tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/evangelicals-17912/articlesEvangelicals – The Conversation2024-02-26T13:39:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2192982024-02-26T13:39:42Z2024-02-26T13:39:42ZAnti-immigrant pastors may be drawing attention – but faith leaders, including some evangelicals, are central to the movement to protect migrant rights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577394/original/file-20240222-26-s3kxsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=63%2C7%2C4623%2C3224&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A 2010 protest in Phoenix by faith groups against Arizona's new immigration law.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ArizonaImmigration/fbdf5704f5544e0393349bd76c9c70fb/photo?Query=southern%20border%20jesus&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=901&digitizationType=Digitized&currentItemNo=36&vs=true&vs=true">AP Photo/Matt York, File</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A convoy of far-right Christian nationalists calling themselves “God’s Army” have been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/02/eagle-pass-texas-border-convoy/">staging rallies on the southern U.S. border</a> against migrants. </p>
<p>Under the banner “Take Our Border Back,” rally participants are using dehumanizing language about an “invasion” and citing the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/replacement-theory-isnt-new-3-things-to-know-about-how-this-once-fringe-conspiracy-has-become-more-mainstream-183492">great replacement</a>” conspiracy theory, which claims that a cabal of Western elites and Jews are promoting migration in order to replace white people and their political power with nonwhite immigrants.</p>
<p>Several prominent figures in the Christian right have offered <a href="https://relevantmagazine.com/current/nation/james-dobson-gives-into-fear-at-the-border-update">faith-based justifications</a> for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/10/why-franklin-graham-says-donald-trump-is-right-about-stopping-muslim-immigration">anti-immigrant rhetoric</a> and policies. The Christian right has asserted the need to protect the American culture and families from the alleged dangerous influence of Islam and from the supposed wave of hardened criminals crossing the southern border. Indeed, opinion surveys consistently show that white Christians, especially evangelicals, are among the most likely groups in the U.S. <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-98086-7#:%7E:text=This%20book%20examines%20the%20historical,between%20elites%20and%20laity%20within">to hold anti-immigrant sentiments</a>.</p>
<p>Yet our work with faith-based, pro-immigration advocacy groups points toward a different reality. As we argue in our new book, co-authored with sociologist <a href="https://www.nancywyuen.com/">Nancy Wang Yuen</a>, “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479816422/gods-resistance/">God’s Resistance: Mobilizing Faith to Defend Immigrants</a>,” faith leaders, including some evangelicals, are central to the current movement to protect immigrant rights, and they have been for over a hundred years. </p>
<h2>Faith-based movements for immigrant rights</h2>
<p>Historically, Latinx Christian leaders <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/9780292718418/">have been at the forefront of immigrant rights</a> in the U.S.. For example, Mexican-American Catholic leaders of the Jim Crow era such as <a href="https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/perales-alonso-s">Alonso Perales</a> <a href="https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/calleros-cleofas">and Cleofas Calleros</a> applied Catholic social teaching, such as the inherent equality of all human beings, to civil rights struggles. </p>
<p>They founded leading organizations like the <a href="https://lulac.org">League of United Latin American Citizens</a> and the <a href="https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h4322.html">National Catholic Welfare Conference</a>, which played key roles in landmark civil rights cases, such as <a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/mendez-v-westminster/">Mendez v. Westminster and Hernandez v. Texas</a>. </p>
<p>Mendez v. Westminster ruled in 1947 that segregation of Mexican-American children in schools is unconstitutional, which paved the way for the 1954 historic Brown v. Board of Education anti-segregation ruling. Hernandez v. Texas <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/latinx-civil-rights/hernandez-v-texas">ruled in 1954</a> that Mexican Americans and all other racial groups in the United States had equal protection under the 14th Amendment. </p>
<p>Many people also don’t realize the centrality of Christian spirituality in the immigrant-led farmworkers movement in the 1960s. Key labor leaders such as Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta incorporated Catholic social teaching as well as religious symbols and practices in their successful unionization of farmworkers. For example, Chavez <a href="https://theconversation.com/pilgrimage-and-revolution-how-cesar-chavez-married-faith-and-ideology-in-landmark-farmworkers-march-200043#:">led a 25-day “peregrinación</a>” – a pilgrimage – in California from Delano to Sacramento, under the banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a star of David, and a cross, which ended on Easter Sunday. This pilgrimage was a key turning point in the success of the movement. </p>
<p>In the 1980s, faith leaders in the U.S. and Central America joined together in the <a href="https://perspectivasonline.com/downloads/sacred-resistance-the-sanctuary-movement-from-reagan-to-trump/">Sanctuary Movement</a> to effectively challenge the Reagan administration’s asylum policies toward those fleeing the civil wars in central America. The movement ultimately led to changes in asylum law; those fleeing the wars were <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/central-americans-and-asylum-policy-reagan-era">eventually allowed to apply for asylum</a>. It also was partially responsible for the termination of U.S. military funding for wars in El Salvador and Guatemala. </p>
<p>Some of the largest and most influential immigrant rights organizations that exist today, like the Southern California-based <a href="https://www.carecen-la.org/">Central American Resource Center</a>, <a href="https://www.chirla.org/">Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights</a>, and <a href="https://ndlon.org/">National Day Laborers Organizing Network</a>, were founded by Latinx people of faith during this era.</p>
<p>Our book documents this history and also analyzes the key role of faith-based organizations in challenging the Trump administration’s crackdown in immigration enforcement, which led to <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/us-immigration-system-changes-trump-presidency">record-high levels of immigrant detention and family separations</a>. </p>
<p>We conducted case studies of six faith-based immigrant advocacy organizations in Southern California from 2018 to 2020, two of which are multi-faith, two evangelical, one Catholic and one mainline Protestant. We found that faith groups possess unique advantages, which when working in coordination with secular organizations, add significant power to the movement for immigrant rights. </p>
<h2>Religious language about justice</h2>
<p>Christian scriptures, symbols and rituals can vividly express ideals of the “Kingdom of God” or “Beloved Community” in which all people are equally valued and have the right to thrive and be safe from violence. </p>
<p>We saw how this religiously inspired vision can provide motivation, clarity, hope and endurance in the long and often discouraging task of mobilizing for social change. Religious or spiritual practices provide strength in particular to marginalized communities, which an emerging group of scholars is calling “spiritual capital.” <a href="https://www.csulb.edu/college-of-education/equity-education-and-social-justice/page/lindsay-perez-huber">Lindsay Perez-Huber</a>, a professor of education and counseling, in her study of undocumented Chicana students, <a href="https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.79.4.r7j1xn011965w186">defines spiritual capital</a> as “a set of resources and skills rooted in a spiritual connection to a reality greater than oneself.” In other words, religious beliefs and spirituality can be a source of resilience when people need to persevere and resist in the face of injustice. </p>
<p>In pleas to officials, and during speeches at trainings, rallies and protests, we consistently heard references to sacred scriptures. We heard the biblical command in the book of Leviticus that “the foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born.” Advocates passionately recounted the experience of Jesus’ family as refugees fleeing state violence to Egypt, and references to Jesus’ statement in the book of Matthew that “I was an immigrant and you welcomed me.” </p>
<p>We also saw religious rituals combined with nonviolent direct action in fasts and hunger strikes, prayer vigils and worship songs at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities and offices, calling on the power of God to set the captives free. For these participants, they were not only engaging in an act of political protest, but personally connecting with God’s spirit for justice in the world. </p>
<h2>Faith as a bridge across social groups</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577372/original/file-20240222-16-ttlo1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C8%2C2955%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People, dressed mostly in shorts and T-shirts, stand in a line while a woman hands out packets to them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577372/original/file-20240222-16-ttlo1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C8%2C2955%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577372/original/file-20240222-16-ttlo1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577372/original/file-20240222-16-ttlo1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577372/original/file-20240222-16-ttlo1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577372/original/file-20240222-16-ttlo1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577372/original/file-20240222-16-ttlo1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577372/original/file-20240222-16-ttlo1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A church member hands out food to migrants on May 10, 2023, in Brownsville, Texas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kimberly-ramierz-from-the-casa-de-oracion-church-hands-out-news-photo/1489006995?adppopup=true">Joe Raedle/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Our book also shows that faith-based groups bring immigrants into contact with non-immigrants, church attenders in contact with activists, and activists in contact with politicians who have faith commitments. These connections are crucial for building a broad movement for change. </p>
<p>Among the things we documented were church volunteers becoming personally connected to asylum seekers, detainees and their families as they helped provide access to housing, basic needs, jobs, transportation and legal support. </p>
<p>We witnessed faith leaders connecting undocumented young people with public officials who influence the policies that affect their lives, telling their personal stories to those decision-makers. </p>
<p>Faith leaders also had ongoing “ministerial” and “discipleship” relationships with fellow Christian believers who are ICE officials, members of congress, and city council members. These relationships influenced these officials at different times in key policy decisions. </p>
<p>In summary, our research shows that despite media attention to anti-immigration Christian groups, faith leaders and faith-based organizations have also played a central role in past and current movements for immigrant rights. Faith-rooted organizing has unique strengths that add significant power to movements for social change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Christerson received funding from The Louisville Institute to conduct this research. He is on the board of Matthew 25/Mateo 25, and has volunteered for CLUE and We Care, organizations that were part of this study.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rev. Dr. Alexia Salvatierra has received funding from the Louisville Institute to conduct this research. She is on the Board of Matthew 25/Mateo 25. She worked for CLUE from 2000-2011. Matthew 25/Mateo 25 and CLUE are organizations analyzed in the book.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Chao Romero received funding from the Louisville Institute for this research. </span></em></p>Religious beliefs can provide motivation, hope and endurance in the long and often discouraging task of mobilizing people for social change.Brad Christerson, Professor of Sociology, Biola UniversityAlexia Salvatierra, Academic Dean, Centro Latino & Associate Professor of Mission and Global Transformation, Fuller Theological SeminaryRobert Chao Romero, Associate Professor of Chicana/o and Central American Studies, University of California, Los AngelesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2193862024-01-03T13:43:45Z2024-01-03T13:43:45ZHow religion and politics will mix in 2024 – three trends to track<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565883/original/file-20231214-19-v45zg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C2995%2C1953&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Attendees at evangelist Franklin Graham's 'Decision America' tour in Turlock, Calif., in 2018. The tour was to encourage Christians to vote.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/attendees-hold-hands-and-pray-as-rev-franklin-graham-speaks-news-photo/963640408?adppopup=true">Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Religion is likely to play a big role in voters’ choices in the 2024 presidential election – much as it did in previous years. Despite an overall shift away from participation in <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/05/14/democrats-religion-census-secular-00095858">organized religion in the U.S. populace</a>, religious rhetoric in the political arena has intensified. </p>
<p>In the 2016 race, evangelical voters contributed, in part, to Republican nominee Donald Trump’s victory. Those Americans who identified as “weekly churchgoers” not only showed up at the polls in large numbers, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/11/09/how-the-faithful-voted-a-preliminary-2016-analysis/">but more than 55% of them supported Trump</a>. His capture of <a href="https://www.prri.org/spotlight/religion-vote-2016/">66% of the white evangelical vote</a> also tipped the scales in his favor against his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>Evangelical support for Trump continued to be strong in the 2020 presidential election. However, Joe Biden <a href="https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/324410/religious-group-voting-2020-election.aspx">drew fellow Catholics to his camp</a> and convinced some evangelicals, as well, to vote in his favor. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/09/faith-leaders-back-biden-evangelicals-trump">Biden received public endorsement</a> from 1,600 Catholic, mainline Protestant and evangelical faith leaders. </p>
<p>I’m a <a href="https://www.umt.edu/history/people/?ID=1174">historian and a religious studies scholar</a> who recently published <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Religion-and-Social-Protest-Movements/Shearer/p/book/9781138090262">a book exploring the role of religion in political movements</a> such as anti-abortion campaigns. Historical evidence can help identify trends that will likely influence the mix of religion and politics in the year ahead. </p>
<p>From my perspective, three key trends are likely to show up in 2024. In particular, the run-up to the elections seems poised to feature intensified end-times rhetoric, more claims of divine support and relative silence from the evangelical community on the rise in Christian nationalism. </p>
<h2>1. End-times rhetoric</h2>
<p>End-times rhetoric has long played a prominent role in American politics. In 2016, as presidential candidate <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/magazine/hillary-clinton-campaign-final-weeks.html">Clinton told</a> The New York Times, “As I’ve told people, I’m the the last thing standing between you and the apocalypse.” Three years before, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/11/8/13494798/apocalypse-election-history-trump-clinton-cruz-johnson-goldwater">Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had warned</a>, “We have a couple of years to turn the country around or we go off the cliff to oblivion.” </p>
<p>Indeed, American leaders have rallied adherents through <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2017/12/29/political-scientist-studies-apocalyptic-political-rhetoric/">apocalyptic rhetoric</a> since the inception of the country. Ever since Puritan John Winthrop first called America a “<a href="https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/Winthrop%27s%20City%20upon%20a%20Hill.pdf">city on the hill</a>” – meaning a shining example for the world to follow – the threat of losing that divinely appointed status has consistently been employed by presidential candidates. </p>
<p>John F. Kennedy employed that exact image of the “city on the hill” in a <a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/node/11516">1961 speech on the cusp of his inauguration</a>, claiming that – with “God’s help” – valor, integrity, dedication and wisdom would define his administration. </p>
