Though divorced and not a regular churchgoer, Reagan, not his born-again opponent Jimmy Carter, received the support of the newly mobilized religious right in the 1980 presidential campaign. Christian conservatives responded enthusiastically to Reagan's belief, expressed in a 1979 rally, that "the First Amendment was written not to protect the people and their laws from religious values, but to protect those values from government tyranny."
Raised and baptized in the Disciples of Christ Church, Reagan did not shy away from encouraging Christianity as president. Early in his presidency, he wrote a letter saying: "My daily prayer is that God will help me to use this position so as to serve Him. Teddy Roosevelt once called the presidency a bully pulpit. I intend to use it to the best of my ability to serve the Lord."
An unsuccessful 1981 assassination attempt caused Reagan to re-evaluate and deepen his faith. One of the Secret Service guards protecting Reagan, John Barletta, recalled Reagan reflecting: "God knew I needed a nudge. God wanted that assassination attempt to happen. He gave me a wake-up call. Everything I do from now on, I owe to God."
In 1982, Reagan supported a constitutional amendment to allow voluntary school prayer. A year later he awarded the Rev. Billy Graham the Presidential Medal of Freedom and proclaimed 1983 the "Year of the Bible." He called on Americans to join him: "Let us take up the challenge to reawaken America's religious and moral heart, recognizing that a deep and abiding faith in God is the rock upon which this great nation was founded."
Reagan disappointed some leaders of the religious right by putting domestic social issues on the back burner to economic initiatives and foreign affairs. Nor did Reagan deliver on his promises to reinstitute school prayer and outlaw abortion. Nonetheless, he left office in 1989 with overwhelming approval from his evangelical supporters.
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