When did being Republican become intermixed with religion?

Question

I don't remember that being an issue in my parent's day... In fact, I remember all Catholics being democrats. With whose administration did that begin?

Answer 1

Religious people have always been conservative. Catholics tended to be Democratic because they were a minority, mostly new immigrants or the children of immigrants, and because they lived in 'liberal' places like the industrial northeast and far west.

In the 1976 election, Christians voted Democratic, for Carter, because he was deeply religious and his sister was even a famous evangelist. So in 1980 with Reagan, the GOP decided to go after that demographic. They got certain high-profile Christian leaders (notably Jerry Falwell) to join them and start preaching political issues from the pulpit, conflating political ideas with religious doctrine. The abortion issue was played up in this election, cynically designed as a 'wedge issue' to rally Protestants and fundamentalist Christians to the GOP (Catholics had always been anti-abortion). Prayer in school was also made an issue. Both abortion and prayer in school were issues that had been settled long before. Over the next few years, many religious leaders joined the program, telling their flocks that it was a religious duty to vote Republican.

They began pushing other ideas, some just wrong, some OUTRAGEOUSLY wrong, like that our founding fathers were fundamentalists and meant America to be a Christian country, and that if true-believing Christian weren't allowed to determine national policy they were being denied their rights to practice their religion. To the point where, today, many otherwise intelligent Christians are not able to see these issues clearly, they are religious tenets for them and not logical, political issues with both sides.

I am not Christian (though not anti-Christian) but in my own innocent reading of the New Testament, it seems to me that this was just what got Jesus all riled up. He was upset to find that the leaders of Judaism in his day had snuggled up to the centers of secular power, preaching politics as religion and selling out their flock for their own self-aggrandizement. This righteous anger at the corruption of the religious message is what made Jesus tip over the table in the Temple, and what led to his demise.

Answer 2

It wasn't an issue in your parents day because it was understood that the United States was a Christian Nation. Now we have so many self loathing idiots who believe the world revolves around them that if anything goes against their mentality they become offended and throw temper tantrums until they get their way. In example, abolishing the word "God" from all official documents, eliminating Christmas trees in the airport because someone didn't celebrate the holiday. Republicans back religion now because the liberals feel they need to tip toe around everyone's feelings and make sure that they remain Politically Correct.

Answer 3

When the Democrats embraced abortion and homosexuality they forced the Southern Christian Democrat out of their party and the GOP embraced them instead of trying to garner constituency from minority groups who were historically in favor of socialist fiscal policies. The southern Democrat typically favored the same fiscal policies of laissez-faire free market ideals that the Republican did but found a more acceptable religious freedom in the old Democratic party until the Democrats took a decidedly leftist turn in the 60's and 70's.

Answer 4

Reagan brought religion into the white house with the evangelical's new power. Besides, with the legalization of abortion and gay people being more open about their sexuality it repulsed many religious voters. Catholics were Democrats mostly in the 60s because of their pro-labor and social programs.

Answer 5

After the "religious right" was coined by the democrats to scare thier base into baking them more. Both partries have 17% are heavily religious. But the right have a more cohesive and political religious group. But you are more apt by 60% to go to church weekly if you are Republican. Back in your parents day Democrats were for liberalism, anti-abortion (against killing defenseless babies), and anti-communistic . Now they are pro-Socialism/Communism (Which has never worked in the history of man for a big group of people), pro-abortion, and anti-liberalism.

Answer 6

there are plenty of good agnostic/atheists who vote gop.

BUT the mobilization of the bible thumpers most recently started with jerry fallwell and the moral majority. you saw most of the traditional blue staets in the south start to turn red. alot of fundamentalists were just fed up, primarily with social issues such as prayer in schools, abortion, flag burning, etc. fallwell and the republicans reached out to these folks while the domocrats didnt really know how to address these issues. so the republicans became the party of the religous right.

it will be intersting to see in the upcoming elections how this group votes and if they have become disillusioned with their leadership.

another thing that is interesting though, is billy grahms role in all of this. perhaps the greatest evangeilst the world has ever known, and religious consultant to many a president, he never used his pulpit, and obvious power, as a political tool, (to my knowledge). regardless of your opinion of the man, he should be commended for that!

Answer 7

Strange isn't it? I've been a Republican since I began voting a number of years ago and have never mixed religion with politics. In fact, I don't today.

What amazes me even more is that I live in the deep south and moved down here from the north east. We talked politics up there a lot. Down here politics is rarely mentioned and yet, the Republicans are accused of being the 'religious right'.

Answer 8

It may be an off shoot of the 'moral majority' which was an invention of President Richard Nixon during the Viet Nam war when the overwhelming majority of Americans, 70 % were against the war in Viet Nam and the rest being the great 'moral majority'.
What many people don't understand is that there's a lot of resemblence in the war in Iraq and the war in Viet Nam. The Viet Nam war really picked up steam when it was falsely reported that enemy ships had attacked United States Navy in the Tonken Gulf near Viet Nam during the Johnson Administration only it wasn't President Johnson who dreamed up the non attack but his Republican Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
The difference in the Iraq war is that Republican Cheney/Bush Administration deceived the American public themselves with lies about weapons of mass destruction, alliances between Saddam Hussian and the Al Queda, and Taliban, training camps for the Taliban in the deserts of Iraq, and other lies to deceive the American public into believing that Iraq was a threat to our national security.
Thanks

Answer 9

Both Republicans and Democrats start out "mixed with religion." It was the Democrats that walked away from it, inspired by intellectuals in Europe.

Answer 10

Good question... Coming from a conservative family that rarely mentioned God in political conversations it angers me that the Republican party has been using religion as some sort of monopoly owned solely by them. We never used God as a talking point or used him to ridicule the other candidate by implying that the opponent is not as devout as my family.

I am sickened by what so-callled holy men like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell and James Dobson has done to the GOP. And I am even more disillusioned by the GOP's leaders allowing this to happen.