The Christian Coalition, founded in 1989 by Pat Robertson, is now headed by President Roberta Combs. The members of the Christian Coalition are comprised primarily of white, evangelical, ôborn againö Christians who believe the Bible is accurate in all of its teaching and that they ôpersonally have a responsibility to tell other people their religious beliefsö (Born 2004, 1). As the primary force behind the Religious Right in American society, religion, and politics, the Christian Coalition is enormously influential in politics. When George W. Bush stated during the 2000 Presidential Campaign that his ômost admired philosopher was Jesus Christö, the Christian Coalition new it had a powerful ally in the White House (Samuel 2002, 42). More than 15 million evangelical Christians voted in the election, with over 80 percent of them casting their vote for Bush (Samuel 2002). According to Darryl Hart, a professor of church history at Westminster Theological Seminary, ôThe Republican Party canÆt live without the religious rightö (Samuel 2002, 42).
To some degree, the political agenda and values of the Christian Coalition are representative of a number of Americans. Nevertheless, the ethnic and national values promoted by the Coalition are based on a fundamentalist interpretation of theology and the Bible, resulting in views not often shared by a majority of Americans. This analysis will review the goals and mission of the Christian Coalition (i.e. Religious Right) in promoting their political agenda, illustrating the extent to which it is an agenda that reflects ethnic and national values based on its worldview of Christian theology.
The Christian Coalition views itself as an organization that has the Christian duty to establish GodÆs kingdom on earth. Members believe they are chosen, one of the group that will rule the earth for one thousand years after the second coming of Christ. This millennialism was aggressively...