Religious Right Policy

President Ronald Reagan’s anti-liberal stance sparked a “conservative realignment” led by the “religious Right.” (pg. 1173-1174) More religious conservatives advanced their political agenda based off of faith and religion, taking over radio and television stations, organizing anti-liberal “mega churches,” and operating entire schools and universities. (pg. 1174) In 1979, religious conservative Reverend Jerry Falwell created a group titled the “Moral Majority,” a campaign that reflected the ideals and goals of the religious Right. (pg. 1174) These ideas included but were not limited to making abortion illegal, eliminating Darwinian evolution theories from public school textbooks, and returning prayer to public schools. (pg. 1174) This religious …show more content…
(pg. 1183, Evil Empire) On a flight to Detroit, the location where he would accept his party’s presidential nomination, Reagan confirmed that the main reason he wanted to become president was because he intended “to end the cold war.” (pg. 1183) According to him, the main issue that the nation faced was communism, specifically Central America’s Communist threat. (pg. 1184) While Reagan focused on foreign issues, Jerry Falwell, who was a strong supporter of Ronald Reagan, believed that the “moral issues” that the United States faced were the main threat. (Listen America) He argued that America "must stand against the Equal Rights Amendment, the feminist revolution, and the homosexual revolution." (Listen America) He opposed the idea of welfare for everyone and maintained that hard work and dilligence should be the only way Americans could earn a living. (Listen America) Due to President Reagan’s strategy of breaking the Soviet Union by convincing them that they couldn’t win a nuclear war, the Cold War ended with an arms-reduction agreement between the American and Soviet government. (pg. 1186) Reagan’s bluff of a Strategic Defense Initiative, an anti-missile defense system that could counter Soviet missiles, served to intimidate the Soviet Union and finally end the Cold War. (pg. 1184, 1186) The end was finalized with a treaty known as the Intermediate-Rrange …show more content…
(pg. 1212-1219) The ethnic conflict in the divided Yugoslavia sparked U.S. interference due to the “intolerable” mass slaughtering of thousands of Bosnian Muslims. (pg. 1212) Although a treaty that ended the violence was formed, the peace was only temporary as violence against Albanian Muslims began shortly. (pg. 1212) The United States bombarded Yusoglavian military targets for seventy two days, finally resolving the issue by forcing Yugoslavians to surrender. (pg. 1213) According to President Bill Clinton, such brutal military action was necessary in order to preserve peace in Europe. (Statement on Kosovo) Furthermore, during Bush’s later presidency, the terrorist 9/11 attack expanded international tensions. (pg. 1218) On September 11, two hijacked planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center separately, killing thousands of Americans in and nearby the building. (pg. 1218) After the attack, the United States snapped out of a looming despair and desired vengeance. (pg. 1219) The person behind the attack, Osama Bin Laden, was eventually located during Barack Obama’s presidency and killed. (pg. 1233) Before his death, he wrote a letter to America in which he elaborated on why he fought and opposed America, stating that he was provoked by America’s attacks on Arabs. (Letter to