Reply #54: oh indeed they've always been around but they only became a strong

[Douglas Carpenter]

force in 1979 and made their first major impact in 1980

link:

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/groupwatch/mm.php

"Background:

Although generally considered a fundamentalist Christian organization, the Moral Majority was created in 1979 by the wizards of the New Right, Richard Viguerie, Paul Weyrich and Howard Phillips. The goal of the Moral Majority was to politicize and unify the frustrated and fragmented conservative, fundamentalist religious community and mold it into a political voting block. While the Moral Majority appealed mainly to Christians, it invited all "morally conservative" Americans who believed in its tenets, including orthodox Jews, Mormons, and evangelical Protestants to join in its political battles. From the beginning Moral Majority set a political platform that addressed a broad range of issues. The group opposed abortion, equal rights for homosexuals, sex education in the schools, pornography, and the Equal Rights Amendment. It spoke in favor of a strong national defense, and prayer in the schools, was strongly pro-Israel, and stridently anticommunist. (1,2) Another stated goal, which made the Moral Majority popular with conservative corporate America, was "to defend the free enterprise system, the family and Bible morality."(13)

For tax purposes, the Moral Majority established several different organizations. The tax-exempt Moral Majority Foundation was set up as an educational group focusing on voter registration; the Moral Majority Political Action Committee was the branch that raised money for candidates; the Moral Majority Inc. was the lobbying group for influencing legislation at all levels; and the Moral Majority Legal Defense Foundation was set up to counter the influence of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). (8,14) Although the national Moral Majority (headed by Falwell) was very visible and outspoken, it had a very loose and uncoordinated structure. It functioned primarily as an extensive mailing list of individuals and groups that shared similar fears and hostilities about the changes in our society. (2) It reached out to people who have often been thought of as "outsiders" or disenfranchised, and helped them to feel more a part of the system. (14)

Independent chapters that set their own agenda were established in every state. They often worked in concert with Right-To-Lifers and other conservative political action committees to defeat "liberal" candidates and address local issues of concern. (1)"