Evangelicals punished Carter for abortion while Reagan had signed the most liberal abortion bill

Evidence

By 1980, even though Jimmy Carter had sought, both as governor of Georgia and as president, to reduce the incidence of abortion, his refusal to seek a constitutional amendment outlawing it was viewed by politically conservative evangelicals as an unpardonable sin. Never mind the fact that his Republican opponent that year, Ronald Reagan, had signed into law, as governor of California in 1967, the most liberal abortion bill in the country. — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 131

Categorization

• CANDY: A tidy, tweetable illustration of political hypocrisy: the Religious Right condemned Carter’s moderation on abortion while supporting Reagan who signed America’s most liberal abortion law. Shocking enough to stop a dinner conversation.
• XREF: Connects to the book’s running claim that the Religious Right was about tax exemption and racial segregation, not abortion — here the abortion justification obviously masks other motives since it exempts Reagan. — connects to: Evangelicals’ turn against Carter was rooted in racial segregation defense, not abortion — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 138; Few evangelical voices spoke against abortion through most of the 1970s — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 122; Progressive evangelicalism peaked in the mid-1970s with Carter’s election — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 72 (+3 more)

Related

• Evangelicals’ turn against Carter was rooted in racial segregation defense, not abortion (similarity 0.88)
• IRS regulations topped evangelicals’ 1979 grievances against Carter while abortion went unmentioned (similarity 0.88)
• Evangelicals conspired against Carter’s reelection secretly (similarity 0.87)
• Reagan’s 1980 appeal to evangelicals centered on school-tax-exemption segregation, not abortion (similarity 0.86)
• White evangelicals in 1980 chose image over co-religionist Carter and backed Reagan (similarity 0.85)
• Progressive evangelicalism peaked in the mid-1970s with Carter’s election (similarity 0.84)
• The Religious Right’s origins lay in defending racial segregation, not opposing abortion (similarity 0.84)
• Few evangelical voices spoke against abortion through most of the 1970s (similarity 0.83)
• Evangelical conspiracy against Carter began well before his reelection campaign. (similarity 0.83)
• The abortion myth obscures the segregationist origins of evangelical activism. (similarity 0.83)
• Unorganized evangelicals voted for Carter before the Religious Right existed (similarity 0.81)
• Evangelicals adopted anti-abortion politics six years after Roe for political gain (similarity 0.81)
• Some evangelicals sincerely oppose abortion regardless of their movement’s origins (similarity 0.81)
• Abortion was not a key evangelical voting issue before 1979. (similarity 0.81)
• Confronting the abortion myth could reorient the whole evangelical agenda (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• White evangelicals in 1980 chose image over co-religionist Carter and backed Reagan #exemplifies (0.90) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 244
• The Religious Right assembled through counter-conferences timed to unseat Carter #corroborates (0.85)