.

Abortion, race and immigration are three prime issues whipped up by power-hungry rich assholes to divide and manipulate the little people, the people who want to be led.

It's amazing to see how easy it is to steer the minds of the majority of people. We must thank George Bush for giving us such a clear, undeniable demonstration of mass mental manipulation.

Thanks George. Thanks Jerry. Now burn in Hell.

What do we know about the heirs apparent to Falwells (I hear that this would be his [two?] sons)?

Bloix: " ... the hatred of the Supreme Court and the courts generally does not arise from Roe. It arises from Brown. There was a time when roadside signs reading 'Impeach Earl Warren' were common throughout the South."

The South - "America's Cracker Barrel".

virulently.

Good choice of words there, Kevin.
It conveys meaning on multiple levels wonderfully.

. . . and I would add that Falwell won.

Roe is going to be overturned; the equal rights amendment never was ratified; Congress sat on a whole slew of treaties; and slowly but surely, public education is being destroyed.

So, why have the wingers won? I would say it is because the "left" (whatever the fuck that is in this country) has no common goals, no philosophy that unites it.

Take abortion for instance: neither DailyKos or AmericaBlog give a rat's ass about this issue. Filibuster Roberts or Alito? Not worth it according to the leading liberal bloggers? The war? Well, Bush is for it, so we must be against it. But call for impeachment? Nah, we'll let our readers do that.

Falwell laid out a few, simple-stupid ideas: bigotry, discrimination, greed -- and he built an empire.

Hitchens the hog mocks Falwell
Falwell was racist scum who used bigotry, fear and intimidation for political power.

Michelle Goldberg doesn't know what she's talking about. I grew up in a conservative (as opposed to moderate) Southern Baptist church and after the Roe v. Wade supreme court decision, it was a very big deal at our church. We'd make up posters with little baby fetuses in my sixth grade sunday school. And gays? Hello? Has she never heard of Anita Bryant and her anti-gay campaign in Miami in the 70s?

Fortunately, Falwell's hucksterism lifted the scales from my eyes and I left the SB church as soon as I was an adult. But the tax rule was never an issue in my church. The rumblings might have started with the 1960s school prayer ruling by the Supreme Court. But I really do think Roe v. Wade caused the conservative wing of the SB convention to start uniting politically. Before that, the SB convention and its seminaries were dominated by so-called moderates, a la Jimmy Carter. What Michelle doesn't understand about SBs is the the convention hierarchy, at least at that time, did not control individual churches. Each church made its own rules -- that was a premise of Southern Baptism.

That said, I also was very pro-environment growing up, even had one of those earth flags hanging in my bedroom, and no one saw anything sinful about that. And there was a healthy debate in my sunday school about whether to pull the plug when a loved one was in a coma. The uniformity of belief about Terry Schiavo was rather alarming when I recall those days.

Roger Williams has to be rolling in his grave.

[Warmongering deleted. But feel free to enlist]

--Tinkerbell

Jesus was a Liberal Jew who didn't say one word about abortion or homosexuality. Wonder how he and Jerry are getting along right now?

Word is that before noon today, Jesus had stripped Falwell of his wallet, forced him to wear a really gay outfit and given him a grade-one swirly.

"Why the recognition of Zimbabwe?

They supported the breakaway white government of Rhodesia, on which see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilateral_Declaration_of_Independence_(Rhodesia)

Similar to white racist support for the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Again, this reinforces the idea that anti-abortion politics for these people was driven in part by a displacement of resentment over their defeat by racial liberals. Most Southern white racists preferred to think of themselves as "just good people," & anti-abortion moralizing represented a form of asymmetrical warfare against critics of their racism, an opportunity to reassert their sense of righteousness, which gallingly had been called into question by the civil rights movement.
Posted by: K"

Things are much better in Zimbabwe now. Good thing nobody listened to all those awful "white racists."

Ah, Brian. Still no competent mental health professionals in your town, I see.

Now that's substantive commentary, shortstop. I hope that your mommy doesn't need the email machine any time soon.

Wait! Is this the usual fucked up "brian" or a new, differently fucked up "Brian"? I've been away from PA and haven't kept up.

Jerry was a con man...

Gotta love that mandatory 10% tithe baby.

I can see that we still have the usual fucked up moron known as "shortstop."

Someone should point out to Michelle Goldberg that Catholics belong to a church, it's a denomination, a rather large one. It isn't a group as she states in the exerpt.

Someone should point out to the poster here named "Jon" that while not all groups are churches or denominations, all churches or denominations are also groups, and therefore, while Michelle Goldberg would have been correct had she called Catholics a denomination or church, she was also correct to call them a group.

