Religion had
much influence on the American society when many
started to perceive the US as a religion protector
once the Soviet Union was widely recognized as
“godless communism.” The Civil Rights
Movement received most of its supporters and advocators
from black religious groups such as the Southern
Leadership Conference. Martin Luther King Jr.
was a pastor and leading activist of the Civil
Rights Movement. Likewise, another black religious
group called the Nation of Islam supported the
black separatist movement. While, white congregations
of liberal beliefs also played defending roles
for racial equality in the Civil Rights Movement.
In the 1950s, an interest in Eastern religions
had emerged due to the Beat Movement which included
Daoism, Hinduism and Zen Buddhism which lasted
till the late 1960s. During this time, a small
number of American citizens also joined religious
communities and groups called ashrams. The emergence
of socialist ideas in the 1960s favored perceptions
and views of antireligious nature which were considerably
different from those held by these religious conservatives.
These ideas were primarily espoused by college
students who promoted women’s rights, moderate
drug used, gay rights, legalized abortion and
contraception as well as alternative lifestyles.
These ideas shaped in to widely supported movements
which were not successful enough to grant such
radical lifestyles by the 1970s. As a reaction
to the acceptance of secular ideas and concepts
in campuses, the conservatives assembled the Campus
Crusade. This movement soon became the training
ground for numerous popular conservative politicians
of the 1980s and 1990s. |