The Costs and Benefits of a Christian Coalition: A Response to Ralph Reed

Abstract

This brief Article analyzes the traditional Protestant pedigree of the political teachings of the Christian coalition that formed the heart of the “moral majority” movement of the Reagan era. While applauding the coalition’s efforts to bring moral reform to American society, the Article criticizes one if its intellectual leaders, Ralph Reed, for ignoring the deeper theological foundations of Protestant political thought, and uncritically conflating conservative American Republican thought with the teachings of the Bible and Christian tradition.

Keywords: Ralph Reed, Calvin, Luther, Christian Coalition, moral majority, Protestant political thought, American republicanism