The Moral Majority was founded in 1979 by Jerry Falwell. It’s purpose was to mobilize Americans on campaign issues which were against traditional Christian values, such as abortion, homosexual rights, Equal Rights amendments, anti-family proposals and so forth.
Another group, Christian Coalition, founded in 1988 by Pat Robertson has taken up much of the slack from the disbanding of the Moral Majority. It is active on the same issues.
Add in Concerned Women for America (Beverly LaHaye), Focus on the Family (Dr. James Dobson), Eagle Forum (Phyllis Schlafly) and countless other groups, and you have millions of dollars spent and millions of Christians involved.
So, has this heavy involvement by Christians in the election process been a waste of time and money?
Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s a little of this and a little of that, all written to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian journeys
Larry Who 
Hmmm…in all honesty, Larry, I’m not sure. When I read the history of Wm. Wilberforce and Henry Thornton and their involvement in the Clapham Fellowship (just outside London) in the late 1700s and early 1800s, in their fight to change their culture and abolish the British Empire’s slave trade, they did it through evangelism, living a genuine Christian life, social action, and politics. They are a great role model for us today. I think we have much to learn from them but I’m guessing we aren’t yet like them and that’s why we’re not getting the same results.
seriouswhimsey,
Good points.
For me, there is no doubt that Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Dr. James Dobson and all of the others had the best intentions when they entered into the political spectrum hoping to change America.
Doesn’t it make sense? After all, Christians would elect politicians who would agree with biblical viewpoints, right?
But sadly, the problems a Christian faced in Arkansas were different from the ones faced by an out of work auto worker in Michigan. And Christians on the East coast had different problems from those in California. North. South. East. West. All had different hot buttons.
Then, guess what? The word “compromise” was tossed into the mix because after all, this is the basis for any success in politics. And compromise never works well with Christianity. Period.
Hey, I’m just as guilty as Falwell, Robertson, Dobson and all the others. I believed and hoped America could stop its plunge into the pathetic depths of anti-Christ viewpoints via the political process. I backed McCain/Palin, and before that Bush/Cheney. I listened to Rush, Sean and Fox News. My pulse went up and down with the returns on election night.
As seriouswhimsey pointed out: Great Britain was changed because of the political efforts of Wilberforce and Thornton. But that was then, and today is a different day.
I believe we have wasted time and money, putting our faith and efforts in the wrong arena. Instead, we should have spent our efforts in building up the Body of Christ so that believers could make a difference in their neighborhoods rather than trying to advance our agendas in Washington, D.C.
Now, we have a president who promised us change and is doing a number on us.
I don’t think any of the efforts by groups to wake up the Christian base has gone to waste. The problem was not enough money and not enough effort for too short a time. In other words, they have tried to stop the liberal train wreck heading downhill on greased rails with Fred Flintstone brakes.
I think the benefit from these organizations is that they’ve slowed down the descent long enough to keep our country from blowing up too soon. It wasn’t enough to stop it.
Hopefully we will have another wave and another and another to keep the inevitable from conquering freedom a little while longer. For anyone to have believed that these groups or others like them to come can change the world around to whatever time frame they imagined to have been better in the past or create a new peace when Jesus said it won’t be without Him here, that person(s) have had the proverbial head in the sand.
But any effort, group or individual, can slow down something and open a window of continued blessing somewhere.
Fix the world? Where’s Pollyanna when you need her?
Yes, get and be involved! While this place is not our home we are to be good stewards of everything and this includes our vote. (IMO) Why didn’t preachers tell their congregations about Barack Obama? Are they afraid of losing their 503c status? So what, preach the truth in love, God is to be feared not man, and not just preaching against political figures but against sin, it doesn’t happen anymore.
Dale,
Thanks for your comments.