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The Moral Majority: the Politics of Fundamentalism in Secular Society

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Studies in Religious Fundamentalism

Abstract

The features of a social movement which will be isolated for description and explanation must obviously represent the more general interests of the analyst. In this account of the new Christian right (NCR) in America I will identify some general problems confronting any movement which seeks to reintroduce the sacred into the political culture of a largely secular society.1 I will briefly describe the formation of the socio-religious culture of the United States and then show what forces have led to the recent politicisation of American fundamentalists before going on to argue that the very structure which permitted fundamentalism to survive and flourish in certain regions now creates major motivational problems for the political interventions of the NCR.2

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© 1987 Lionel Caplan

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Bruce, S. (1987). The Moral Majority: the Politics of Fundamentalism in Secular Society. In: Caplan, L. (eds) Studies in Religious Fundamentalism. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08830-0_9

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