Wiki——In 1981, Lear founded People for the American Way (PFAW), a progressive advocacy organization formed in reaction to the politics of the Christian right.[83] PFAW ran several advertising campaigns opposing the interjection of religion in politics.[85] PFAW and other like-minded groups succeeded in their efforts to block Reagan’s 1987 nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court.[86] Lear, a longtime critic of the Religious Right, was an advocate for the advancement of secularism.[87][88]
Prominent right-wing Christians including Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Jimmy Swaggart have accused Lear of being an atheist and holding an anti-Christian bias.[87][88]
In the January 21, 1987 issue of The Christian Century, Lear associate Martin E. Marty (a Lutheran professor of church history at the University of Chicago Divinity School between 1963 and 1998) rejected those allegations, stating the television producer honored religious moral values and complimenting Lear’s understanding of Christianity.[88]
Marty noted that while Lear and his family had never practiced Orthodox Judaism,[88] the television producer was a follower of Judaism.[88]
In a 2009 interview with US News journalist Dan Gilgoff, Lear rejected claims by right-wing Christian nationalists that he was an atheist and prejudiced against Christianity.
Lear held religious beliefs and integrated some evangelical Christian language into his Born Again American campaign. He believed that religion should be kept separate from politics and policy-making.[87]
In a 2014 interview with The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles journalist Rob Eshman, Lear described himself as a “total Jew” but said he was never a practicing one.[89]
Even Barry Goldwater joined at least for a time People for the American Way.