Catholic News Service: on Principles & Values

Pope Francis: Religious role in societal shifts, not just culture wars

[A newly-released] report opens with the observation that, dating to the role of faith-inspired activists in opposing slavery and opening Settlement Houses in poor slums, religious social activists have shaped what has come to be known as the progressive movement. For example, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s. But since the 1970s, the role of religious motivations in public policy has come to be defined more by the Moral Majority, focused on traditional definitions of family, pushing back against societal shifts. As the report observes: "Popular narratives about religion's role in public life continue to focus on the influence of religious conservatives in campaign and policy debates."