Since the 1970s, the Religious Right, often known as the "Christian Right" or the "New Christian Right," has referred to a coalition of organizations and individuals with three major goals in U.S. politics: to get conservative Protestants to participate in the political process, to bring them into the Republican party, and to elect social conservatives to public office. It is not, however, merely an electoral movement. Broadly speaking, the Religious Right is made up of evangelical Christians who are socially, theologically, and economically conservative. Its adherents are primarily, but not exclusively, white middle-class Americans who affirm so-called "family values," promote laissez-faire economics, and believe in a generally literal interpretation of Biblical Christianity. Although the coalition claims support from conservatives among Catholics and other religious groupings, it is generally made up of evangelical Protestants, and it is from this tradition that the movement has emerged. The...