<p>Part of Ronald Reagan’s rise to fame included “<a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/reagans/ronald-reagan/time-choosing-speech-october-27-1964">A Time for Choosing</a>,” a speech in which he nominated Republican presidential candidate <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/11/8/13494798/apocalypse-election-history-trump-clinton-cruz-johnson-goldwater">Barry Goldwater and warned</a>, “We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness.” In <a href="https://www.reaganfoundation.org/media/128652/farewell.pdf">his farewell address 25 years later</a>, Reagan also revived the city on the hill image while lauding U.S. freedoms. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="President Trump, in a navy blue suit, prays with his supporters standing on either side." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565887/original/file-20231214-25-l4aaco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565887/original/file-20231214-25-l4aaco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565887/original/file-20231214-25-l4aaco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565887/original/file-20231214-25-l4aaco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565887/original/file-20231214-25-l4aaco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565887/original/file-20231214-25-l4aaco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565887/original/file-20231214-25-l4aaco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Faith leaders pray over U.S. President Donald Trump during a ‘Evangelicals for Trump’ campaign event held at the King Jesus International Ministry on Jan. 3, 2020, in Miami.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/faith-leaders-pray-over-us-president-donald-trump-during-a-news-photo/1191478084?adppopup=true">Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In a late 2022 announcement of his presidential election bid, Trump asserted “<a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/former-president-trump-announces-2024-presidential-bid-transcript">the blood-soaked streets of our once great cities are cesspools of violent crimes</a>,” drawing on apocalyptic imagery, in reference to drug-smuggling and illegal immigration. By March 2023, at the annual gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference, he predicted that “<a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/trump-speaks-at-cpac-2023-transcript">if they [Democrats] win, we no longer have a country</a>.”</p>
<p>Biden has likewise drawn on the image of final battles. In a speech at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on Sept. 1, 2022, he said that he and his supporters are in “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/09/01/remarks-by-president-bidenon-the-continued-battle-for-the-soul-of-the-nation/">a battle for the soul of this nation</a>.” </p>
<h2>2. Divine mandate</h2>
<p>Since the establishment of the republic, many U.S. political leaders have claimed a divine mandate. God, they asserted, guided the founding of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20474628">country’s democratic institutions</a>, ranging from popular elections to the Constitution’s balance of powers. </p>
<p>George Washington, for example, claimed in a June 1788 letter to his secretary of war, Benjamin Lincoln, that “<a href="https://founders.archives.gov/GEWN-04-06-02-0326">the finger of Providence has so manifestly pointed</a>” to the founding of the United States. The previous year, Benjamin Franklin gave a speech to the Constitutional Convention <a href="https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/benfranklin.htm">in which he noted</a>: “God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his aid?” </p>
<p>By 1954, in the middle of the Cold War, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill <a href="http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/mandestiny.htm">adding “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance</a>, a reassertion of Washington’s earlier claim.</p>
<p>Scholars have long documented how those in power <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197652534.003.0006">employ claims of divine authority</a> to legitimize their role in a host of different countries. Recently, some U.S. politicians and public commentators have shifted to claiming divine authority for anti-democratic actions. </p>
<p>Doug Mastriano, a Pennsylvania state senator at the time, prayed right before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection that those seeking <a href="https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/09/20/crisis-of-faith-christian-nationalism-and-the-threat-to-u-s-democracy">to “seize the power” would do so “providentially</a>.” </p>
<p>The claim by conservative radio celebrity Eric Metaxas that the insurrection was “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/02/11/christian-religion-insurrection-capitol-trump/">God’s battle even more than our battle</a>” defined the event as divinely inspired. This kind of assertion by such influential voices intensifies the commitments of those seeking to undermine democratic electoral processes.</p>
<p>Regardless of the outcome of the 2024 election, the switch from historical claims of divine authority for democracy to divine authority to challenge democracy is already obvious and apparent.</p>
<h2>3. White supremacy and Christian nationalism</h2>
<p>In the U.S., religious and racial identities have been <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/02/16/race-in-the-religious-lives-of-black-americans/">intertwined from the country’s inception</a>. Although also expressed in more subtle and systemic forms, during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, <a href="https://voices.uchicago.edu/religionculture/2017/06/26/the-klan-white-christianity-and-the-past-and-present-a-response-to-kelly-j-baker-by-randall-j-stephens/">white supremacists</a> made the most explicit claims of divine favor on the part of white people in general and people of Nordic descent in particular. </p>
<p>They promoted <a href="https://theconversation.com/nazi-germany-had-admirers-among-american-religious-leaders-and-white-supremacy-fueled-their-support-213635">Nazi ideology</a> and <a href="https://www.overdrive.com/media/3586908/the-religion-of-white-supremacy-in-the-united-states">developed new organizations that repackaged similar philosophies</a> while drawing on religious claims. </p>
<p>The overtly white supremacist and virulently antisemitic <a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/christian-identitys-new-role-extreme-right">Christian Identity movement</a>, a North American new religious movement that gained popularity in the 1980s among organized white supremacist groups, claimed that people of color, who they deemed “<a href="https://www.middlebury.edu/institute/academics/centers-initiatives/ctec/ctec-publications/christian-identitys-new-role-extreme-right">mud races</a>,” were created by God as inferior. They also asserted that the religious covenant – between God and people – spelled out in the Bible <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christian-Identity">applied only to people of European descent</a>. </p>
<p>Likewise, the unapologetically white supremacist “<a href="https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/events/christianity-and-the-alt-right-exploring-the-relationship">alt-right movement</a>” that coalesced in 2010 around the philosophies of biological racism and the belief in the superiority of white peoples around the world have likewise mixed overt white supremacy with religious doctrines. </p>
<p>This close connection between religious claims and white supremacy among overtly racist organizations has shown up in mainline political arenas as well. In this case, the trend is one of omission. Evangelical leaders have consistently failed to condemn or disassociate themselves from leaders with overt white supremacy connections.</p>
<p>When given an opportunity to condemn white supremacists during the first 2020 presidential debate, Trump instead addressed the Proud Boys, a violent white supremacist group, by saying, “<a href="https://www.debates.org/voter-education/debate-transcripts/september-29-2020-debate-transcript/">Stand back and stand ready</a>.” His decision to hire staff like <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/janetwburns/2017/10/06/breitbart-emails-trace-neo-nazi-moves-of-steve-bannon-milo-yiannopoulos-report/?sh=4633a6fb925c">white nationalist Steve Bannon</a> during his first presidential campaign and to dine with white supremacist Nick Fuentes <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/25/us/politics/trump-nick-fuentes-dinner.html">in November 2022</a> continued that pattern. </p>
<p>Appeals to white supremacy have also surfaced in the current Congress. In spring of 2023, 26 members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-denounce-white-supremacy-letter-raskin-1786300">refused to sign a letter denouncing white supremacy</a>. </p>
<p>It remains to be seen whether these trends will continue in their current forms, transition to new ones or be displaced by rhetorical strategies as yet unimagined. What is most certain is that religion and politics will continue to interact.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tobin Miller Shearer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 2024 elections may see a more intense end-times rhetoric, claims of divine support and a failure to condemn the rise in Christian nationalism, writes a religion scholar.Tobin Miller Shearer, Professor and Chair, History Department: Director of the African-American Studies Program, University of MontanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2068502023-06-21T12:30:46Z2023-06-21T12:30:46ZMission trips are an evangelical rite of passage for US teens – but why?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532329/original/file-20230616-15-pgf7sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C3%2C2092%2C1415&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Where to?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/the-great-commission-royalty-free-image/500535572?phrase=missionary&adppopup=true">georgemuresan/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As tourists head to airports this summer, American travelers are likely to see groups of young people in matching T-shirts awaiting flights to Latin America or further afield. Their T-shirts sport biblical verses or phrases like “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+6&version=KJV">Here I am, send me</a>” or “Called to serve,” and the teens may gather for prayer before boarding.</p>
<p>These young people are heading off to be short-term missionaries: an experience that has become a rite of passage in some corners of Protestant Christianity as overseas travel has become more affordable for Americans. According to some estimates, as many as 2 million youth and adults per year <a href="https://missionguide.global/articles/mission-trip-research">participated in Christian mission trips</a> before the pandemic, including overseas trips and trips to poor communities at home.</p>
<p>While it is difficult to confirm these numbers, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/shortterm-mission-trips-a_b_866197?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAdTC-GDAXE0A6srZ0YFruX-Kd80Z5b_Yx_3mPyiMCVyUXTH1MaINavVbvjU2HEYUoS2lyAp-cnecpEpBqVHmMCoZC2Gb5_Fc5GOYKES2N8mW605weSjAdi3cS3a0jSW2uylVujFKbY68egtEjPZm_DD67w_AMK96cZBMUgJVtyH">mission trips</a> are now especially commonplace within evangelical churches, with larger and more affluent churches offering multiple trips throughout the year. Some congregations plan their mission trips in-house. Others enlist the services of mission companies with names like World Race, He Said Go and World Gospel Mission. Typically, these companies combine humanitarian service, development projects and faith. They promise participants adventure, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.0.0223">spiritual growth</a> and an opportunity to serve as Jesus’ hands and feet in the world.</p>
<p>I have been studying short-term missionaries for the past six years. I have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2018.1529666">interviewed dozens of pastors</a>, trip leaders and young missionaries, and I have had the opportunity to participate in a mission trip in Central America. Through this research, I have learned about why so many young Christians want to go on mission trips and have been struck by their desire to “serve.” Yet, as <a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/geography/our_people/our_people_directory/nagel_caroline.php">a geographer</a>, I am concerned by their lack of knowledge about the people and places they visit.</p>
<h2>‘White man’s burden’</h2>
<p>The missionary impulse within Christianity comes from <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-great-commission-and-why-is-it-so-controversial-111138">the Great Commission</a>, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+28%3A16-20&version=NIV">a Gospel verse</a> in which Jesus instructs his disciples “to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” </p>
<p>The spirit of evangelism <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.389">thrived among European and American Christians in the 19th century</a>, fueled by frontier expansion and colonization. Protestant missionaries spread throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific, seeking to win souls for Christ. Also important, in many of these men’s and women’s eyes, was something often referred to as <a href="https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5478/">the “white man’s burden</a>”: the imperialist idea that they had a duty to introduce Western civilization to supposedly “backward” people.</p>
<p>Missionaries had mixed success in converting so-called natives to Christianity. But <a href="https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/fmmovement.htm">they left lasting impacts</a> through the many institutions they established around the world, including schools, universities and hospitals.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532331/original/file-20230616-16655-ttuksg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sepia-toned old photograph of a woman in full skirts seated before a row of Chinese boys." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532331/original/file-20230616-16655-ttuksg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532331/original/file-20230616-16655-ttuksg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532331/original/file-20230616-16655-ttuksg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532331/original/file-20230616-16655-ttuksg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532331/original/file-20230616-16655-ttuksg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532331/original/file-20230616-16655-ttuksg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532331/original/file-20230616-16655-ttuksg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A teacher and students at a Christian missionary school in Shanghai around 1855.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/miss-fay-and-her-pupils-at-a-christian-missionary-school-in-news-photo/3231527?adppopup=true">William Jocelyn/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Missions 2.0</h2>
<p>Contemporary missionaries are the inheritors of these earlier waves. Yet they also have some distinctive characteristics. </p>
<p>Historically, mission work was a lifelong calling and profession, one that often meant never coming home. Career missionaries continue to have a role in missions today, sometimes financially supported by denominational organizations like the Southern Baptist Convention’s <a href="https://www.imb.org/southern-baptist-convention/">International Missions Board</a> or by donations from individual churches.</p>
<p>But the movement is now dominated by short-termers who are in the “mission field” for a couple of weeks or months. Some trips go to destinations where Christians are a minority, such as the Middle East, India or Southeast Asia. More commonly, they take place in countries with a sizable Christian population and partner with local evangelical organizations and churches “planted” by long-term missionaries. Trip organizers I interviewed emphasized that the mission teams are there to serve and to take direction from their local partners.</p>
<p>Another distinctive feature of short-term missions is their approach to faith. Rather than push “conversion” as a goal, today’s mission leaders emphasize “relationship building” in hopes that connections will gradually lead people closer to Christian beliefs.</p>
<p>Trips are oriented not just around the spiritual transformation of the local community but also the spiritual transformation of missionaries themselves. Pastors and organizers say that trips are meant to teach young American Christians what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus, to share the gospel and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2018.1529666">to love people who are not like them</a>. Organizers talk about young people learning to “live missionally” and to see opportunities to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.06.007">build God’s kingdom in their ordinary lives</a>.</p>
<h2>Sacred and secular</h2>
<p>Short-term missions, however, also appeal to young people’s desire to see the world and to be adventurous. The language used to describe and promote trips is remarkably similar to secular overseas volunteering or “voluntourism,” as well as <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/what-a-gap-year-is-and-how-it-prepares-students-for-college#:%7E:text=The%20Gap%20Year%20Association%2C%20an,gap%20year%20each%20academic%20year.">gap-year programs</a> before college.</p>
<p>Both experiences are built around the idea of getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing cultural differences in the name of self-improvement, preparing for <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Cosmopolitan_Journey/cDtzAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=gap+year+experiences+cosmopolitanism+youth+identity+globalization&pg=PP8&printsec=frontcover">life in a globalized, diverse world</a>.</p>
<p>Another similarity is that both Christian and secular programs usually involve some kind of service project: building a house, digging a well or leading recreational activities for children. Such activities are meant to give young people confidence in their ability to “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2018.1529666">make a difference” in the world</a>, while developing resilience and gratitude.</p>
<h2>‘Walk with the poor’</h2>
