레이건 시대의 기독교 新우파의 정치 참여

The New Christian Right in the time of Reagan and their Political Involvement

&nbsp;&nbsp;In the 1970s the New Right movement arose and it became popular among conservative Americans in the 1980s. It affected the emergence of the New Christian right in 1980s. And the New Christian Right contributed immensely for the election of Ronald Reagan for the President of America in 1980 and in 1984. Among those Christians Rights were the Fundamentalists, the Evangelicals and the Charismatics and it was mainly the Fundamentalists who lead the New Christian Right in 1980s. In spite of their minor differences in Christian doctrine they share same basic Christian traditional belief together. They believe the Bible as it is written. And they were ready to share same conviction together when their belief was threatened by others.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;There had been no signs of political involvements among conservative Christians during 1940-1970. However, there had been a rapid growth of conservative churches in numbers. They were heavily involved in evangelism so that the number of the congregation of the evangelical churches had exceeded the number of population growth in those period. In 1960s the evangelical churches had invested great deal for the broadcasting business in order to present the gospel as many as possible. In this period from one third to one fifth of the adults became born-again Christians. It was the golden era for the evangelism.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;However, in social life the evangelicals were the losers. Many conservatives realized that they became victims by the liberals who have fulfilled their liberal values in Federal Government and in American society drastically since 1960s. And they recognized the tremendous influence of the ERA(Equal Rights Amendment) in every dimension of their daily life. They were threatened and began to respond against it. Conservative believed that America was intended to be a Christian nation by the founding fathers. However America was facing serious moral decay since 1960s.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;With the net broadcasting net work which were built for the evangelism and the great number of people which were increased in 1960s, the evangelicals were ready to exercise their influence to the American society. And it was Jerry Falwell who initiated the New Christian Right movement. And Tim LaHaye and Pat Robertson were the main figures for the Christian Right movement. They believed that the Christian Right were the ones called to save the America.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;It is important to understand the local reality in America to grasp the right picture for American politics. In a way America is divided into two nations. And it is necessary to understand the Christian Right with the local eye on it if one would understand the half of the America, the conservatives.