(Actually, if she intended to include both the Roman Catholic Church and self-declared 'Traditional Catholic' communities that are, in whole or in part, out of communion with Rome, they still form a definable "group" but are quite arguably not part of a common denomination or church, whether she intended that or not is unclear and not particularly important to the overall idea that she was communicating.)

And they say the conservative intellectual movement is dead.

To have died, it would have had to at one point been alive.

Early feminists were anti-abortion, and Planned Parenthood didn't come out in favor of legalized abortion until 1969.

Early feminists were, as I recall, not categorically of one mind about abortion; it was a divide within feminism that split roughly on class lines between elite and working class feminism, along with birth control and a lot of other thing, and also corresponded a lot with the split between "virtue" feminism (which favored, e.g., suffrage as a way to create a more virtuous society) and "equal rights" feminism (which favored women's rights broadly).

OTOH, I recall reading, 15 years or so ago, a 1974 Planned Parenthood book on abortion which largely approached it as a problem that policy ought to seek to eliminate (presumably, by working mostly on the demand side) even though it implicitly took the stance that it should be legal. So, yeah, I'd agree that the rhetorical positions have shifted and hardened on both sides over time.

Robert >"...Wonder how he and Jerry are getting along right now?"

Probably not a toll call from "up there" to "down there" so I suppose that Mr. Uniter is letting Mr. Hate know where abouts Mr. Hate`s moral compass lost its lock on reality. Also reminding him to prepare some room for Dobson, Moon, Robertson et al that will be along soon & that he ain`t gonna be needin no sweaters no more.

Took too long for it to happen in my estimation.

“…When the greedy realize that half a dollar is better than a whole dime, conflicts will end.” - Petrocelli.firedoglake.com

feh....one less loudmoth nutjob.

Jerry Falwell was concerned that America was becoming too secular. He thought (wrongly) that the Bible guided the founding fathers of the United States as they wrote the constitution and put our country together. These are the things he emphasized in the introduction to his first book (Listen, America!) published in 1980. He wrote that a “whole generation of Americans were reared under the influence of a government that taught them socialism and welfarism”. He was very Nixonian in his call for “silent” (Moral Majority) Christians to rise up and take back the government from immoral liberals.

Falwell and LaHaye were unique in that they pushed the application of a specific litmus test for political candidates. The test consisted of the following questions that demonstrate where their heads were at. This was a test that Falwell said Christians should apply.

a. Do you agree that this country was founded on a belief in God and the moral principles of the Bible? Do you concur that this country has been departing from those principles and needs to return to them?
b. Would you favor stricter laws relating to the sale of pornography?
c. Do you favor stronger laws against the use and sale of hard drugs?
d. Are you in favor of legalizing marijuana?
e. Would you favor legalizing prostitution?
f. Do you approve of abortions on demand when the life of the mother is not in danger?
g. Do you favor laws that would increase homosexual rights?
h. Would you vote to prevent known homosexuals to teach in schools?
i. Do you favor capital punishment for capital offenses?
j. Do you favor the right of parents to send their children to private schools?
k. Do you favor voluntary prayer in the public schools?
l. Do you favor removal of the tax-exempt status of churches?
m. Do you believe that government should remove children from their parents’ home except in cases of physical abuse?
n. Do you favor sex education, contraceptives, or abortions for minors without parental consent?
o. Except in wartime or dire emergency, would you vote for government spending that exceeds revenue?
p. Do you favor a reduction in taxes to allow families more spendable income?
q. Do you favor a reduction in government?
r. Do you favor passage of the Equal Rights Amendment?
s. Do you favor busing schoolchildren out of their neighborhood to achieve racial integration?
t. Do you favor more federal involvement in education?

If anyone is interested in an academic perspective on this - particularly the protestant/catholic cleavage and abortion - you should check out some of the work by Dr. Richard Johnston of U. Penn. (formerly of the University of British Columbia, current head of the Annenburg National Election Survey).

Jerry Falwell received a secret $3.5 million bailout from Sun Myung Moon (of Moonie fame) when his piece of shit Liberty University nearly went bankrupt in 1995.

One of the oddities of the Roe debate is how pro-choice people for the most part successfuuly avoid talking about the breadth of the Roe holding and how pro-life people are generally ineffective in educating the public about the true breadth of Roe. Part of it is a largely pro choice media, but it still is an interesting aspect of the debate.

For example, what percentage of Americans do you think know that Roe stands for the proposition that for up to about six months, a mother has a constitutional right to abort the baby because she does not like the gender of the child. Or because she has found a new boyfriend. Or because she has a long planned vacation that she does not want to reschedule. Or because it inconveniences her education or career plans. Etc.