<p>Not all evangelicals <a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/still-cancel-short-term-mission-trip/">see the value of mission trips</a>. Critics have argued that American short-term mission teams dump unwanted goods on host communities, are culturally insensitive and commonly assume that locals need American “expertise.” Construction projects push out local workers and often result in shoddily built structures – suggesting the enormous sums of money spent on mission trips <a href="https://calvin.edu/offices-services/service-learning-center/resources/publications/files/readings/vanengen-short_term.pdf">might be better spent</a> if donated directly to local organizations. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532333/original/file-20230616-17-kqcxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three people wearing blue shirts with 'Volunteer' written on the back look at a house being built." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532333/original/file-20230616-17-kqcxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532333/original/file-20230616-17-kqcxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532333/original/file-20230616-17-kqcxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532333/original/file-20230616-17-kqcxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532333/original/file-20230616-17-kqcxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532333/original/file-20230616-17-kqcxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532333/original/file-20230616-17-kqcxpa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Helping or, ultimately, hurting?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/volunteers-helping-to-build-homes-for-the-needy-royalty-free-image/533998987?phrase=missionary&adppopup=true">kali9/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Books like “<a href="https://chalmers.org/resources/books/when-helping-hurts/">When Helping Hurts</a>,” by evangelical authors <a href="https://covenant.edu/academics/ecd/faculty/fikkert.html">Brian Fikkert</a> and <a href="https://covenant.edu/academics/ecd/faculty/corbett.html">Steve Corbett</a>, aim to explain how leaders can make mission trips more effective, both in terms of alleviating poverty and in terms of evangelism. </p>
<p>Warning against <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-white-saviourism-harms-international-development-199392">a “white savior” attitude</a>, they suggest that the purpose of short-term missions is to “walk with the poor” and build lasting relationships that will lead people to Christ. </p>
<h2>Beyond the bubble</h2>
<p>In my research, I have met mission trip leaders who are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.06.007">trying to put these ideas into practice</a> without harming the communities they visit. But troubling elements persist. </p>
<p>Trip organizers want to open American Christians’ eyes to realities of the world outside of their bubbles. Yet their messages tends to imply the effects of poverty can be overcome through personal faith in Christ. Short-term missionaries I interviewed did not blame people for being poor but were reluctant to describe the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.06.007">hardship they witnessed in terms of social injustice</a>.</p>
<p>The mission teams I studied learned almost nothing about the impacts of corruption, violence and social inequality on the communities they believed they were there to help. Trip leaders felt that such information would bore participants and detract from the spiritual aims of the trip. In effect, what mattered to the volunteers and organizers was simply that places were poor and foreign rather than the reasons poverty was so entrenched. </p>
<p>Many of the short-term missionaries I interviewed described feeling changed by their trip and becoming more aware of their own privilege. But the focus on spiritual fulfillment means that these young people may be missing out on opportunities to deepen their understandings of the world and to build solidarity with the communities they visit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206850/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline R. Nagel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Today’s short-term missionaries continue a long legacy, but in a very different way.Caroline R. Nagel, Professor of Geography, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2074672023-06-13T12:30:32Z2023-06-13T12:30:32ZHow Pat Robertson changed Christian media and made it politically influential<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531371/original/file-20230612-15-66q9td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C26%2C4326%2C2593&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pat Robertson, the host of the long-running daily television show "The 700 Club,” in 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PatRobertson-700Club/d199415b7eca466fa4c331ce4a1b073b/photo?Query=christian%20broadcasting%20network&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=38&currentItemNo=32">AP Photo/Steve Helber, File</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For Americans growing up between the 1950s and the 1980s, religion was a predictable presence on television: There were weekly Sunday morning shows and religious programming that issued <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674951297">end-time warnings</a>, sought <a href="https://wipfandstock.com/televangelism-and-american-culture.html">monetary contributions</a> or staged <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/cults-9780195123708?cc=us&lang=en&">faith healings</a>. But none of those covered news.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/pat-robertson-dead-obituary-1234766208/">Pat Robertson</a>, who died on June 8, 2023, changed this. Today, there are entire networks <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/22/trump-christian-evangelical-conservatives-television-tbn-cbn-218008">devoted to religious broadcasting</a>, which include <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/media-culture-and-the-religious-right">Christian television</a> that reaches <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/8/5/16091740/christian-broadcasting-network-cbn-pat-robertson-trump">millions of Americans</a>, often with a conservative perspective on current events. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/jcbivins">scholar of religion and politics in America</a>, I believe it is important to understand the impact of the medium, and how it came to have such influence.</p>
<h2>The growth of Christian media</h2>
<p>American Christians have historically used <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/selling-god-9780195098389?cc=us&lang=en&">new media to spread the gospel</a>. In the 19th century, evangelicals used pamphlets and advertising techniques. The early 20th century produced a religious radio subculture that is still thriving in programs like the ones offered by <a href="https://www.focusonthefamily.com/">Focus on the Family</a> or <a href="https://www.moodyradio.org/">Moody Radio</a>. </p>
<p>By the early 1950s, preachers like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/us/rev-robert-h-schuller-hour-of-power-evangelist-dies-at-88.html">Robert Schuller</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-billy-grahams-legacy-lives-on-in-american-life-92229">Billy Graham</a> had energetically taken to television. Such programming thrived during the Cold War, and in 1966, Robertson’s “<a href="https://www2.cbn.com/700club">The 700 Club</a>” debuted. </p>
<p>“The 700 Club” was distinct from other programs in its willingness to blend theological themes with political commentary and explicit engagement with news. In the 1970s, this approach became more widespread because of two related political trends.</p>
<p>First, Protestant organizations, mostly fundamentalist ones like the Moral Majority, took to popularizing Christian conservatism. These organizations rallied national support to influence politicians to <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/divided-we-stand-9781632863157/">oppose abortion rights and the Equal Rights Amendment</a>, among other causes.</p>
<p>Second, around the same time, beginning with <a href="http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Invisible-Bridge/Rick-Perlstein/9781476782423">Ronald Reagan’s presidency</a>, conservative politicians started to harness <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-future-of-evangelicalism-in-america/9780231176118">evangelicals as a voting bloc</a>. As a result, many of these politicians began <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/us/pat-robertson-religious-right-politics.html">paying closer attention</a> to Robertson for indications of this bloc’s concerns. </p>
<h2>The televangelists</h2>
<p>These political changes were reflected in the rapid growth of Christian shows on cable television. </p>
<p>In addition to Robertson’s long-standing talk show, the end-times prophecy show “<a href="https://www.jvim.com/">Jack Van Impe Presents</a>” and others began to normalize the idea of addressing what was happening in the news from a Biblical perspective. Such shows claimed they were providing viewers with “real” explanations that <a href="https://www.cjr.org/special_report/right-wing-media-breitbart-fox-bannon-carlson-hannity-coulter-trump.php">media and liberal politicians covered up</a>. These shows also presented conservative talking points as facts.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531363/original/file-20230612-220125-71weda.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man makes gestures while walking down a hallway. Behind him is a cameraman taking his pictures." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531363/original/file-20230612-220125-71weda.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531363/original/file-20230612-220125-71weda.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531363/original/file-20230612-220125-71weda.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531363/original/file-20230612-220125-71weda.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531363/original/file-20230612-220125-71weda.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531363/original/file-20230612-220125-71weda.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531363/original/file-20230612-220125-71weda.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart talks with reporters while departing the Civil District Courthouse in New Orleans on Sept. 12, 1991.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/JimmySwaggart/29fdcf1ff37046df9617f27f92fffe01/photo?Query=Evangelist%20Jimmy%20Swaggart.%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=31&currentItemNo=10">AP Photo/Bill Haber</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During this period, American “televangelists” experienced several withering scandals. Evangelist <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40232583?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Jimmy Swaggart</a>, for example, was discovered with a prostitute, and televangelist <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ptl-9780199379712?cc=us&lang=en&">Jim Bakker</a> was convicted of fraud. </p>
<p>In the long term, however, these scandals did little to diminish the influence of such preachers. Robertson’s story demonstrates this.</p>
<p>To the surprise of many, Robertson entered the Republican presidential primary in 1988. Though he dropped out of the race somewhat early, his candidacy might have helped prove that far-right evangelicalism was now <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Onward-Christian-Soldiers-The-Religious-Right-in-American-Politics/Wilcox-Robinson/p/book/9780813344539">anything but marginal</a>. Following this, Robertson co-founded, along with Ralph Reed, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2585527">the Christian Coalition</a>, which worked to advance politically many of the key issues circulated in Christian media, such as concerns about abortion, anxiety around religious pluralism, and contesting the secularization of public institutions.</p>
<h2>Influence of Christian media</h2>
<p>Religious broadcasting <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2005/05/air_jesus">grew hugely in the 1990s and 2000s</a>. Christian media <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Understanding_Evangelical_Media/IRGcuy0nGokC?hl=en">increasingly commented on current events</a>. And, critically, it began to have <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/religion-of-fear-9780195340815?q=bivins&lang=en&cc=us">an influence</a> on the wider culture.</p>
<p>For example, from the mid-1990s, popular films and novels like “<a href="http://leftbehind.com/">Left Behind</a>” suggested that viewers with the “wrong” religious or political beliefs would suffer damnation. Such films and literature attracted tens of millions of viewers and <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/religion/article/71026-lahaye-co-author-of-left-behind-series-leaves-a-lasting-impact.html">readers</a>. </p>
<p>Furthermore, the kinds of issues and arguments long advanced in Christian media – such as concerns about the content of popular entertainment, or resistance to changing family dynamics – regularly exploded into widespread public concern, and conservative critics began to influence political policy.</p>
<p>“The 700 Club” and the Christian Broadcasting Network regularly devoted airtime to <a href="https://www2.cbn.com/article/not-selected/faith-our-foundation-david-barton">critiques of educational policy</a>, which in time gained ground in the Republican Party. Robertson was also instrumental in popularizing <a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9780807854686/the-fracture-of-good-order/">Christian schools</a>, like his Regent University, rooted in the idea that public institutions were not trustworthy.</p>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>The power of these programs is more than simply the stories covered or guests interviewed – it is their social impact on religious beliefs. </p>
<p>At times, Christian news can present ideas that are often highly emotional and conspiratorial as facts. For example, on election night in 2016, Robertson <a href="https://www2.cbn.com/video/700-club/700-club-november-8-2016">floated the idea</a> that Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger conspired with Martin Luther King Jr., to orchestrate “black genocide.” </p>
<p>This way of viewing the world moved closer to the center of conservative politics since the 1980s, a period of time when the <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807844281/redeeming-america/">Christian right acquired more influence</a> in American politics.</p>
<p>The themes central to Christian television were more consistently those of the Republican Party. Consider how in some corners of the media in the 1980s, Reagan began to be depicted as though he was <a href="https://www.springer.com/us/book/9780230603028?utm_campaign=3_pier05_buy_print&utm_content=en_08082017&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=google_books#otherversion=9780230616196">God’s agent on Earth</a>. In the 1990s, the growth of multinational corporations and trade deals was decried as part of a <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/02/02/rev-robertsons-grand-international-conspiracy-theo/">demonic “new world order.”</a> And today, when Islamophobia is on the rise, some Christian television channels often depict and celebrate former President Donald Trump as a “fighter in chief” who defends Christians despite his personal faults.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531368/original/file-20230612-270005-bsdmcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men in black suits sitting side by side and talking, and one of them on the right, making gestures." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531368/original/file-20230612-270005-bsdmcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531368/original/file-20230612-270005-bsdmcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531368/original/file-20230612-270005-bsdmcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531368/original/file-20230612-270005-bsdmcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531368/original/file-20230612-270005-bsdmcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531368/original/file-20230612-270005-bsdmcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531368/original/file-20230612-270005-bsdmcn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rev. Jerry Falwell, right, with President Ronald Reagan at the Baptist Fundamentalism ‘84 conference on April 13, 1984, in Washington.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PresidentRonaldReaganandRevJerryFalwell/efb7ae44035f40c685a4613cf0e17200/photo?Query=President%20Ronald%20Reagan%20with%20Rev,%20Jerry%20Falwell.&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Ira Schwarz</a></span>
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<p>These attitudes were reflected in many of the contemporary news programs themselves.</p>
<p>For example, Robert Jeffress of Dallas’ First Baptist Church called Islam a “false religion” that is “<a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2015/11/22/first-baptist-dallas-pastor-says-islam-inspired-by-satan/">inspired by Satan himself</a>.” Such claims have been widespread since Sept. 11, 2001, alongside assertions - <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/19/september11.usa9">made by Robertson and Jerry Falwell</a> two days after that event – that the attacks had occurred because America expanded gay rights, legalized abortion and removed prayer from schools. </p>
<p>Such comments reached millions of people without facts ever being addressed.</p>
<p>Further, <a href="http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews">Christian Broadcasting Network news</a> regularly featured stories about Christians persecuted <a href="https://www2.cbn.com/news/world/2021-report-details-persecution-biblical-proportions-bomb-reverberates-every-corner">globally</a>, such as
in <a href="http://www.cbn.com/tv/1568989250001?mobile=false">Turkey</a>. </p>
<p>While such persecution clearly does <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliviaenos/2018/03/28/growing-religious-persecution-in-china-a-symptom-of-xis-consolidation-of-power/#31045cdd3b8c">occur</a> in places across the world, CBN and other outlets often framed these stories alongside claims that American Christians were censored or <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/embattled-america-9780197623503?cc=us&lang=en&">otherwise embattled</a> by liberalism or secularism. These latter claims helped produce an overall sense that Christians were beleaguered in America.</p>
<h2>Amplifying one view?</h2>
<p>The growing regularity of such examples has significant implications for American politics.</p>
<p>First, assertions that religious liberty is being violated around the world are put out endlessly in what I call “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/religion-of-fear-9780195340815?cc=us&lang=en&">the resonance chamber of American public life</a>,” in which repetition, aided by social media, helps claims to achieve legitimacy. Second, stories on the Christian news channels are constantly tailored to the idea that viewers are being persecuted.</p>
