ABSTRACT
Therefore, this book will, for the purposes of analysis, take these perceptions at face value, not out of an implicit wholehearted acceptance of their validity, but out of an interest in identifying what grieves some religious individuals so much as to inspire them to commit acts of violence. Gurr argues that violence is most common following a gradual rise and then a decrease in opportunity. The shift in previous decades from a dominance of Christian values in American politics to a sidelined position mimics the rise and fall of which Gurr speaks. Accordingly, it does much to explain the shift being observed in incidences of violence. As will be seen in later chapters, the Christian Right has not gone quietly from a political arena that no longer welcomes their values with unerring faith, but ironically, this also may serve to exacerbate the problem. The frequency of the term “Religious Right” in the news media accelerated from an average of 14 times per year from 1980-1984 to 578 times per year from 1994-1996.23 Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed, and many others, have demonstrated remarkable competency at keeping the religious agenda only slightly offcenter of a more and more secular stage. But, to do so, they have had to emphasize the seriousness of the plight of the religious population. Later, it will be discussed how Reed likened the situation to a war – rhetorically urging Christians to paint their faces, camouflage their activities and put their enemies in body-bags. While, for Reed, this was simply a clever metaphor, for others, when coupled with the readily recognizable changes in the values that shape society, it became a call to arms. Hence, where the intention may be to get apathetic suburban Christians to reverse troubling trends in local polls, the reality is that the war cry serves to emphasize declining values and exaggerate the dangerous morass of an immoral society – while simultaneously causing more moderate individuals, otherwise sharing the same religious views, to run from the extremism of that position. Consequently, the gap between the religious and the secular grows ever wider. In this chapter we will explore the development of the anti-abortion movement in the United States. The rise of this movement highlights the change that has occurred in the American political landscape and its effect on a particular movement. It will be argued that abortion has been controversial throughout all of American history, but became a cohesive movement only when activists perceived the threat to their access to the political process to be imminent.