The pro choice side has been very effective at keeping these facts out of the public debate, while the pro life side has been very ineffective in presenting the facts. I don't know why. The pro life advocates could make these points every time and effectively raise the level of understanding among the public. It would at least shift the polls a few points toward the pro life side if more people correctly understood Roe, don't you think?

Oh god, it's the troll again.

I am so longing for the day we can simply take unwanted embryos and fetuses and simply implant them in the bellies of every sanctimonious "pro-life" Christianist misogynist bigot.

Look--it lives off my bloodstream, I get to do what I want about it.

"Early feminists were, as I recall, not categorically of one mind about abortion."

Wrong. They are ALL anti-abortion.

"Early feminists were, as I recall, not categorically of one mind about abortion."

Really? Everything I read says they were unanimously opposed.

I remember reading that several years ago Jerry Falwell admitted that the Moral Majority was never a majority (as he was dissolving it)...thus meaning that his Moral Majority organization was founded on a LIE...and since all liars go to hell, based on Jerry Falwell's own beliefs...then we all know where Jerry Falwell and all members of his non-majority, lying, deceitful Moral Majority are really going...and it ain't heaven.

So sad. Too bad. But Jerry Falwell should not have lied in pursuit of his hardcore, ultra-orthodox, right-wing anti-Christ, anti-democracy religious agenda.

But there is hope. I believe in reincarnation and that one reaps the judgments one has sown in their previous life.

Thus, I foresee Jerry Falwell, in his next incarnation, being "born again" as a black female child, who will grow up gay, in some backward country, ruled by religious bigots like he was previously, who hate gays and hate women. It'll be a twofer. And seem like hell. Which may be where the idea of hell originated. But we always keep forgetting.

As one sows, one must reap. Too bad Jerry Falwell chose intolerance over acceptance and hate over love. But then, there's always next time. Or the next. Or the next. A merciful, forgiving God wouldn't have it any other way.

Of course, I can't prove any of this. But it definitely makes me pause, and stop judging (as much as possible), especially after that little black kid said to me in astonishment, "Oh, oh, I remember you. You were at my funeral," and after I later realized that this little, four-year-old black kid was the incarnation of my deceased uncle who had died five years earlier. He even looked like a short, dark-skinned version of my deceased uncle, even down to the same eyeglasses.

I don't know. But it has made me less judgmental (like Jesus taught), and more accepting, tolerant and forgiving...because I just may be accepting of, tolerant of and forgiving of myself.

Peace be with you all.

Oh, I forgot to mention.

My deceased uncle was a white racist who hated all black people.

Thus, what could be more appropriate (as well as a learning experience) than for him to come back as a member of the race he previously had nothing but contempt for? Walking in someone else's shoes, thus, takes on a whole new meaning. What if it is literal, at least, from a soul perspective?

Who knows? But I figure we'll all find out, one way or another. In the meantime, though, I think I'll "err" on the side of tolerance, acceptance, forgiveness and unconditional love. Better to be safe than sorry...just in case.

Amen, Oracle.

Jerry Falwell was a phony Christian, just like George W. Bush is.

If Barack Obama were not black, would he be a contender?

brian, everyone's favortie faux-reasonable concern troll, wrote: Part of it is a largely pro choice media, but it still is an interesting aspect of the debate.

Would that be the "pro choice media" that willingly adopted the bogus phrase "partial birth abortion"?

Such transparent dishonesty is why no one takes you seriously.

So what do you think helped Jesus become a religious leader? Hatred of gays or school segregation? Has to be something sinister, doesn't it?

This view of history in this post is rather depressing: it lends support to the thesis that the religious right inspires the fierce dedication of its followers because of its bigotry, rather than in spite of it.

Abortion has never been a big issue for me.

Early feminists were, as I recall, not categorically of one mind about abortion."

Really? Everything I read says they were unanimously opposed.

Well, you are probably right. So what! Why does feminism have ro reflect what women of, oh about an even 100 years ago thought?

Are you still devoted to your Ford flivver.

It may shock you, but feminism has as many definitions as there are women, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Unless they all decided to be my romantic slaves! That would be cool. They would fight over me!

Thus, I foresee Jerry Falwell, in his next incarnation, being "born again" as a black female child, who will grow up gay, in some backward country, ruled by religious bigots like he was previously, who hate gays and hate women.

You mean Texas?

Jesus was a Liberal Jew who didn't say one word about abortion or homosexuality. Wonder how he and Jerry are getting along right now?

Since Jesus spent his time wandering around with an all-male group of rather butch manual laborers and one token female friend, I think his attitude towards homosexuality speaks for itself...

Since Jesus spent his time wandering around with an all-male group of rather butch manual laborers and one token female friend [...]

Invent a false premise, and you can come to any conclusion you want.

Invent a false premise, and you can come to any conclusion you want.

Well, I did get something out of law school....