<p>By presenting itself as authoritative, trustworthy journalism, Christian news reassures viewers that they do not need to consult mainstream media in order to be informed. More dangerously, I argue, it authorizes a particular, often conspiratorial way of viewing the world. It denounces neutrality or accountability to multiple constituencies as burdensome or even hostile to Christian faith.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-christian-media-is-shaping-american-politics-95910?notice=Article+has+been+updated.">an article first published</a> on May 25, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207467/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason C. Bivins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar of religion and politics explains how Robertson led the way in blending religion with political commentary and paved the way for a wider influence of Christian media on American culture.Jason C. Bivins, Professor, North Carolina State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2019002023-04-19T12:45:25Z2023-04-19T12:45:25ZTo understand American politics, you need to move beyond left and right<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520636/original/file-20230412-18-9xinwa.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C0%2C6968%2C4000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There's a more sophisticated way to understand how Americans divide themselves politically.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/close-up-us-election-badges-with-the-national-flag-royalty-free-image/1340786091?phrase=right%20and%20left%20in%20politics%20U.S.%20&adppopup=true">Torsten Asmus/ iStock / Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Are Americans really as politically polarized as they seem – and everybody says? </p>
<p>It’s definitely true that Democrats and Republicans <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-051117-073034">increasingly hate and fear one another</a>. But this animosity seems to have more to do with tribal loyalty than liberal-versus-conservative <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfy005">disagreements about policy</a>. Our research into what Americans actually want in terms of policy shows that many have strong political views that can’t really be characterized in terms of “right” or “left.” </p>
<p>The media often talks about the American political landscape as if it were a line. Liberal Democrats are on the left, conservative Republicans on the right, and a small sliver of moderate independents are in the middle. But <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/cmjs/about/people/wright.html">political scientists</a> <a href="https://cssh.northeastern.edu/student/sasha-volodarsky/">like us</a> have long argued that a line is a bad metaphor for how Americans think about politics. </p>
<p>Sometimes scholars and pundits will argue that views on economic issues like taxes and income redistribution, and views on so-called social or cultural issues like abortion and gay marriage, actually represent two distinct dimensions in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-060314-115422">American political attitudes</a>. Americans, they say, can have liberal views on one dimension <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/351494/americans-divided-social-economic-issues.aspx">but conservative views on the other</a>. So you could have a pro-choice voter who wants lower taxes, or a pro-life voter who wants the government to do more to help the poor. </p>
<p>But even this more sophisticated, two-dimensional picture doesn’t reveal what Americans actually want the government to do – or not do – when it comes to policy. </p>
<p>First, it ignores some of the most contentious topics in American politics today, like <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/10/31/1131789230/supreme-court-affirmative-action-harvard-unc">affirmative action</a>, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democratic-convention-embraces-black-lives-matter/2020/08/18/f1de2ce8-e0f7-11ea-b69b-64f7b0477ed4_story.html">Black Lives Matter movement</a> and <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/16/desantis-anti-woke-law-00087483">attempts to stamp out “wokeness”</a> on college campuses.</p>
<p>Since 2016, when Donald Trump won the presidency while simultaneously <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-fresh-look-back-at-2016-finds-america-with-an-identity-crisis/2018/09/15/0ac62364-b8f0-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html">stoking racial anxieties</a> and bucking Republican orthodoxy on <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-breaks-gop-orthodoxy-taxes-msna670121">taxes</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/trump-says-he-s-fine-gay-marriage-60-minutes-interview-n683606">same-sex marriage</a>, it has become clear that what Americans think about politics can’t really be understood without knowing what they think about racism, and what – if anything – they want done about it. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520635/original/file-20230412-20-95tq6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a white shirt and tie with gray hair, standing at a lectern outside." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520635/original/file-20230412-20-95tq6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520635/original/file-20230412-20-95tq6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520635/original/file-20230412-20-95tq6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520635/original/file-20230412-20-95tq6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520635/original/file-20230412-20-95tq6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520635/original/file-20230412-20-95tq6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520635/original/file-20230412-20-95tq6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Racial Justice Communitarians’ have liberal views on economic issues and moderate or conservative views on moral issues; some Black evangelicals supported Barack Obama but were troubled by his support for same-sex marriage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-barack-obama-speaks-at-capital-university-on-news-photo/160056112?adppopup=true">Charles Ommanney/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Recently, some political scientists have argued that views on racial issues represent a <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sf/article/96/4/1757/4781058">third “dimension” in American politics</a>. But there are other problems with treating political attitudes as a set of “dimensions” in the first place. For example, even a “3D” picture doesn’t allow for the possibility that Americans with conservative economic views tend to also hold conservative racial views, while Americans with liberal economic views are deeply divided on issues related to race. </p>
<h2>A new picture of American politics</h2>
<p>In our new <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12517">article in Sociological Inquiry</a>, we analyzed public opinion data from 2004 to 2020 to develop a more nuanced picture of American political attitudes. Our aim was to do a better job of figuring out what Americans actually think about politics, including policies related to race and racism. </p>
<p>Using a new analytic method that doesn’t force us to think in terms of dimensions at all, we found that, over the past two decades, Americans can be broadly divided into five different groups.</p>
<p>In most years, slightly less than half of all Americans had consistently liberal or conservative views on policies related to the economy, morality and race, and thus fall into one of two groups. </p>
<p>“Consistent Conservatives” tend to believe that the free market should be given free rein in the economy, are generally anti-abortion, tend to say that they support “traditional family ties” and oppose most government efforts to address racial disparities. These Americans almost exclusively identify themselves as Republicans.</p>
<p>“Consistent Liberals” strongly support government intervention in the economy, tend to be in favor of abortion rights and pro-same-sex marriage and feel that the government has a responsibility to help address discrimination against Black Americans. They mostly identify as Democrats.</p>
<p>But the majority of Americans, who don’t fall into one of these two groups, are not necessarily “moderates,” as they are often characterized. Many have very strong views on certain issues, but can’t be pigeonholed as being on the left or right in general. </p>
<p>Instead, we find that these Americans can be classified as one of three groups, whose size and relationship to the two major parties change from one election cycle to the next: </p>
<p>“Racial Justice Communitarians” have liberal views on economic issues like taxes and redistribution and moderate or conservative views on moral issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. They also strongly believe that the government has a responsibility to address racial discrimination. This group likely includes many of the Black evangelicals who strongly supported Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, but were also deeply uncomfortable with his expression of <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/05/10/152442748/black-voters-likely-to-stick-with-obama-despite-gay-marriage-stance">support for same-sex marriage in 2012</a>.</p>
<p>“Nativist Communitarians” also have liberal views on economics and conservative views on moral issues, but they are extremely conservative with respect to race and immigration, in some cases even more so than Consistent Conservatives. Picture, for instance, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/08/24/545812242/1-in-10-sanders-primary-voters-ended-up-supporting-trump-survey-finds">those voters in 2016</a> who were attracted to both Bernie Sanders’ economic populism and Donald Trump’s attacks on immigrants. </p>
<p>“Libertarians,” who we find became much more prominent after the tea party protests of 2010, are conservative on economic issues, liberal on social issues and have mixed but generally conservative views in regard to racial issues. Think here of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/03/18/d-c-silicon-valley-00087611">Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists</a> who think that the government has no business telling them how to run their company – or telling gay couples that they can’t get married.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520633/original/file-20230412-18-ejntu7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large collection of colorful campaign signs placed in the ground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520633/original/file-20230412-18-ejntu7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520633/original/file-20230412-18-ejntu7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520633/original/file-20230412-18-ejntu7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520633/original/file-20230412-18-ejntu7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520633/original/file-20230412-18-ejntu7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520633/original/file-20230412-18-ejntu7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520633/original/file-20230412-18-ejntu7.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Three groups of Americans have a difficult time fitting in with either of America’s two major parties.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/campaign-signs-are-shown-near-voters-waiting-in-line-at-news-photo/1244613234?adppopup=true">Ronda Churchill/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Five groups – but only two parties</h2>
<p>These three groups of Americans have a difficult time fitting in with either of the two major parties in the U.S. </p>
<p>In every year we looked, the Racial Justice Communitarians – who include the largest percentage of nonwhite Americans – were most likely to identify as Democrats. But in some years up to 40% still thought of themselves as Republicans or independents.</p>
<p>Nativist Communitarians and Libertarians are even harder to pin down. During the Obama years they were actually slightly more likely to be Democrats than Republicans. But since Trump’s rise in 2016, both groups are now slightly more likely to identify as Republicans, although large percentages of each group describe themselves as independents or Democrats.</p>
<p>Seeing Americans as divided into these five groups – as opposed to polarized between the left and right – shows that both political parties are competing for coalitions of voters with different combinations of views.</p>
<p>Many Racial Justice Communitarians disagree with the Democratic Party when it comes to cultural and social issues. But the party probably can’t win national elections without their votes. And, unless they are willing to make a strong push for promoting “racial justice,” the Republican Party’s national electoral prospects probably depend on attracting significant support from either the economically liberal Nativist Communitarians or the socially liberal Libertarians. </p>
<p>But perhaps most importantly, these five groups show how diverse Americans’ political attitudes really are. Just because American democracy is a two-party system doesn’t mean that there are only two kinds of American voters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201900/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We often talk about the American political landscape as if it were a line – Democrats on the left, Republicans on the right. Two political scientists say that view doesn’t reflect reality.Graham Wright, Associate Research Scientist, Maurice & Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis UniversitySasha Volodarsky, Ph.D. Student in Political Science, Northeastern UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1967272023-01-30T13:13:24Z2023-01-30T13:13:24ZHow evangelicals moved from supporting environmental stewardship to climate skepticism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506489/original/file-20230125-2999-g8a2cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C8%2C5807%2C3839&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A display questioning humans' role in climate change, at the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Ky.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/child-looks-at-a-display-questioning-humans-role-in-climate-news-photo/1244059010?phrase=climate%20evangelical%20religion%20%20united%20states&adppopup=true">Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>White conservative evangelicals, who make up most of the religious right movement, largely <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/221660">oppose government regulation to protect the environmental</a> initiatives, including efforts to curb human-caused climate change. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520972803">Multiple social scientific studies</a>, for example, consistently reveal that this group maintains a significant level of climate skepticism.</p>
<p>Contrary to popular perception, however, this hasn’t always been the case.</p>
<p><a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/97953#info_wrap">My research</a> reveals how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.97">white conservative evangelicals</a> supported an environmentally friendly position from the late 1960s to the early 1990s.</p>
<h2>Christian environmental stewardship</h2>
<p>In 1967, the idea of environmental protection became an issue for the wider Christian community after historian <a href="https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/presidential-addresses/lynn-white-jr">Lynn White Jr.</a> published “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.155.3767.1203">The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis</a>.” The article argued that growing environmental degradation was the result of Christian philosophies that encourage society to regard nature as a simple resource for the sole benefit of humanity.</p>
<p>One of the many Christian thinkers responding to White included popular conservative evangelical author <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1997/march3/7t322a.html">Francis Schaeffer</a>.</p>
<p>To answer White’s accusation, Schaeffer took to the lecture circuit to convince audiences of the importance of Christian environmental stewardship. According to this perspective, all of creation needed to be treated with respect and not abused for economic benefit. He argued that humans must value the nonhuman natural world because it was created by and owned by God. Consequently, humans were only caretakers, custodians or stewards of the natural environment. </p>
<h2>Perspectives of evangelical leaders</h2>
<p>In 1970, the same year as the first Earth Day observance, which signified the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/history/epa-history-earth-day">birth of the modern environmental movement</a>, Schaeffer’s perspectives were published in his book “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Pollution_and_the_Death_of_Man.html?id=vzr4G5KAbHcC">Pollution and the Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology</a>.” Subsequently, Schaeffer’s environmental views became the standard environmental position among many conservative evangelicals for roughly the next 20 years. </p>
<p>Schaeffer’s ideas were reflected and expanded in major publications such as <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/">Christianity Today</a>, the National Association of Evangelical’s <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1965/january-29/national-association-of-evangelicals-and-world-evangelical.html">United Evangelical Action</a> and the Moody Bible Institute’s <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/februaryweb-only/2-24-21.0.html">Moody Monthly</a>.</p>
<p>As I continued researching this topic, archival documents revealed that in 1971, the Southern Baptist Convention conducted a poll reflecting the environmental views of its 12 million members. It found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501762024">81.7% of pastors and 76.3% of Sunday school teachers</a> surveyed believed that churches should lead efforts to solve air and water pollution problems. </p>
