only minister in the election. One of the candidates
in the Democratic primary was the Reverend Jesse
Jackson, a Baptist minister and civil rights activist.
Religion and Popular Culture While the 1980’s saw
the development of tensions within various religious
communities and the rise of religious conservatism
in politics, it was also a time of memorable religious
expression in the realm of popular culture. Janette
Oke, a Christian romance writer, followed her 1979
best-selling novelLove Comes Softlywith seven other
popular titles in the Love Comes Softly series during
the 1980’s. Jewish rabbi Harold Kushner published
his best-selling book about faith during periods of
grief and loss,When Bad Things Happen to Good People,
in 1981. In 1988, Martin Scorsese directed a film ad-
aptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’s novelO Teleftaíos
Peirasmós(The Last Temptation of Christ,1951). The
film included footage of Jesus’ crucifixion and, more
controversially, hypothesized about the inner nature
of the temptations he experienced during his final
hours. Conservative Christians organized protests
against the film’s nonbiblical portrayal of a con-
flicted Jesus who imagines, and is tempted by, the
idea of a fully human existence.
Another source of debate that involved religion
and the media was the release in 1989 of Madonna’s
Like a Prayeralbum. The album featured her popular
hit “Express Yourself” along with the title song, which
compared the ecstasy of religious expression with
the ecstatic feelings associated with love and sex.
The “Like a Prayer” video included an image of the
singer receiving a sort of stigmata (a rendering of
the wounds Christ received during the crucifixion)
as well as embracing a black man who appears to be a
religious figure. The album, the song, and especially
the video mobilized Christians in a boycott against
the singer and the products she endorsed.
Impact The social and cultural questions that
emerged in mainstream American culture during
the 1960’s and 1970’s continued to affect conserva-
tive and liberal religious denominations alike dur-
ing the 1980’s. The question of women’s ordination
opened opportunities in progressive and moderate
communities while strengthening the resolve against
these kinds of changes in more conservative com-
munities. Lingering related questions about the role
of minorities in the denominations continued to be
debated in broader coalitions such as the National
Council of Churches. The political winners during
the decade were definitely the Christian conserva-
tives, members of the New Religious Right, whose
campaigns for national attention culminated in the
election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Their campaigns
against the Equal Rights Amendment and the legal-
ization of abortion translated into large, politically
powerful organizations that dominated the Republi-
can political agenda both during the 1980’s and be-
yond.Further Reading
Ammerman, Nancy Tatom.Bible Believers: Fundamen-
talists in the Modern World. New Brunswick, N.J.:
Rutgers University Press, 1987. Ammerman’s
ethnographic study has inspired many subse-
quent investigations of religiosity among evangel-
ical Christians.
Gaustad, Edwin, and Leigh Schmidt.The Religious
Histor y of America: The Heart of the American Stor y
from Colonial Times to Today. San Francisco: Har-
perCollins, 2004. An overview of American reli-
gious history.
Jorstad, Erling.The New Christian Right, 1981-1988:
Prospects for the Post-Reagan Decade. Studies in Amer-
ican Religion 25. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen
Press, 1987. Jorstad’s study investigates the social
and cultural influences behind the rise of the Re-
ligious Right.
Nall, Mark A.A Histor y of Christianity in the United
States and Canada. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B.
Eerdmans, 1992. An older, but still widely stud-
ied, history of Christian events, movements, and
leaders.
Jennifer HellerSee also Abortion; Bakker, Jim and Tammy Faye;
Conservatism in U.S. politics; Elections in the
United States, 1980; Elections in the United States,
1984; Elections in the United States, 1988; Evangeli-
cal Lutheran Church in America; Falwell, Jerry;
Feminism; Grant, Amy; Heritage USA;Hustler Maga-
zine v. Falwell;Last Temptation of Christ, The; Moral Ma-
jority; Nation of Yahweh; Religion and spirituality in
Canada; Robertson, Pat; Swaggart, Jimmy; Televan-
gelism.The Eighties in America Religion and spirituality in the United States 821