Debates among Republican presidential hopefuls in the 2000 campaign again highlighted the presence of organized conservative Christians as both lobbyists and voters in American governance. The generally white male leadership of militant organizations like Ralph Reed, Jerry Falwell (founder of the Moral Majority), Pat Robertson (founder of the Christian Coalition) and Gary Bauer (founder of the Campaign for Working Families) have an impact not only through churches and followers, but also through Christian media, education and money; Robertson and Bauer have sought the presidential nomination in their own right. The popular base of these leaders and platforms, which have become contested votes in elections for decades, are more paradoxical. In a nation whose citizens generally define themselves as believers and whose everyday culture is permeated by Christian traditions, some also identify themselves as members of a beleaguered cultural minority while others vary with regard to the public agenda of the Christian right.

As a political force, the Christian right has defined Christianity around sometimes exclusive beliefs and practices. While these groups may coincide with Roman Catholics on specific issues like abortion, for example, there are serious differences on other issues, including capital punishment and social welfare, as well as rhetoric that identifies the Christian right with Protestant fundamentalism. While women constitute primary agents in family values and the Christian household, spokespeople tend to be male and public positions often insist on a subservient helpmate and domestic femininity And, while the traditions of African American churches are deeply rooted, social experiences and social agendas have also created a critical stance vis-à-vis the Christian right as a cultural and political movement among this and other minority populations.

Moreover, the political agenda of the Christian right focuses on key issues that define an interesting theological and political network within the broader possibilities of Christian belief and practice. In addition to protection of the family and the unborn, other recurrent themes include defending marriage against gay and lesbian claims, school prayer, tax reform, national defense, a moral and patriotic foreign policy and educational reform. The sexual scandals of the Clinton White House have provided vocal contrasts with regard to public morals and personal behavior, although critics in all these areas have harped upon the Christian need for tolerance and forgiveness and underscored the foibles of highly personalized leaders. While the focus of debate, moreover, often centers on national politics, grass-roots organizations have had a strong impact at the local level (school boards) and in states of the Bible belt.

Conservative Christians themselves prove more varied. Some will embrace cultural issues but remain independent in areas of foreign policy or social welfare. Others adopt more culturally separatist positions, rejecting the messages of sexuality consumption and the glamour of mass media—in extreme cases, they have created white supremacist/separatist factions. Still others separate religious beliefs and political action.

Yet others seek to impose their beliefs, especially at a local level, through insertion of Christian teachings into school curricula, whether by posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms or by fighting against the teaching of evolution (see scientific creationism).

Attacks on the Christian right, from various political perspectives, respond to all these points—the actions and intolerance of individual leaders, the connections and contradictions among agenda issues (why protect the unborn and yet kill criminals?) and, especially the place of sectarian values in a pluralistic society based on the separation of church and state. In an era where both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates are born-again Christians, this crosscutting debate over religious culture, political strategy and “American values” proves both heated and divisive.