<p>In another example reflecting Schaeffer’s views, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Christian school textbook publishers included environment-friendly philosophies in material sold to parents, pastors and teachers who were helping expand the growing home-school and <a href="https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/evangelical-homeschooling-and-the-development-of-family-values">Christian school movement</a>. The two most popular publishers, <a href="https://www.abeka.com/">ABeka Book</a> and <a href="https://www.bjupress.com/">Bob Jones University Press</a>, both supported Christian environmental stewardship views. ABeka Book, for instance, lauded the efforts of preservationist and Sierra Club founder <a href="https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/muir_biography.aspx">John Muir</a> in a reader intended for sixth graders.</p>
<h2>Respect for creation</h2>
<p>The religious right retained its eco-friendly philosophies after the formation of its first official organization, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-the-legacy-of-jerry-falwell-sr-in-trumps-america-79551">Moral Majority</a>, in 1979. ABeka Book reprinted Muir’s story in 1986 and, as late as 1989, the publisher released an economics textbook that praised capitalism while warning of the environmental dangers of the free market.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505633/original/file-20230120-12-911rqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man dressed in a suit speaks from a podium as people stand around holding banners." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505633/original/file-20230120-12-911rqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505633/original/file-20230120-12-911rqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505633/original/file-20230120-12-911rqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505633/original/file-20230120-12-911rqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505633/original/file-20230120-12-911rqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505633/original/file-20230120-12-911rqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505633/original/file-20230120-12-911rqm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pat Robertson speaks at a rally where he announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/pat-robertson-speaks-in-brooklyns-bedford-stuyvesant-news-photo/515209158?phrase=pat%20robertson%20gop&adppopup=true">Bettmann via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After bowing out of the presidential race in 1988, well-known televangelist <a href="https://www1.cbn.com/700club/pat-robertson">Pat Robertson</a> <a href="http://www.patrobertson.com/Speeches/PresidentialBidEnded.asp">addressed the GOP National Convention</a> in New Orleans. During his speech, he not only stated his support for classic religious right positions, such as <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/why-family-values-defined-conservative-christianity-and-why-religious-liberty-has-replaced-it/">traditional family values</a>, but also restated the community’s eco-friendly views, saying that he hoped for a future “where the water is pure to drink, the air clean to breathe, and the citizens respect and care for the soil, the forests, and God’s other creatures who share with us the earth, the sky and the water.” </p>
<p>On a politically charged national stage, Robertson reprised Schaeffer’s views of Christian environmental stewardship, emphasizing how all creation should be respected.</p>
<p>While Christian environmental stewardship became an accepted environmental perspective within the religious right, it existed only as an idea or philosophy – not as part of organized activism. But the reality of this support, however, challenges past understandings that this community largely ignored or opposed environmental protection efforts.</p>
<h2>The anti-environmental campaign</h2>
<p>In the early 1990s, segments of the religious right tried turning eco-friendly philosophies into action. The Southern Baptist Convention held <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1992/05/23/denominations-find-common-ground-in-saving-the-earth/3ddf1620-a134-4778-8d1c-a5ec67d6c6e3/">an environmental seminar in 1991</a> at which Schaeffer’s Christian environmental stewardship views were repeated. This effort, however, faced an insurmountable obstacle. </p>
<p>In an attempt to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09644010802055576">crush increasing international cooperation</a> to address human-caused climate change, U.S. political conservatives launched an anti-environmental campaign. Conservative think tanks and special advocacy groups <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3097132">denied the reality of human-caused global warming</a>, and some even supported conspiracy theories alleging that environmentalists wanted to <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/20140331/agenda-21-un-sustainability-and-right-wing-conspiracy-theory">create a one-world government</a>.</p>
<p>Besides finding an audience in secular conservative Americans, these outreach attempts found a home among the traditionally politically conservative religious right supporters. </p>
<p>Anti-environmental messages increasingly relied on ridicule, which some leading pastors endorsed. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/obituaries/16falwell.html">Jerry Falwell</a>, one of the founders of the religious right movement, for instance, began calling environmentalists “<a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781501762024-010/html">tree huggers</a>” as early as 1992. At Pat Robertson’s Regent University’s newspaper, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501762024">political cartoons mocked sympathy</a> for the environment as left-wing extremism. </p>
<p>By 1993, the idea of Christian environmental stewardship had all but disappeared from the rhetoric of the religious right. In its place emerged firm opposition to environmental protection efforts, including the <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/strangers-their-own-land">denial of anthropogenic climate change</a>, which the majority of this community supports today. </p>
<p>Although religious right supporters largely reject Schaeffer’s Christian environmental stewardship today, a small but noticeable number of voices within the community are keeping it alive. Perhaps the largest eco-friendly organization is the <a href="https://creationcare.org/">Evangelical Environmental Network</a>, which originated in 1993. Other notable developments include the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/us/evangelical-leaders-joinglobal-warming-initiative.html">signing of the Evangelical Climate Initiative in 2006</a> by well-known religious leaders. </p>
<p>These are remarkable developments that often employ theological arguments to support environmental activism. But they are largely overshadowed by the continuing <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3097132">nontheological anti-environmental arguments</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501762024">founded in misinformation</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196727/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neall Pogue does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It was in the 1990s that the idea of Christian environmental stewardship disappeared from the rhetoric of the religious right, paving the way for the anti-environmental position it holds today.Neall Pogue, Assistant Professor of Instruction, University of Texas at DallasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1884852022-11-10T13:42:33Z2022-11-10T13:42:33ZRock music has had sympathy for God as well as the devil – Kennedy Center honoree Amy Grant is just one big star who’s walked the line between ‘Christian’ and ‘secular’ music<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494250/original/file-20221108-15248-vbdhgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C0%2C1013%2C731&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Amy Grant performs in Abbotsford, British Columbia, in 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/amy-grant-performs-on-stage-at-abbotsford-centre-on-news-photo/875545404?phrase=%22amy%20grant%22&adppopup=true">Andrew Chin/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After three multiplatinum and six platinum albums, 30 million albums sold and more than a billion streams, singer Amy Grant is <a href="https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/g/go-gz/amy-grant/">set to receive</a> one of American music’s biggest awards: Kennedy Center Honors.</p>
<p>Grant, the so-called queen of Christian pop, won’t be the first honoree whose music is infused with religion. The 2022 honorees alone include Gladys Knight, <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2014/9/12/20548401/a-conversation-with-mormon-convert-and-7-time-grammy-award-winner-gladys-knight">who converted</a> to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and U2, whose lead singer, Bono, is known for <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/10/27/1131678023/bono-memoir-book-surrender-faith-u2">his longtime faith</a>. But Grant is the first to come from the world of CCM: contemporary Christian music. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://people.cal.msu.edu/stowed/">a religion scholar</a> who has <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469606873/no-sympathy-for-the-devil/">written a book</a> on the origins of CCM, I know the genre has long occupied a shaky rung in the hierarchy of popular music. It can seem far removed from the mainstream industry, but the boundary between religious and nonreligious music has long been porous. No one personifies that fluidity better than Grant.</p>
<h2>New way of worship</h2>
<p>In popular culture, CCM is often the butt of jokes, shorthand for “uncool.” In the sitcom “Seinfeld,” <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697663/">Elaine freaks out</a> when she discovers that her boyfriend’s car radio is preset to Christian rock stations. In the HBO drama “The Sopranos,” when Tony Soprano’s sister Janice is hitting bottom, she moves in with a born-again, narcoleptic hippie who plays in a Christian rock band.</p>
<p>The disdain has often been mutual. At times CCM has guarded its borders jealously against encroachments from the non-Christian world. Since the 1970s, American evangelicals have created <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Rapture-Ready!/Daniel-Radosh/9781416593751">a kind of parallel cultural universe</a> of religious radio stations, TV channels, movies, magazines, bookstores and music, most of which passes under the radar of nonbelievers.</p>
<p>Researching my book “<a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469606873/no-sympathy-for-the-devil/">No Sympathy for the Devil</a>,” I was most interested in the roots of CCM in the late 1960s, when young baby boomer evangelicals were pushing to create relatable worship music. Like other young people, they loved rock ‘n’ roll. But they wanted lyrics that reflected their Christian values – so they made their own.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white photo shows a small group of musicians on a stage in front of a banner saying 'Jesus loves you.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494195/original/file-20221108-8958-juql66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494195/original/file-20221108-8958-juql66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494195/original/file-20221108-8958-juql66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494195/original/file-20221108-8958-juql66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494195/original/file-20221108-8958-juql66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494195/original/file-20221108-8958-juql66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494195/original/file-20221108-8958-juql66.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A ‘Jesus People’ rally in Toronto in 1971.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-message-is-jesus-announced-the-leader-of-the-band-at-news-photo/499307207?phrase=%22jesus%20people%22&adppopup=true">Dave Norris/Toronto Star via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mainstream music finds Jesus</h2>
<p>But if CCM was taking its cues from broader pop culture, mainstream music itself was no stranger to Christian themes. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, songs whose lyrics made reference to faith regularly made the Top 40. Plenty of musicians from outside the evangelical camp took at least a superficial interest in Christian themes.</p>
<p>In 1966, the Beach Boys recorded “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NADx3-qRxek">God Only Knows</a>” on <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/how-pet-sounds-invented-the-modern-pop-album/482940/">their influential album</a> “Pet Sounds.” The song “Jesus is Just Alright” became a hit when covered by the Byrds and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBwlr65TbJA">the Doobie Brothers</a>. Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky,” which tells listeners they’ve “gotta have a friend in Jesus,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2msh0jut2Y">was a top hit</a> in 1970. The English supergroup Blind Faith, whose eponymous album charted at No. 1 in the U.S. and U.K., featured Eric Clapton’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylQpcBObFUk">Presence of the Lord</a>.” </p>
<p>The list just keeps going. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o8FVoib92w">Stevie Wonder</a>, Marvin Gaye and Earth, Wind & Fire highlighted spiritual, sometimes explicitly Christian, themes. In 1972, Aretha Franklin crossed back from her position as the queen of soul into her musical training grounds – gospel – to record <a href="https://ultimateclassicrock.com/aretha-franklin-amazing-grace/">the top-selling album “Amazing Grace</a>.” The late 1970s brought perhaps the biggest surprise of all: Bob Dylan, who was raised Jewish, now “<a href="https://sojo.net/articles/bob-dylans-overlooked-christian-music">born again</a>” and spouting Christian prophecy.</p>
<p>Most visible, perhaps, were rock musicals based on the life of Jesus. “<a href="https://theconversation.com/best-easter-pageant-ever-half-a-century-of-jesus-christ-superstar-180628">Jesus Christ Superstar</a>” and “<a href="https://www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_g/godspell.htm">Godspell</a>” brought a countercultural Jesus to stage and screen, attracting a huge amount of publicity and controversy. Released in 1970, the “Superstar” album <a href="https://www.billboard.com/lists/god-chart-topping-albums-dj-khaled/jesus-christ-superstar-various-artists/">reached the top</a> of Billboard’s U.S. album chart.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man with curly hair looks concerned as many other people's hands point to his face." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494194/original/file-20221108-26-niofjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494194/original/file-20221108-26-niofjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494194/original/file-20221108-26-niofjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494194/original/file-20221108-26-niofjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494194/original/file-20221108-26-niofjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494194/original/file-20221108-26-niofjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494194/original/file-20221108-26-niofjf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Victor Garber as Jesus in a scene from the musical ‘Godspell’ in 1973.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/fingers-pointing-at-the-face-of-victor-garber-in-a-scene-news-photo/122719912?phrase=%22godspell%22&adppopup=true">Columbia Pictures/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Wide spectrum</h2>
<p>Even then, though, there was a strong push among influential church leaders against CCM’s integration with the wider world. Figures like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jimmy-Swaggart">televangelist Jimmy Swaggart</a> continued to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCM95yYykcw">demonize music</a> that featured electric guitars or drum sets.</p>
<p>June 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of <a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2012/06/explo-72/">Explo ’72</a>: a Christian youth festival in Dallas emceed by Billy Graham and <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/9345380">Johnny Cash</a>, the latter of whom had turned to Jesus after some wilder years on the road, like many of the boomer evangelicals. Sometimes dubbed “Godstock,” the event was conceived as a Christian answer to the 1969 Woodstock festival and landed on the cover of Life magazine in 1972.</p>
<p>A pioneering work on CCM that was published in 1999, “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/900344303">Apostles of Rock</a>,” distinguished three distinct modes of Christian rock: separational, integrational and transformational. The three labels were inspired by <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Christ_and_Culture/0CLgRqKw3T8C?hl=en&gbpv=0">writings by theologian H. Richard Niebuhr</a>, who used them to categorize Christians’ attitudes toward engaging with secular society in general.</p>
<p>On one far end of the spectrum, according to “Apostles of Rock,” is separational CCM. Separational music drew a clear line against the world, as conservative leaders wanted. This vision was exemplified by the pioneering Christian hair metal band <a href="https://stryper.com/">Stryper</a>, who were known for their militant lyrics and for throwing Bibles at the audience.</p>
<p>In the middle is integrational CCM, epitomized by Amy Grant, who successfully found a niche in mainstream culture. She may have reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991 with “Baby Baby,” but the nonstop physical flirtation in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMXuuYnoRdI">music video</a> was <a href="https://jezebel.com/amy-grant-and-the-crossover-album-that-rocked-christian-1846280693">a bit worldly</a> for some of her Christian fans.</p>
<p>Finally, on the other end of the spectrum is transformational CCM, which aspired to change the broader culture – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271086293">U2 might serve as an example</a>.</p>
<h2>Digging good</h2>
<p>In recent decades, most of the innovative and widely praised activity in Christian popular music has taken place in the integrational realm.</p>
