Editing Moral Majority (section)

==Organizational goals and composition==
The Moral Majority sought to mobilize [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] Americans to become politically active on issues they thought were important. A variety of tactics were used to garner support. These tactics included direct-mail campaigns, telephone hotlines, rallies, and religious television broadcasts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wuthnow |first=Robert |title=The Restructuring of American Religion |date=1988 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-07759-8 |series=Studies in church and state |pages=205}}</ref> Although the Moral Majority operated for only a decade, it rapidly became a visible political force and was relatively effective in its mobilization goals. According to Robert Liebman and [[Robert Wuthnow]], common explanations for this success include:{{Sfn|Liebman|Wuthnow|1983|pp=55–57}}

* The Moral Majority was founded with strong financial backing already in place.
* Its leaders frequently communicated with its constituents, enabling consistent messages to resonate throughout all levels.
* Its leaders generally had previous organizational and management experience.
* The general public was amenable to the issues the Moral Majority emphasized.
Scholar Carmen Celestini argues that the [[culture war]] issues, [[Conspiracy theory|conspiratorialism]], [[apocalypticism]], and fear emphasized in the [[John Birch Society]] were key aspects in the successful mobilization of the Moral Majority, particularly through Tim LaHaye, a Moral Majority figure and John Birch Society member and speaker.{{Sfn|Celestini|2018|pp=37–38}}

Some issues for which the Moral Majority campaigned included:<ref name="columbia">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2004 |title=Moral Majority |encyclopedia=[[Columbia Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |url=http://www.bartleby.com/65/e-/E-MoralMajo.html |access-date=2007-08-11 |edition=6th |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070819194900/http://www.bartleby.com/65/e-/E-MoralMajo.html |archive-date=2007-08-19 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Promotion of [[Family values|traditional family values]]
* Opposition to media outlets accused of promoting an anti-family agenda
* Opposition to the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] and [[Strategic Arms Limitation Talks]]
* Opposition to state recognition or acceptance of [[Homosexuality|homosexual]] acts
* Prohibition of [[abortion]], including in cases involving incest or rape<ref>{{Cite book |last=Falwell |first=Jerry |url=https://archive.org/details/falwellautobiogr00falw |title=Falwell: An Autobiography, The Inside Story |date=1997 |publisher=Liberty House Publishers |isbn=9781888684049 |location=Lynchburg |pages=395 |url-access=registration |via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref>
* Support for [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Prayer in schools|prayers in schools]]
* Proselytising to [[Jews]] and other non-Christians for conversion to Christianity

===Social agenda===

The Moral Majority successfully campaigned to create an integrated social platform that appealed to most conservative Christians by packaging a variety of previously disparate issues under the banner of "traditional [[family values]]".{{Sfn|Fetner|2008|p=58}} The Moral Majority portrayed issues such as abortion, divorce, feminism, gay and lesbian rights, and the [[Equal Rights Amendment]] as attacks on the traditional concept and values of American families and tapped into a sense of societal [[moral decay]] that resonated with many [[evangelicals]].<ref name="Banwart">{{cite journal |last=Banwart |first=Doug |date=2013 |title=Jerry Falwell, the Rise of the Moral Majority, and the 1980 Election |url=http://www.wiu.edu/cas/history/wihr/pdfs/Banwart-MoralMajorityVol5.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Western Illinois Historical Review |volume=5 |pages=133–157 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319071256/http://www.wiu.edu/cas/history/wihr/pdfs/Banwart-MoralMajorityVol5.pdf |archive-date=March 19, 2015 |access-date=2019-12-10}}</ref> They also campaigned for the inclusion of prayer in schools and tax incentives for married couples as protection for the traditional family structure. Under this pro-family agenda, they mobilized a large base of supporters with issue-centric dialogue that they proliferated in their network of preachers and mailings.{{Sfn|Fetner|2008|p=58}}

====Gay rights issues==== 
In particular, the anti-homosexual rhetoric that they publicized through fundraising letters and [[Christian broadcasting]] had higher contribution rates than other topics. While not explicitly anti-gay in their public platforms during the 1970s, their internal mobilization as "shared anti-gay sentiment aided in solidifying a collective set of grievances and ideologies, in establishing a collective identity of constituents, and in constructing a hostile enemy against which the conservative Christian activists were to fight".{{Sfn|Fetner|2008|p=60}} The Moral Majority refrained from directly speaking out against gays, feminists, and pro-abortion parties and instead used "pro-family" rhetoric to articulate their point. For example, instead of coming out directly against homosexuality and gay families, leaders of the Moral Majority defined a family as "two heterosexual parents", which appealed to many conservatives.<ref name="Banwart" />

Later, as the organization gained more influence in the 1980s, their rhetoric became more explicit in their stance on [[gay rights]] as they characterized the movement as an attack on the American family. [[Jerry Falwell Sr.]] expressed that because gay people were [[Social exclusion|rejected by most of society]], they had no choice but to prey on the young and were therefore a threat to children and families. Various Moral Majority members also expressed more extreme opinions, such as Moral Majority commentator Charlie Judd, who argued that "There are absolutes in this world. Just as jumping off a building will kill a person, so will the spread of homosexuality bring about the demise of American culture as we know it".<ref name="Banwart" />