Christian right

Christian right or religious right is a term used - mainly in the United States - to label right-wing Christian political factions that are characterized by their strong support of socially conservative policies. Christian conservatives principally seek to apply their understanding of the teachings of Christianity to politics and to public policy by proclaiming the value of those teachings or by seeking to use those teachings to influence law and public policy.

In the U.S., the Christian right is an informal coalition formed around a core of white, evangelical Protestants with uneven support from conservative Catholics. The Christian right draws additional support from politically conservative mainline Protestants, Jews, and Mormons. The movement has its roots in American politics going back as far as the 1940s and has been especially influential since the 1970s. Its influence draws, in part, from grassroots activism as well as from focus on social issues and from the ability to motivate the electorate around those issues. The Christian right is notable today for advancing socially conservative positions on issues including school prayer, intelligent design, stem-cell research,homosexuality,contraception, abortion, and pornography. Although the Christian right is usually associated with the U.S., similar movements operate in the politics of Canada, Northern Ireland and Australia, among others.