The new conservative Christian line of defenseConservative Christian activists have been previewing this approach for years. As I show in my new book, “The Rights Turn in Conservative Christian Politics,” for more than two decades, evangelical Protestants and their allies have been shifting toward rights politics. Conservative Christian advocacy changes evangelicals’ stances on civil liberties generallyAs conservative Christian advocates have shifted toward advocating for their own rights, survey data suggests evangelical Protestants have increasingly supported others’ civil liberties as well. In generations past, evangelicals had low levels of support for unpopular speech rights; as of 2014, they nearly match nonevangelicals’ support for free speech. While serious conflicts will remain between conservative religion and LGBT and women’s rights, the trajectory of conservative Christian politics is toward liberalism as they leave behind moral majority politics behind in favor of minority rights politics.

Source: Washington Post December 05, 2017 11:03 UTC