A Wall of Separation · Episode 8 of 14 · 40 min
How the IRS — Not Abortion — Sparked the Religious Right
Many historians argue the Religious Right was born less over Roe v. Wade than over a late-1970s tax fight, when the IRS moved to strip racially discriminatory Christian schools of their exemptions. The episode examines that contested thesis, the segregation academy boom and the 1983 Bob Jones University ruling, giving both accounts their due.
Who's who
- Paul Weyrich+1 more episodeNew Right organizer whose recollections anchor the segregation-catalyst thesis
- Randall BalmerHistorian who argues defense of segregated schools first mobilized the Religious Right
- Jerome KurtzIRS Commissioner whose 1978 proposed rules triggered a backlash
- Warren Burger+1 more episodeChief Justice who wrote the 8-1 Bob Jones opinion
- William Rehnquist+1 more episodeLone dissenter in Bob Jones, on statutory grounds
- Richard ViguerieDirect-mail pioneer of the New Right
- Robert Billings+1 more episodeChristian-school activist who organized against the IRS
- Bob Jones IIIUniversity president who defended the interracial dating ban
Where it happens
- Bob Jones University, Greenville, South CarolinaFundamentalist university banning interracial dating; litigant in the 1983 case
Timeline
- 1970The IRS announces it will deny exemptions to racially discriminatory private schools
- June 30, 1971Green v. Connally upholds the IRS policy; the Supreme Court affirms summarily
- August 22, 1978Kurtz proposes rules presuming some private schools discriminatory; about 120,000 protest letters follow
- 1979Congress moves to defund enforcement and the Moral Majority is founded
- May 24, 1983The Supreme Court rules 8-1 that the IRS may revoke Bob Jones's exemption
Still debated
Balmer, citing Weyrich, says the school fight came first, while critics emphasize abortion, school prayer and resistance to federal overreach. The reliability of a recollected 1990 Weyrich quote is questioned, and 1978 protesters likely had mixed motives.