Forced desegregation of Christian schools, not abortion, sparked the Christian Right

Evidence

Recounting personal conversations with Paul Weyrich, one of the key political operatives intent on bringing white Christians into the Republican Party, Balmer reported how Weyrich claimed it was opposition to the IRS mandating desegregation of Christian schools, like Bob Jones University (founded by the same man whose quote began this chapter), that motivated the formation of the Christian Right. … In Weyrich’s own words, “I was trying to get those people [evangelicals] interested in those issues and I utterly failed. What changed their mind was Jimmy Carter’s intervention against the Christian schools, trying to deny them tax-exempt status on the basis of so-called de facto segregation.” It was the IRS threat against segregated Christian academies, not abortion or some other issue, that Weyrich said “enraged the Christian community.” — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 530

Categorization

• XREF: Directly supports the author’s earlier recorded claim about Christian nationalism as cultural framework; also relates to ch4/ch5 recorded claims on the racial order. — connects to: Racism was integral but rendered invisible in the Christian Right’s origins — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 533; The Religious Right began as reaction to IRS desegregation of Christian schools. — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 312; Parental authority arguments let evangelicals defend segregated schools without defending segregation — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 92 (+15 more)
• SEED: An essay angle: the origin story of the Christian Right as segregation defense rather than abortion — a corrective to the movement’s own founding myth.

Broader Connections

• The Religious Right began as reaction to IRS desegregation of Christian schools. #corroborates (0.95) — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 312
• Parental authority arguments let evangelicals defend segregated schools without defending segregation #expands (0.80) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 92
• Early evangelical responses to civil rights were divided along left and fundamentalist lines #complicates (0.80) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 88
• The Religious Right needed a rallying issue besides racial segregation #expands (0.75) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 119
• Proposed rallying issues for the Religious Right included gay rights before abortion #corroborates (0.75) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 120