On another board, a poster is telling me that the term “RR” is one coined by “unappy losers” to denigrate Christians. I thought “RR” was used proudly by those who identify themselves that way. Likely, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Any ideas hwen/where/how the term originated?
Religious Right refers to the religious sub-group of the GoP. The right refers to the rightward tilt of the GoP, and to the generally more rightward wing of the GoP occupied by these people.
The term was in use prior to the ascendance of the RR with Bush '43.
Well, according to this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_right
the term “Religious Right” apparently first began being used in the late 1970’s. The groups that it was used to describe began organizing in the early 1970’s. If you went back to the informal beginnings of these groups, you might go back to the early 1960’s.
Following up Wendell’s reference, the term “Religious Right” does not seem to be the preferred designation of people who consider themselves part of this group, but it’s certainly been in use for quite a while. According to Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell’s official bio at Liberty University (formerly Liberty Baptist College),
(Oddly, the recent growth of the religious right and politicized Christianity in the US since that time seems to have paralleled, or maybe produced, a drop in the actual numbers of American Christians, and a rise in the number of people not affiliated with any religion:
If the religious right’s goal is really to re-Christianize all of America, they’re being singularly ineffective, at least as far as the demographics go.)