Introduction

The dramatic political rise of religious fundamentalism in American politics, symbolized by the growing political presence and influence of the Christian Coalition, is one sign, among others, of the unravelling of the social contract on which postwar American liberalism rested. This liberalism was distinguished by a preoccupation with solving distributional problems by promoting economic growth and satisfying the demands of a consumerist society, and its breakdown has seen the rise of what has been called a “politics of identity,” a politics of proliferating demands for legal and cultural recognition on the part of a range of identity-based groups. Many of these groups – feminists, gays, and Afrocentrists, for example – are outgrowths of the New Left, and of the cultural radicalism of the 1960s, and see themselves, and are widely seen, as “liberatory” or “left-wing” movements.

But equally important have been a number of identity-based groups that have emerged in reaction to 1960s cultural radicalism and have sought to counter many of its more liberatory achievements. Among these the New Christian Right stands out, as a loose coalition of groupings, organizations, and movements that have sought to combat what they consider the permissiveness of American society, and to promote “family values,” in the name of “decent Americans” and “traditional Christian values.” In many ways the New Christian Right has upped the ante of identity politics, by mirroring the New Left in its “grass-roots” organizing strategies, its resolutely ideological style, and in its claim to speak on behalf of purportedly marginalized and victimized Americans.