Editing Moral Majority (section)

===Before establishment===
The origins of the Moral Majority can be traced to 1976 when Baptist [[minister (Christianity)|minister]] [[Jerry Falwell Sr.]] embarked on a series of "I Love America" rallies across the country to raise awareness of social issues important to him.{{Sfn|Liebman|Wuthnow|1983|p=58}}  These rallies were an extension of Falwell's decision to go against the traditional [[Baptist]] principle of separating religion and politics, a change of heart Falwell says he had when he perceived what he described as the decay of the nation's morality.{{Sfn|Allitt|2003|p=152}} Through hosting these rallies, Falwell was able to gauge national support for a formal organization and also raise his profile as a leader. Having already been a part of a well-established network of ministers and ministries, within a few years Falwell was favorably positioned to launch the Moral Majority.

The impetus for the Moral Majority was the struggle for control of an American [[Conservatism|conservative]] Christian advocacy group known as [[Christian Voice (USA)|Christian Voice]] during 1978. [[Robert Grant (Christian Leader)|Robert Grant]], Christian Voice's president, said in a news conference that the [[Religious right in the United States|religious right]] was a "sham... controlled by three [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] and a [[Jew]]." Following this, [[Paul Weyrich]], [[Terry Dolan (activist)|Terry Dolan]], [[Richard Viguerie]] (the Catholics) and [[Howard Phillips (activist)|Howard Phillips]] (the Jew) left Christian Voice.

During a 1979 meeting, they urged televangelist [[Jerry Falwell Sr.]] to found the Moral Majority (a phrase coined by Weyrich<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Lernoux |first=Penny |date=April 17, 1989 |title=A Reverence for Fundamentalism |magazine=[[The Nation]] |volume=248 |issue=15}}</ref>). This was the period when the [[New Christian Right]] arose.<ref name="Martin1996a">{{cite book |last=Martin |first=William |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780553067453 |title=With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America |publisher=Broadway Books |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-553-06745-3 |location=New York |url-access=registration |via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref><ref name="Diamond1995a">{{cite book |last=Diamond |first=Sara |author-link=Sara Diamond (sociologist) |url=https://archive.org/details/roadstodominionr00diamrich |title=Roads to Dominion |publisher=Guilford Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-89862-864-7 |location=New York |url-access=registration |via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref> Joining Falwell in the Moral Majority was Ed McAteer, who the same year, founded the Religious Roundtable in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Tennessee]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Fox |first=Margalit |date=October 10, 2004 |title=Edward E. McAteer, 78; Empowered Christian Right |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/obituaries/us/edward-e-mcateer-78-empowered-christian-right.html?_r=0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717053211/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/obituaries/us/edward-e-mcateer-78-empowered-christian-right.html?_r=0 |archive-date=2016-07-17 |access-date=May 26, 2016 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Falwell also brought in [[Tim LaHaye]], leader of a clergy group opposed to gay rights and [[John Birch Society]] figure, as an organizer.{{Sfn|Celestini|2018|p=300}}