<p>Several leading Christian bands – Creed, Skillet, Switchfoot and Pedro the Lion, among others – have migrated out of the evangelical subculture to find broader audiences. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/opinion/24Stowe.html">Justin Bieber</a> and <a href="https://www.complex.com/music/2015/09/looking-back-on-katy-perrys-christian-music-career">Katy Perry</a> both cut their musical milk teeth on CCM before going mainstream. Two of the top recent rock bands, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/imagine-dragons-dan-reynolds-loveloud-mormon-lgbtq-666135/">Imagine Dragons</a> and The Killers, are fronted by singers who grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brandon Flowers, lead singer of The Killers, even appeared in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PF0h7oqUEQ">a publicity promo</a> for the LDS church. </p>
<p>Interest in evangelical youth culture seems to spike about every 20 years. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/jesus-people-a-movement-born-from-the-summer-of-love-82421">unexpected Christian revival</a> called the Jesus Movement made the cover of Time in 1971; in 2001, Newsweek ran a cover story titled “Jesus Rocks.” Twenty years later, 2021 saw a full-length documentary, “<a href="https://www.lionsgate.com/movies/the-jesus-music">The Jesus Music</a>,” which delivers a sympathetic, industry-authorized history of CCM. Grant gets the film’s first and final words; she is also one of its executive producers.</p>
<p>Like all popular music, CCM struggles to adapt to rapidly changing tastes. Yet Christian rockers have found unexpected popularity in a genre that used to pride itself on iconoclasm, music critic and journalist Kelefa Sanneh <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/09/24/the-unlikely-endurance-of-christian-rock">has observed</a>: “Maybe, in the twenty-first century, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576360/major-labels-by-kelefa-sanneh/">mainstream rock fans</a> dig evil less than they dig good.”</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct the description of Bono’s religious affiliation and the spelling of the songwriter who wrote “Spirit in the Sky.”.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David W. Stowe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The genre of contemporary Christian music has been around for decades, but the line between CCM and secular pop music has always been blurry.David W. Stowe, Professor of Religious Studies, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1803062022-10-14T12:19:46Z2022-10-14T12:19:46ZEvangelical college students often feel misunderstood – what helps boost understanding between students of all faiths?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460824/original/file-20220502-14-sn8m77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=52%2C45%2C4987%2C3309&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Do students' views of people with different beliefs really change on campus?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/NerdWallet-Millennial-Money-Enroll-This-Fall/70126f085adb4d2a9d6b2fd8994ec01b/photo?Query=college%20campus&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=7438&currentItemNo=23">AP Photo/Darron Cummings</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://ehe.osu.edu/directory?id=mayhew.65">Our research team</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Y_dDF6oAAAAJ&hl=en">has studied</a> <a href="https://www.educationalleadership.msstate.edu/people/dr-christa-winkler/">college students’ attitudes</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-017-0283-8">toward evangelicals</a>, a topic that tends to prompt strong reactions.</p>
<p>Some liberals don’t see the topic as worthy of discussion – why study whether Americans appreciate a privileged group with <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/faith-in-the-halls-of-power-9780195376050?cc=us&lang=en&">strong influence</a> on society? Meanwhile, many conservatives <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10656219.2014.901932">are adamant</a> that evangelical perspectives are <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442224070/So-Many-Christians-So-Few-Lions-Is-There-Christianophobia-in-the-United-States?">not tolerated</a>, let alone welcome, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15507394.2005.10012355">on U.S. university campuses</a>.</p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.775303">our findings</a> about students’ attitudes underscore important lessons about fostering tolerance and appreciation on campus for any group. Views of evangelicals are particularly interesting, since they highlight the complexities of social privilege: how individuals <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/perceptions-discrimination-muslims-christians/519135/">can feel discriminated against</a>, even when their community as a whole is influential.</p>
<h2>Surveying students</h2>
<p>The Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey, <a href="https://www.interfaithamerica.org/research/ideals/">or IDEALS</a>, surveyed 9,470 college students from 122 institutions across the country at three times: the beginning of their first year, the end of their first year, and the end of their senior year, which wrapped up in spring 2019. As part of this project, conducted by a team of researchers from Ohio State University, North Carolina University and the nonprofit <a href="https://interfaithamerica.org/research">Interfaith America</a>, we asked students about their attitudes toward religious, spiritual and secular groups, including but not limited to atheists, Jews, Muslims and evangelicals. </p>
<p>We asked students to indicate their responses to four statements on a scale of 1, or “disagree strongly,” to 5, or “agree strongly”:</p>
<p>1) In general, people in this group make positive contributions to society.</p>
<p>2) In general, individuals in this group are ethical people.</p>
<p>3) I have things in common with people in this group.</p>
<p>4) In general, I have a positive attitude toward people in this group.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.775303">analysis</a> controlled for other variables – such as the institution’s type, selectivity and size, and students’ race, gender, sexual orientation, major and political affiliation – to home in on the specific ways the campus learning environment was related to students’ views about different religious groups.</p>
<p>Compared with their attitudes toward other religious groups on campus, students’ appreciation for evangelicals grew at a slower pace, but still grew. On average, students’ responses showed an increase of over 40% in appreciation toward evangelicals by the end of their first year. By the time students graduated, they demonstrated another 30% increase between the end of their first year and fourth year of college. </p>
<h2>Campus climate</h2>
<p>After seeing that students’ views of evangelicals improved, on average, we wanted to better understand why.</p>
<p>First, we looked at the experiences students said were related to their gains, such as whether they took a religious studies course. Then, we conducted 18 case studies at institutions of various sizes and affiliations to learn about campus culture and hear from hundreds of students in focus groups. In these groups, we showed students data on the gains reported by their peers on campus and asked them why they thought these gains were made.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.775303">We found</a> that appreciation increased for students on campuses they consider committed to inclusion for people of faiths, and people of no faith – regardless of whether the institutions were public or private, large or small, selective or not.</p>
<p>Some students talked about the impact of simply living and studying alongside people from different backgrounds. Many named the influence of interfaith and multifaith centers, spaces dedicated to bringing people from different religions together. </p>
<p>For example, a student at a Protestant-affiliated institution who identified as agnostic noted that she had “experienc[ed] a lot of toxic Christianity” growing up. She credited her interactions with a “progressive Christian” chaplain at her campus’s interfaith center with helping her understand that Christian beliefs and identities are diverse, and not limited to the type of faith she was introduced to as a child.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A crowd of students in a classroom, many of them with their hands up in worship, facing two singers at the front." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489284/original/file-20221011-18-yuizqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489284/original/file-20221011-18-yuizqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489284/original/file-20221011-18-yuizqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489284/original/file-20221011-18-yuizqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489284/original/file-20221011-18-yuizqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489284/original/file-20221011-18-yuizqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489284/original/file-20221011-18-yuizqr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Members of a Christian group at California State University Long Beach worship in a lecture hall in 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-the-csulb-intervarsity-christian-fellowship-turn-news-photo/1034906064?phrase=intervarsity&adppopup=true">Scott Varley/Digital First Media/Torrance Daily Breeze via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Survey data also suggested that, on average, students whose views of evangelicals improved reported having at least two curricular experiences related to religion. This included many type of activities: for example, enrolling in a course specifically designed to enhance knowledge of different religious traditions; reflecting on one’s own religion in relationship to other perspectives as part of a class; and discussing other students’ religious or nonreligious backgrounds in class.</p>
<h2>Personal relationships</h2>
<p>How students related to one another was another important theme that often came up in discussions about views of evangelicals.</p>
<p>Evangelicals have to negotiate a seeming paradox: As Protestant Christians, who have long held influence in U.S. culture and politics, they belong to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.206">a privileged group</a>. Yet <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2007.0004">many evangelical students say</a> they <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/silencing-religious-students-on-campus/497951/">feel unwelcome</a> and misunderstood because of their beliefs.</p>
<p>Many non-Christian students who themselves feel marginalized because of their identities <a href="https://theconversation.com/university-can-feel-like-a-hostile-place-to-muslim-students-74385">wrestle with</a> how to make their evangelical peers aware of their relative privilege, and of how their beliefs and actions might affect other students.</p>
<p>For example, one student who identifies as atheist at a small, secular college recalled a Christmas tree put on their door by another student. “The person has literally no idea that that could possibly be upsetting,” they said, but added it was “a very sweet thing to do.” In other words, they believed that the other student was likely ignorant of why the Christmas tree could bother other students, but acting out of good intentions, tempering their anger about the unwelcome decoration.</p>
<p>Many students discussed developing empathy and humility. A Catholic student attending a Catholic college summarized, “Myself being a more liberal Christian, I’m not as accepting of the close-minded evangelical Christian … but that’s kind of being close-minded myself. … So I have to examine myself and be like, ‘I’m okay with them being them, even if I don’t agree with them.’ They’re saying, ‘All of these people are saying let’s accept everybody, but you’re not accepting me.’ And I said, ‘That’s absolutely right.’ … Even in political realms, too, I don’t agree with you, but I need to be okay with you.”</p>
<p>Finally, student gains in appreciation also seemed to stem from recognition that <a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/12/19/458058251/are-you-an-evangelical-are-you-sure">evangelicals are diverse</a>, not one homogeneous group – as with the student who appreciated her conversations with the Christian chaplain at her campus’s interfaith center. </p>
<p>As a research team, we found this project’s findings left us considering ways to address deep divisions in the U.S. today. Some principles apply to fostering respect in many other situations beyond religion, and beyond college, from our offices at work to the halls of Congress: intentionally but empathetically engaging with one another’s differences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew J. Mayhew receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Education, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Fetzer Institute, the Merrifield Family Foundation, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christa Winkler and Musbah Shaheen do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>College can be a time to interact with people with different worldviews, but meaningful exchanges often require intent.Matthew J. Mayhew, Professor of Higher Education, The Ohio State UniversityChrista Winkler, Assistant Professor of Higher Education Leadership, Mississippi State UniversityMusbah Shaheen, PhD student in Higher Education and Student Affairs, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1905092022-09-26T12:30:21Z2022-09-26T12:30:21ZReligion is shaping Brazil’s presidential election – but its evangelicals aren’t the same as America’s<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485771/original/file-20220921-23-c08j0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C11%2C3958%2C2646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pastor Silas Malafaia, second from left, prays alongside President Jair Bolsonaro, far left, at the Assembly of God Victory in Christ Church in Rio de Janeiro.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BrazilBolsonaro/84f1a83da90b4bf8a0f544cf37b7936b/photo?Query=brazil%20pray&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=495&currentItemNo=7">AP Photo/Bruna Prado</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With one week to go before Brazil’s presidential election, the two front-runners are battling for the religious vote.</p>
<p>Last month, first lady Michelle Bolsonaro told an evangelical church service that the presidential palace had been “<a href="https://jc.ne10.uol.com.br/colunas/jamildo/2022/08/15059184-video-michelle-bolsonaro-fala-sobre-expulsao-no-planalto-em-culto-evangelico-entenda.html">consecrated to demons</a>” under previous presidential administrations – a gibe against former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula, and his center-left Workers’ Party.</p>
<p>Lula is running again in this year’s election, whose first round is Oct. 2, 2022, and has joined the fray. In his official campaign kickoff in August 2022, for instance, he alleged that the right-wing current president, Jair Bolsonaro, is “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/16/lula-bolsonaro-brazil-possessed-by-devil-election">possessed by the devil</a>.” </p>
<p>Lula has been heavily favored to win the election and retake the office he held from 2003 to 2010. In polls, he currently runs <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/lula-maintains-large-lead-over-bolsonaro-ahead-brazil-election-poll-2022-09-20/">about 15 percentage points</a> ahead of Bolsonaro. </p>
<p>Religious voters are an important part of the story. Bolsonaro – whom international media dubbed the “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-north-america-donald-trump-ap-top-news-brazil-bdc70648e5814d25b549d1c252910006">Trump of the Tropics</a>” for his persona as a conservative firebrand, his <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/14/bolsonaro-brazil-trump-anti-democracy-elections/">anti-democratic streak</a>, and his ability to attract a Christian base – garnered <a href="https://epocanegocios.globo.com/Brasil/noticia/2022/05/como-pensam-evangelicas-que-podem-definir-eleicao-para-presidente.html">70% of evangelical support in the 2018 election</a>. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/religion-and-brazilian-democracy/D9B7921525E8C676CFE11AEDC5C4102D">Scholars, including me, argue</a> that without the evangelical vote, he would have narrowly lost.</p>
<p>However, as <a href="https://www.pols.iastate.edu/directory/amy-erica-smith/">a political scientist</a> who has written a book about <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/religion-and-brazilian-democracy/D9B7921525E8C676CFE11AEDC5C4102D">religious politics in Brazil</a>, I see these comparisons between the U.S. and Brazil as also glossing over key differences. Yes, Bolsonaro and Trump are very similar in how they use religion. Yet the ways evangelical communities work and how religion shapes politics is different in each country – and my own research suggests that conservative Christians will not be as consistent a base for Bolsonaro as they are for Trump and the Republican Party.</p>
<h2>Who’s who</h2>
<p>One key difference is the language used: who “evangelicals” are in the first place. </p>
<p>In Latin America, traditionally a Catholic stronghold, the Spanish and Portuguese term “evangelico” is applied to nearly all non-Catholic Christians, including Protestant denominations that are usually classified as “mainline” or even “progressive” in the U.S. Estimates indicate that <a href="https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2020/01/13/50percent-dos-brasileiros-sao-catolicos-31percent-evangelicos-e-10percent-nao-tem-religiao-diz-datafolha.ghtml">around a third of Brazilians identify as evangelical today</a>, up from just a few percentage points in 1970. In the same period, the percentage of Catholics has fallen <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/07/18/brazils-changing-religious-landscape/">from over 90%</a> to right about half.</p>
