The Religious Right and the Politics of Sexuality

In his path-setting book, We Gather Together: The Religious Right and the Problem of Interfaith Politics, Neil J. Young upends the widely-believed myths about the political origins and motivations of the Religious Right. This right-wing religious movement was made up of Mormons, conservative Catholics, and Evangelicals. Whereas other scholars have emphasized the role of politics or single issues in holding the Religious Right together, Young demonstrates the central role of theology in the formation of the Religious Right in the 1970s. His book is essential reading for historians of sexuality who want to understand how differing religious beliefs underpinned interfaith cooperation and denominational disagreements over sexual and gender politics that shaped the trajectory of debates over abortion, school prayer, the Equal Rights Amendment, gay rights, and tax exemptions for religious schools.