From Wikipedia:
Started in 1979, Moral Majority was an organization made up of conservative Christian political action committees, which campaigned on issues it believed central to upholding its Christian conception of the moral law, a perception it believed represented the majority of people’s opinions (hence the movement’s name). Falwell was the organization’s public face throughout the 1980s. The organization dissolved officially in 1989 but lives on in the Christian Coalition network initiated by Pat Robertson. With a membership of millions (which would only constitute a small, single-digit percentage of the general population) the Moral Majority was one of the largest conservative lobby groups in the United States. Among issues it campaigned on were:
- outlawing abortion
- opposition to state recognition and acceptance of homosexuality
- enforcement of its vision of family life
- censorship of media outlets that promote what it labeled as an ‘anti-family’ agenda
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Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority” and like minded organizations have totally failed in their nefarious objective to impose an intolerant theocracy in America.
Since the inception of the “Moral Majority” in the 1980s, America has become more tolerant, secular and diverse — all virtues Christian fundamentalists consider anathema.
Roe v Wade is sacrosanct; if it’s every overturned by the Supreme Court (not very likely) there would be mass riots in the streets. Roe v Wade is as cherished a doctrine as freedom of speech or the right to vote.
Homophobia may still be a problem, but homosexuals have made tremendous strides in the last few decades. Gays have a right to marry in Massachusetts, a significant progress that was just a pipe dream when Falwell founded the “Moral Majority.”
In the 1980′s Falwell denounced pornographic magazines like Hustler and Penthouse — publications that weren’t easy for horny kids to get a hold of. Today hardcore pornography is freely available to children via the Internet, cell phone, iPod and cable TV.
Today with content available on hundreds of cable and satellite stations and Internet broadcasts it’s next to impossible for Falwell and his cohorts to censor what we watch and listen to.
Falwell may be able to influence what editorials appear in his hometown newspapers, but on the Web my essays criticizing him receive wide circulation.
Falwell’s myopic definition of a family as a wife and husband and 2.5 kids, is now just one of many different examples of what constitutes a family. Many Americans now agree that a family can be two men or two women with or without children.
If in 1979 Falwell had seen the America of 2007, he would have died of a heart attack. Falwell is now 72-years-old, a heartbeat or two away from death, he will go to his grave knowing he failed to remake America into his image.
