# Would the religious right be more successful if it dropped the abortion issue? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 19, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-religious-right-be-more-successful-if-it-dropped-the-abortion-issue/381049 "2006-11-19T17:59:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-religious-right-be-more-successful-if-it-dropped-the-abortion-issue/381049/1 "2006-11-19T17:59:23Z")
Ben Bova’s [Grand Tour](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour_%28novel_series%29) series of SF novels are set in a future where practically every country on Earth has fallen under the rule of a religious-authoritarian “New Morality” movement – Christian in Christian countries, Muslim in Muslim countries, but everywhere puritanical (the Christian and Muslim fundies having finally decided to join forces against their common enemies – secularists and libertarians and others). At one point, I think in _Titan,_ one of the characters remarks that the New Morality only started to gain ground politically after it stopped opposing abortion; there was much social unrest at the time, and peoples of all nations longed for the stability a heavy hand could provide – so long as it did not affect their reproductive freedom. I can’t see this happening – the abortion issue is the main reason so many have an **interest** in religious-right politics in the first place – but if it did, would it work? ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-religious-right-be-more-successful-if-it-dropped-the-abortion-issue/381049/2 "2006-11-19T18:24:17Z")
Politically, I think they’ve _been_ pretty successful, don’t you? Up until last week they controlled the White House, the House, the Senate and majority of Governorships. But if they did drop it, it’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-religious-right-be-more-successful-if-it-dropped-the-abortion-issue/381049/3 "2006-11-19T18:26:57Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] Politically, I think they’ve _been_ pretty successful, don’t you? [/QUOTE] No – they’ve been successful at swinging elections to pols who purport to sympathize with them, but almost nothing important on their agenda has been enacted into law. ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-religious-right-be-more-successful-if-it-dropped-the-abortion-issue/381049/4 "2006-11-19T20:03:34Z")
While I agree with that, they still controlled pretty much everything up until last week. I literally loathe the neocons running this country, but I give props where they are due unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-religious-right-be-more-successful-if-it-dropped-the-abortion-issue/381049/5 "2006-11-19T20:16:49Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] While I agree with that, they still controlled pretty much everything up until last week. I literally loathe the neocons running this country, but I give props where they are due unfortunately. [/QUOTE] The religious right and the neocons are two **very** different groups. ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-religious-right-be-more-successful-if-it-dropped-the-abortion-issue/381049/6 "2006-11-19T20:36:51Z")
You think? Damn, man, I don’t think so. Not nowadays. I consider Bush a neocon _and_ part of the religious right. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-religious-right-be-more-successful-if-it-dropped-the-abortion-issue/381049/7 "2006-11-19T20:42:51Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] You think? Damn, man, I don’t think so. Not nowadays. I consider Bush a neocon _and_ part of the religious right. [/QUOTE] He’s in the Boolean intersection between the two; but the neocons also include (arguably, were predominantly founded by) secular Jews. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-religious-right-be-more-successful-if-it-dropped-the-abortion-issue/381049/8 "2006-11-20T05:46:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Would the religious right be more successful if it dropped the abortion issue? They’d be much better served to drop the religious aspect completely, not just the abortion issue. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2006, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-religious-right-be-more-successful-if-it-dropped-the-abortion-issue/381049/9 "2006-11-20T05:47:43Z")
[QUOTE=Clothahump] They’d be much better served to drop the religious aspect completely, not just the abortion issue. [/QUOTE] But then, how would they be the “religious right” at all, any more? ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-religious-right-be-more-successful-if-it-dropped-the-abortion-issue/381049/10 "2006-11-25T00:38:48Z")
I’m sure dropping the abortion issue would solve the problem in the right of hidden dissent. The Catholic church has long known that most of it’s members use birth control, but they are hardly free to speak about it. I see there is now an official inquiry into condoms. Somehow I doubt anything will change, but it’s nice to know that Rome recognizes the implied disconnect. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-religious-right-be-more-successful-if-it-dropped-the-abortion-issue/381049/11 "2006-11-25T00:56:26Z")
We will rue the day the religious right mellows out and teams up with the left leaning crystal new age woo woos. The streets of California will run red with blood…on the political voting maps…