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The article offers a look at how the Christian Right influenced the Democratic Party in the U.S. A historical perspective on the Christian Right in the country is presented, along with its influence on the Republican Party and the political sector. How the Christian Right changed the Democratic Party is explored. An outlook for the Christian Right in the U.S. is also offered.

The article compares the relationship and contributions of former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to Christian right in the country. It traces the actions taken by Clinton and Bush that relate to Christian right. The authors claimed that a knowledge of the interaction between interest groups and presidents is relevant when comparing the relationship of presidents to Christian right. They concluded that interest groups influence the stand of a political party on a president and can hinder the president's policy initiatives.

Social movements form around a common "identity," a term used to cover a broad range of concepts. It has been called beliefs, worldview, culture (or sub-culture), incentives, and grievances. The identity of a social movement provides the impetus for social movements to become involved in the public sphere. Identity provides a view of how the world is and how it should be. It provides social movements with the vision or direction for the changes it seeks in society. It also can be a source of passion or energy for those involved in the social movement. How should the identity of a social movement be determined? One way to understand the identity of the Christian Right is to look at the figures, or "heroes," that it looks up to as examples to emulate. I spent two years (2002-2004) conducting depth interviews and participant observation of Christian Right interest groups. During this time, I consistently found certain historical figures upheld as positive role models: John Witherspoon, William Wilberforce, Abraham Kuyper, Reinhold Niebuhr, Francis Shaeffer, and Pope John Paul II. All of these figures are mentioned frequently in the Christian Right as positive examples of Christians involved in politics. This paper will discuss the characteristics that make them heroic in the eyes of Christian Right activists, how this knowledge helps us understand the identity of the Christian Right, and the appropriateness of this method for discovering the identity of other social movements. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a study which seeks to understand how social movements change over time. It explores how social movements institutionalize to further their goals in forming organizations or interest groups by means of illustrating a case study of the Christian Right. It then discusses why social movement theory is a necessary component for understanding the institutionalization of the Christian Right and the behavior of Christian Right organizations.