Question
Description
THE PUBLIC POLICY ENVIRONMENT You will review the emergence of the Religious Right in American government as part of a significant culture war. This culture war reflects trends towards secularism, postmodernism, and a back-to-basics emphasis on Biblical truth.
- Discuss the major Statist trends beginning in the 60’s and continuing into the 80’s.
- Evaluate the major political ideologies influencing the policy arena.
- Synthesize the above with a Biblical model of government and statesmanship.
Reading & Study
- Textbook Readings ·
- Website: Political Ideology ·
- Presentation: The Battle of Ideas in the Policy Arena ·
- Presentation: Worldview & Political Ideology Activity 1 ·
- Presentation: Worldview & Political Ideology Activity 2 ·
- Murray: chs. 1–3 ·
- Shires: chs. 6–10
Solution
The Public Policy Environment
The religious right is a prominent political movement that has been advocating for political, social conservatism in the US since the 1970s. They blamed a series of liberal US Supreme Court decisions for the country’s moral decline and criticized them, undermining traditional morality and outstanding God. Thus, with these decisions inspiring a culture war, the major agendas from the 1960s to 1980s include an extension of abortion and the invalidation of prayer in public schools.
According to the Supreme Court ruling in Engel v. Vitale in 1962, the Establishment clause prohibited classroom prayer as a school-sponsored religious activity. Furthermore, in 1963, the Court reaffirmed its decision from the previous year by prohibiting school-sponsored Bible readings in public schools. In Abington School District v. Schempp, the Court ruling provided that any religious exercise sponsored by the school is unconstitutional. Thus by excluding the religious expression from the formal curriculum, the Court assured parents that public schools were now secular …………for help with this assignment contact us via Email Address: consulttutor10@gmail.com