on the brink of having their bodily autonomy snatched away from them. before the religious right, it s an excuse for celebration. it is the holy grail finally within reach, the culmination of its decades long battle to end abortion rights in america. in fact, the religious right is so entrenched in anti-abortion politics it s arguably their most defining issue. there s even an origin story about this movement being a reaction to the roe v. wade decision in 1973. but that s what they want you to think. it s a myth, a hoax, a lie. back in 2014 dartmouth historian randal bomber did a deep dive into the real origins of the religious right. he also revisited the topic in a piece that dropped today. as he notes, before and for several years after roe, evangelicals were overwhelmingly indifferent to the subject of abortion which they considered to be a catholic issue. according to experts featured in the pbs special god in america, even famed teleadvantage rift pat robertson and
on the brink of having their bodily autonomy snatched away from them. before the religious right, it s an excuse for celebration. it is the holy grail finally within reach, the culmination of its decades long battle to end abortion rights in america. in fact, the religious right is so entrenched in anti-abortion politics it s arguably their most defining issue. there s even an origin story about this movement being a reaction to the roe v. wade decision in 1973. but that s what they want you to think. it s a myth, a hoax, a lie. back in 2014 dartmouth historian randal bomber did a deep dive into the real origins of the religious right. he also revisited the topic in a piece that dropped today. as he notes, before and for several years after roe, evangelicals were overwhelmingly indifferent to the subject of abortion which they considered to be a catholic issue. according to experts featured in
the pbs special god in america, even famed teleadvantage rift pat robertson and jerry falwell, the founder of the moral majority, had very little interest in the issue. it was catholic leaders more than evangelicals at the beginning who were most concerned about roe v. wade. in fact, pat robertson kind of famously said after the the decision was issued that it wasn t necessarily a big concern of his. dad was the one who talked jerry falwell personally into taking a stand on abortion. before that jerry falwell said that s a catholic issue, nothing to do with us. why would i want to take a stand on that? i m just a preacher. i want to talk about the gospel. keep in mind, evangelical christians were largely apolitical back then. the co-founder of the heritage founder and at architect of the religious right, well, he wanted to change that. as balmer, the historian explains, the hypothetical moral majority needed a catalyst around which to rally.