<p>By contrast, in the U.S. the term “evangelical” is reserved for theologically conservative Protestant groups, as well as Christians who have had a “born-again” experience of religious awakening. Americans also increasingly apply the term “evangelical” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/26/opinion/evangelical-republican.html">in a political sense</a>, to refer to predominantly white political conservatives who are affiliated with Protestant churches.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Several women in red T-shirts with pictures of Jesus dance and sing at a rally." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485772/original/file-20220921-12-uzvh9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evangelicals pray and dance during a campaign rally for former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro on Sept. 9, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BrazilElections/486bc16881b846d6a1edc79d749f2c97/photo?Query=brazil%20pray&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=495&currentItemNo=8">AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a result, the group of people termed “evangelicals” is much more diverse in Latin America than in the United States – and it’s politically quite diverse, too. All this said, many evangelicals in Brazil do have some <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/religion-and-brazilian-democracy/D9B7921525E8C676CFE11AEDC5C4102D">tendency to adopt theologically conservative</a> beliefs, such as interpreting the Bible literally.</p>
<h2>Dozens of parties</h2>
<p>A second major difference is the lack of strong partisan affiliation on Brazil’s religious right. Since the 1970s, many Americans are used to associating evangelicalism with the Republican Party. The founding of groups such as Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority helped spur <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1386573">evangelicals to become a strong base for political conservatism</a>.</p>
<p>However, there is no political party in Brazil that can claim such a strong link to evangelicals as a whole. Brazilian politics is <a href="https://doi.org/10.5129/001041521X15941508069585">famously fragmented</a>, especially on the right, and there are dozens of parties in Congress at any given time. Many parties – mostly conservative ones – court evangelicals, but none have shored up strong loyalty across the wide spectrum of evangelical denominations and churches. </p>
<p>Jair Bolsonaro personifies this weak partisanship. Bolsonaro ran for the presidency in 2018 under the Social Liberal Party, but then left the party to attempt to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-50507996">form his own party</a> in 2019 after taking office. Those efforts ultimately failed, and he joined the Liberal Party <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/30/brazil-bolsonaro-officially-joins-centre-right-liberal-party">in late 2021</a>. </p>
<p>Evangelicals may support Jair Bolsonaro, but polls have shown they have little loyalty to whatever party he is affiliated with at the moment. As a result, the president cannot count on his voters to also elect his political allies. Ultimately, this very weak partisanship in the electorate weakens presidents, since they have to negotiate with <a href="https://brazilian.report/power/2018/11/13/brazilian-congress-fragmented/">a highly fragmented Congress</a>. </p>
<h2>Key issues</h2>
<p>A third difference between evangelicals in Brazil and the U.S. relates to their views on political issues. Like their counterparts in the U.S., religious conservatives in Brazil feel very strongly about issues related to sex and gender. In a striking parallel to recent controversies in U.S. public schools, Brazilian <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/05/12/i-became-scared-was-their-goal/efforts-ban-gender-and-sexuality-education-brazil">evangelicals mobilized politically over the past decade</a> to oppose efforts to teach children and teenagers tolerance on LGBTQ issues.</p>
<p>However, Brazilian evangelicals are much less conservative than their American counterparts on many other issues. This is particularly the case for topics on which U.S. evangelicals often follow cues from the Republican Party. For instance, my <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12656">research shows</a> that Brazilian evangelicals from a wide range of denominations are highly supportive of environmental action such as preventing deforestation. </p>
<p>Many Brazilian evangelicals have historically tended to come from poor areas and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3875688#metadata_info_tab_contents">communities of color</a>, leading them to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/religion-and-brazilian-democracy/D9B7921525E8C676CFE11AEDC5C4102D">support issues</a> such as welfare policy and affirmative action. About <a href="https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2020/01/13/50percent-dos-brasileiros-sao-catolicos-31percent-evangelicos-e-10percent-nao-tem-religiao-diz-datafolha.ghtml">1 in 3</a> Brazilian evangelicals identifies as white, versus <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/september/1-in-3-american-evangelicals-person-of-color-prri-atlas.html">2 in 3</a> in the U.S.</p>
<p>As a result, they are likely to be attracted to President Bolsonaro for his conservative stances on gender and sexuality. However, they may penalize him for his <a href="https://apnews.com/article/jair-bolsonaro-science-caribbean-forests-brazil-580acb5091b553a5a0b5b7028c818b7a">very weak record of environmental protection</a> as well as what is generally recognized as poor performance <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2021/11/13/president-jair-bolsonaro-is-bad-for-brazils-economy">on the economy</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/bolsonaro-faces-crimes-against-humanity-charge-over-covid-19-mishandling-5-essential-reads-170332">COVID-19</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in a pink shirt and straw hat walks by three large campaign posters on a wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485774/original/file-20220921-22-m88a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Electoral merchandise with images of former President Lula are displayed on a street in Brasilia, Brazil, Sept. 20, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BrazilElections/1b36d069b3bf41dcbc134f7a02f9d76d/photo?Query=brazil%20elections&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=5204&currentItemNo=14">AP Photo/Eraldo Peres</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tea leaves</h2>
<p>What does this mean for the upcoming presidential election? Bolsonaro is again attracting evangelicals, though not yet as strongly as in 2018. New evidence indicates that <a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2022/09/campanha-eleitoral-e-minoria-barulhenta-nos-cultos-evangelicos.shtml?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsfolha">only about a quarter</a> of evangelical churches are getting involved in the campaign so far this year – a substantially lower share <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168021990204">than what my co-authors and I documented in 2018</a>.</p>
<p>However, particular churches are still taking a strong stance. Brazil’s most politically engaged Pentecostal church, <a href="https://polarjournal.org/2021/08/31/far-right-messianism-and-urban-religious-reassembling-in-brazil/">the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God</a>, is urging its followers to begin a monthlong “fast” from secular news sources. This will presumably increase the political influence of church leaders, including the church’s head, Bishop Edir Macedo, who is an ardent Bolsonaro supporter.</p>
<p>Like their U.S. counterparts, Brazilian evangelicals tend to be highly religious and believe that <a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2022/09/datafolha-56-dizem-que-politica-e-valores-religiosos-devem-andar-juntos.shtml?utm_source=newsletter&%E2%80%A6">religion should influence politics</a>. What that means in 2022, however, is harder to divine than ever. After Bolsonaro’s four years in office, evangelicals may well judge him by his track record, not just by his promises – which could be both a blessing and a curse for him.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190509/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Erica Smith currently receives funding from an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, as well as a Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean's Professorship at Iowa State University. Research reported in this article was previously funded by a Fulbright Fellowship, a Luce/ACLS Fellowship in Religion, Journalism, and International Affairs, a Wilson Center Fellowship, and a Seed Grant from the Global Religion Research Initiative. She sits on the Research Council of Instituto Civis, as well as the editorial boards of a number of journals, including the Journal of Democracy. She also sits on the Ames Community School Board in Ames, Iowa, USA.</span></em></p>Trump and Bolsonaro use religion in similar ways, but there are key differences between the two countries’ evangelical communities – and politics.Amy Erica Smith, Associate Professor of Political Science as well as Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean's Professor, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1829302022-05-31T13:04:13Z2022-05-31T13:04:13ZMost people support abortion staying legal, but that may not matter in making law<p>The Supreme Court is set to soon rule on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case, nearly one month after a leaked <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/read-justice-alito-initial-abortion-opinion-overturn-roe-v-wade-pdf-00029504">draft majority opinion</a> showed the <a href="https://theconversation.com/leaking-a-supreme-court-draft-opinion-on-abortion-or-other-hot-topics-is-unprecedented-4-things-to-know-about-how-the-high-court-works-182942">court might</a> uphold a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.</p>
<p>Ruling to uphold this ban could undo women’s constitutional right to abortion, guaranteed by Roe v. Wade in 1973, and throw the decision back to states.</p>
<p>Most Americans <a href="https://www.prri.org/spotlight/most-oppose-overturning-roe-v-wade-widespread-confusion-over-a-post-roe-world/">do not support overturning</a> Roe v. Wade, and have held this opinion for some time. </p>
<p>About 61% of Americans think that abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances, while 37% think it should be illegal in all or most circumstances, according to a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/05/06/americas-abortion-quandary/">March 2022 Pew Research poll</a>. </p>
<p>But national public opinion <a href="https://open.oregonstate.education/open-judicial-politics/chapter/supreme-court-public-opinion/">does not often</a> influence the Supreme Court’s decisions. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oTq7_YIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">a professor</a> of political science who studies gender and public opinion, I believe that while general national opinion polling on abortion is important, too much emphasis on it can be misleading. When it comes to how public opinion may shape the debate, it’s essential to pay attention to opinions in the various states, and among particular interest groups. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465775/original/file-20220527-19-mm05sn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A big fence with the words 'police line, do not cross' is shown outside the Supreme Court" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465775/original/file-20220527-19-mm05sn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465775/original/file-20220527-19-mm05sn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465775/original/file-20220527-19-mm05sn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465775/original/file-20220527-19-mm05sn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465775/original/file-20220527-19-mm05sn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465775/original/file-20220527-19-mm05sn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465775/original/file-20220527-19-mm05sn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protective fencing encloses the U.S. Supreme Court building on May 24, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/protective-fencing-remains-up-around-the-us-supreme-court-building-in-picture-id1399020089?s=2048x2048">Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Public opinion on abortion</h2>
<p>Polling since 1995 <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/">has consistently shown</a> that most Americans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. </p>
<p>But beyond these general trends, people’s specific backgrounds and characteristics tend to guide their opinions on this controversial topic. </p>
<p>It may surprise some to know that research consistently shows that gender <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfu047">does not</a> broadly influence people’s opinions on abortion. Women are shown to be slightly more supportive of keeping abortion legal, but the gap between how women and men feel about this <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1554477X.2015.985151">is small</a>. </p>
<p>But other characteristics matter a lot. Currently, the biggest dividing line on abortion beliefs is partisanship. </p>
<p>An overwhelming 80% of Democrats support legal abortion in all or most cases, while only 38% of Republicans do, according to a 2022 <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/08/29/u-s-public-continues-to-favor-legal-abortion-oppose-overturning-roe-v-wade/">Pew Research</a> poll. The opinion gap between Democrats and Republicans on this issue <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/08/29/u-s-public-continues-to-favor-legal-abortion-oppose-overturning-roe-v-wade/">has widened</a> over the past few decades. </p>
<p>In the 1970s and 1980s, Republicans and Democrats supported the right to get an abortion at fairly similar rates. Research finds that the partisan gap on abortion “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X20961022">went from 1 point in the 1972 to 1986 time period to almost 29 points in the 2014 to 2017 period</a>.”</p>
<p>Religion also continues to play an important role in abortion support. White evangelical Christians are <a href="https://www.prri.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Crosstab-March-2022-Abortion-2.pdf">particularly in favor</a> of overturning Roe v. Wade, but most other people who identify as religious are ambivalent, or remain supportive of the precedent. </p>
<p>Young people and those with more years of education are <a href="https://www.prri.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Crosstab-March-2022-Abortion-1.pdf">more likely</a> to say that abortion should be legal, while <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/legal-in-most-cases-the-impact-of-the-abortion-debate-in-2019-america/">Latino people</a> are more likely to oppose abortion.</p>
<p>Most consequentially, abortion support varies dramatically across states, ranging from 34% in Louisiana to 72% in Vermont, according to the Public Religion Research Institute’s 2018 survey of the 50 <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/legal-in-most-cases-the-impact-of-the-abortion-debate-in-2019-america/">states</a>. </p>
<p>So, when West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/28/abortion-senate-vote/">blocked a</a> bill in February 2022 that would have protected the federal right to abortion, he was consistent with his constituents’ opinions. In West Virginia, only 40% support <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/04/upshot/polling-abortion-states.html">legal abortion</a> in all or most cases. </p>
<h2>The history of abortion attitudes</h2>
<p>Even after the Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion was not <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0898588X19000166">as partisan</a> of an issue as it is today. It was not until the <a href="https://documents.law.yale.edu/before-roe">late 1970s and early 1980s</a> that politicians tried to use abortion views as a way to gain votes. </p>
<p>But as religious conservative political movements <a href="https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1375/religious-right">grew in the</a> U.S., abortion became more politicized over the next few decades. </p>
<p>In the 1970s, both Democrats and Republicans in Congress were <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691048574/the-politics-of-womens-rights">internally divided</a> on abortion. The Republican National Committee, for example, was <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/03/how-feminists-became-democrats-216926/">co-chaired</a> by Mary Dent Crisp, who supported abortion rights. By the 1980s, conservative activists pushed Crisp <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo24660595.html">out of her position</a>. </p>
<p>George H.W. Bush also ran as a moderate on abortion in the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/american-government-politics-and-policy/party-position-change-american-politics-coalition-management">1980 Republican presidential primary</a>. But when Bush lost the primary bid and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/12/04/673398023/looking-back-on-president-george-h-w-bushs-legacy-on-abortion">became Ronald Reagan’s running mate</a> that year, his position shifted. Bush opposed abortion <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/12/05/how-george-hw-bush-enabled-rise-religious-right/">by the time</a> he ran for president in 1988. </p>
<p>This shift speaks to the rising importance of the Christian right in Republican electoral politics around this time.</p>
<p>President Joe Biden made a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-s-long-evolution-abortion-rights-still-holds-surprises-n1013846">similar change</a> in his support for abortion over time. Biden opposed using federal funds for abortion early in his congressional career, but has taken a more liberal position in recent years and now sees abortion as an <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/6/5/18653660/joe-biden-hyde-amendment-bernie-sanders-2020">essential element of health care</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465777/original/file-20220527-13-5bhjpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo shows demonstrators with signs that say things like 'the right to abortion belongs to God, not doctors.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465777/original/file-20220527-13-5bhjpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465777/original/file-20220527-13-5bhjpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465777/original/file-20220527-13-5bhjpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465777/original/file-20220527-13-5bhjpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465777/original/file-20220527-13-5bhjpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465777/original/file-20220527-13-5bhjpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465777/original/file-20220527-13-5bhjpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=636&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anti-abortion activists march to protest abortion in New York City in 1975.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/prolife-activists-gather-to-protest-against-abortion-outside-an-hotel-picture-id1221974952?s=2048x2048">Peter Keegan/Authenticated News/Archive Photos/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Whose opinions matter?</h2>
