Problem
Background Information
In the 19605, the Supreme Court banned prayer and Bible readings in the public schools and, in 1973, ruled that abortion was legal during the ?rst trimester of pregnancy. Religious conservatives were dismayed by these rulings and also upset by the women's rights movement and by the counter-culture movement, with its emphasis on drugs and sexual liberation. A political fault line emerged secularists and the more liberal religious denominations on one side of the culture debate and the more conservative religious denominations on the other side.
Religious conservatives are concentrated most heavily in the South, which began shifting toward the Republican Party in the 19605 over the race issue. Religious sentiments reinforced that shift, and religious conservatives became an ever-larger voice in the Republican Party, which encouraged that development. For example, every Republican Party platform since the 1976 election has included a plank calling for a ban on abortion.
Task
1) What are your views on the issue? Support your position with court cases.
2) Contrast the Republican and Democratic strategies since the 19605 in regard to the religious issue.