<p>Even though the overall nationwide public support for abortion has remained relatively high since the 1990s, this masks how subsets of people, like those on the Christian right who feel strongly about abortion, can reshape politics. </p>
<p>State-level public opinion matters, too. Abortion attitudes vary greatly across states – and state-level policy <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S153759271700425X">has polarized</a> over time, creating bigger policy differences in conservative and liberal states. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0072.1999.tb01998.x">matters</a> because states have an outsize influence in abortion politics. Because so much of the federal debate revolves around Roe, the Senate has been an important gatekeeper for Supreme Court justices, who will determine whether they should overturn Roe.</p>
<p>This difference poses a fundamental challenge for people who want a single nationwide policy on abortion – whether they support the ability for someone to get an abortion in all or most cases, or do not. </p>
<p>Varied opinions on abortion also offer a reminder about what kind of public opinion matters most in democratic politics. It is not the version of public opinion that emerges from nationally representative surveys of the American people. Instead, the most influential kind of opinion is the organized political activity that can pressure government and shape electoral choices and legislative options.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182930/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tarah Williams receives funding from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) as a Public Fellow. </span></em></p>Americans have long said they generally support abortion rights, but understanding specific breakdowns of opinion across demographics, and the history of abortion beliefs, is also important.Tarah Williams, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Allegheny CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1795362022-05-24T12:45:52Z2022-05-24T12:45:52ZProtestants and the pill: How US Christians helped make birth control mainstream<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464873/original/file-20220523-42302-xv0uq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C7%2C999%2C723&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protestant Christians have been debating -- and more often than not, supporting -- modern contraceptives since they first appeared.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-government-and-doctors-have-decided-the-10-million-news-photo/514867588?adppopup=true">Bettmann/Bettman via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, many Christians have celebrated the prospect of an America where abortion is someday <a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/05/19/as-roes-potential-fall-nears-abortion-abolitionists-turn-on-pro-life-elites-sbc-tom-ascol-women-murder-criminal/">banned entirely</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, other conservative Christians have been working on a related target: <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2022/05/19/some-states-already-are-targeting-birth-control">limiting access to some contraceptives</a>.</p>
<p>In July 2020, when <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/19-431_5i36.pdf">the Supreme Court</a> ruled that organizations with “sincerely held religious or moral objection” are not obligated to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees, many conservative Christians <a href="https://ministrywatch.com/supreme-court-rules-in-favor-of-little-sisters-of-the-poor/">applauded</a>. Six years before, the evangelical owners of crafting chain Hobby Lobby took their objections to covering the IUD in their health insurance plans all the way to the Supreme Court. Hobby Lobby argued – incorrectly, according to most <a href="https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-bulletin/articles/2017/11/long-acting-reversible-contraception-implants-and-intrauterine-devices#:%7E:text=Copper%20Intrauterine%20Device&text=The%20available%20evidence%20supports%20that,which%20it%20remains%20highly%20effective.">medical authorities</a> – that it was <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/heres-why-hobby-lobby-thinks-iuds-are-like-abortions/284382/">a form of abortion</a>, and therefore they should not have to cover employees’ health insurance for it. The justices sided with the chain’s owners.</p>
<p>Yet as access to both abortion and contraception <a href="https://www.today.com/health/womens-health/overturning-roe-v-wade-threaten-birth-control-access-rcna27092">comes under threat</a>, the vast majority of Protestants <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr062.pdf">use or have used</a> some form of contraception. Their actions are supported by almost 100 years of pastoral advocacy on the issue. In my work as <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/wgst/samira-mehta">a scholar of religous studies, gender and sexuality</a>, I have researched the Protestant leaders who campaigned to make contraception respectable, and therefore widely acceptable, in the mid-20th century. </p>
<p>History, I have found, provides a different story about the relationship between Protestants and birth control.</p>
<h2>‘Responsible parenthood’</h2>
<p>As new contraceptive options emerged in the first two-thirds of the 20th century, from the <a href="https://www.popsci.com/story/science/contraception-diaphragm-history/">diaphragm</a> to the birth control pill, Christian leaders <a href="https://doi.org/10.2979/amerreli.1.2.02">wrestled with what to think</a>. Many came to see birth control as a moral good that would allow married couples to have satisfying sex lives, while protecting women from the health risks of frequent pregnancies. They hoped it could ensure that couples would not have more children than they could care for, emotionally and economically.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white photograph shows women with baby carriages lined up on a street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464874/original/file-20220523-31005-tpf96t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464874/original/file-20220523-31005-tpf96t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464874/original/file-20220523-31005-tpf96t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464874/original/file-20220523-31005-tpf96t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464874/original/file-20220523-31005-tpf96t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464874/original/file-20220523-31005-tpf96t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464874/original/file-20220523-31005-tpf96t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women with children stand outside Sanger Clinic, the first birth control clinic in United States, in Brooklyn, New York in 1916.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/women-with-children-outside-sanger-clinic-first-birth-news-photo/1347202932?adppopup=true">Circa Images/GHI/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They looked inward, considering the consequences of birth control for their own communities, and hoped that “planned” or “responsible” sex would create healthy families and decrease divorce. They also looked outward, thinking about birth control’s wider implications, at a time of widespread concern that the global population <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/book-incited-worldwide-fear-overpopulation-180967499/">was rising too quickly to handle</a>.</p>
<p>By the time <a href="https://theconversation.com/freer-sex-and-family-planning-a-short-history-of-the-contraceptive-pill-92282">the pill</a> came on the market in the 1960s, liberal and even some conservative Protestants were advocating for birth control <a href="https://www.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469636269.001.0001/upso-9781469636269-chapter-009">using new theological ideas about “responsible parenthood</a>.”</p>
<p>“Responsible parenthood” reframed debates about family size around “Christian duty.” To be responsible in parenting was not only to avoid having more children than you could afford, nurture and educate. It also meant considering responsibilities outside the home toward churches, society and humanity.</p>
<p>Protestant leaders supporting contraception argued that the best kind of family was a father with a steady job and a homemaker mother, and that birth control could <a href="https://www.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469636269.001.0001/upso-9781469636269-chapter-009">encourage this model</a>, because smaller families could maintain a comfortable lifestyle on one income. They also hoped that contraception would help couples stay together by allowing them to have satisfying sex lives.</p>
<p>Multiple denominations <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1190751">endorsed birth control</a>. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1958/08/26/archives/lambeth-bishops-for-birth-control-family-planning-described-by.html">In 1958</a>, for example, the Anglican Communion stated that family planning was a “primary obligation of Christian marriage,” and chastised parents “who carelessly and improvidently bring children into the world, trusting in an unknown future or a generous society to care for them.” </p>
<h2>The big picture</h2>
<p>Religious leaders’ support for “responsible parenthood” was not just about deliberately creating the kind of Christian families they approved of. It was also about heading off the horrors of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/us/the-unrealized-horrors-of-population-explosion.html">population explosion</a> – a fear very much front of mind in mid-century America.</p>
<p>In the middle of the 20th century, with increased access to vaccines and antibiotics, more children were living to adulthood and life expectancies were rising. Protestant leaders feared this so-called <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/book-incited-worldwide-fear-overpopulation-180967499/">population bomb</a> would outstrip the Earth’s food supply, leading to famine and war. </p>
<p>In 1954, when the global population stood at <a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/daviz/data-visualization-40#tab-chart_1">about 2.5 billion</a>, Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/pastorsandpreachers/harry-emerson-fosdick.html">one of the most prominent Protestant voices of the age</a>, framed overpopulation as one of the world’s “basic problems,” and the birth control pill, which was then being developed, as the best potential solution.</p>
<p>Richard Fagley, a minister who served on the World Council of Church’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Population_Explosion_and_Christian_R.html?id=jhbaAAAAMAAJ">argued that</a> in family planning, science had provided Christians with a new venue <a href="https://www.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469636269.001.0001/upso-9781469636269-chapter-009">for moral responsibility</a>. Medical knowledge, Fagley wrote, is “a liberating gift from God, to be used to the glory of God, in accordance with his will for men.”</p>
<p>These “responsible parenthood” ideas held that religious couples had a responsibility to be good stewards of the earth by not having more children than the planet could support. In the context of marriage, contraception was viewed as moral, shoring up a particular form of Christian values.</p>
<h2>Yesterday’s arguments</h2>
<p>These ideas about “good” and “bad” families often rested on assumptions about race and gender that reproductive rights advocates find troubling today. </p>
<p>Early in the 20th century, predominantly white, Protestant clergy were very interested in increasing access to contraception for the poor, who were often Catholic or Jewish immigrants <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303218/birth-control-battles">or people of color</a>. Some scholars have argued that early support for contraception was predominantly about eugenics, particularly before World War II. Among some white leaders, there was concern about so-called <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/204082">race suicide</a>: the racist fear that “they” would be overwhelmed.</p>
<p>Apart from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2021.54">some eugenicists, however</a>, most of these clergy wanted to give people access to contraception in order to create “healthy” families, regardless of income level. Yet many were unable or unwilling to see how they were promoting a narrow view of the ideal family, and how that marginalized poor communities and people of color – themes I am studying in my current book project.</p>
<p>Moreover, many proponents were advocating for women’s health, but not reproductive freedom. Their priority was setting women up for <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469636269/devotions-and-desires/">success to attain their ideal</a> of the middle-class, Christian motherhood. With fewer children, some hoped, families would be able to get by on just a husband’s salary, meaning more women at home raising children.</p>
<h2>A battle won – and lost?</h2>
<p>Over the decades, Protestant leaders have, in large part, disappeared from pro-birth control arguments.</p>
<p>There are many reasons. Mid-century agricultural technologies reduced fears of overpopulation – which have only recently been <a href="https://theconversation.com/curb-population-growth-to-tackle-climate-change-now-thats-a-tough-ask-153382">reawoken by the climate crisis</a>. Meanwhile, mainline Protestant churches, and their public influence, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/18/mainline-protestants-make-up-shrinking-number-of-u-s-adults/#:%7E:text=Pew%20Research%20Center's%202014%20Religious,Study%20was%20conducted%20in%202007.">are shrinking</a>. Conservative leaders eventually grew concerned that birth control would lead to more working women, not fewer. And since the 1970s, evangelicals <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/06/20/734303135/throughline-traces-evangelicals-history-on-the-abortion-issue">have grown increasingly opposed</a> to abortion, which was increasingly linked to birth control through the broad term “family planning.”</p>
<p>In other words, since the “population bomb” was no longer ticking, contraception no longer seemed like such an urgent necessity – and some of its other implications troubled conservatives, breaking an almost pan-Protestant alliance.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, liberal Protestants had so embraced contraception that they no longer viewed it as turf that needed defending. Today, 99% of American girls and women between the ages of 15 and 44 who have ever had sex <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg/key_statistics/c.htm#contraception">use or have used a contraceptive method</a>. Reproductive rights advocates turned their attention to abortion rights – largely leaving religious views on birth control to their opponents.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179536/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samira Mehta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conservative Christians have cheered restrictions on some birth control. But many decades ago, Christian leaders’ support helped contraceptives become acceptable in the first place.Samira Mehta, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies & Jewish Studies, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1796382022-05-06T12:33:33Z2022-05-06T12:33:33ZAt a popular evangelical tourist site, the Ark Encounter, the image of a ‘wrathful God’ appeals to millions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458347/original/file-20220415-12-d86pnu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C22%2C2933%2C1960&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A replica of Noah's Ark at the Ark Encounter theme park in Williamstown, Ky.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/NoahsArkPark/9cf9d69bf6a8416eaf7627a1751f82a9/photo?Query=Ark%20Encounter%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=57&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/John Minchillo, File</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Ark Encounter, an evangelical theme park located near Williamstown, Kentucky, has welcomed <a href="https://rightingamerica.net/ark-encounter-not-sinking-but-not-close-to-living-up-to-projections/">between 4 million and 5 million visitors</a> since its opening in July 2016. Hundreds of thousands more are sure to visit this summer.</p>
<p>This theme park boasts a re-creation of the story of Noah’s Ark from the Bible. As described in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+6%3A14-16&version=NRSV">Genesis 6:14-16</a>, God directed Noah to build this ark to spare eight humans and a male and female pair of every kind of creature from the flood that God was going to unleash on the world as a punishment for sin. </p>
<p>As scholars of fundamentalism and creationism, we have visited the Ark Encounter multiple times. We have also written a book, “<a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/10885/righting-america-creation-museum">Righting America at the Creation Museum</a>,” about the ark’s companion site, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/at-the-evangelical-creation-museum-dinosaurs-lived-alongside-humans-and-the-world-is-6-000-years-old-142145">Creation Museum</a> in Petersburg, Kentucky.</p>
<p>What we find particularly striking about Ark Encounter is that it is a tourist site devoted to emphasizing – with great specificity – the wrathful nature of God and the eternal damnation that awaits unrepentant sinners.</p>
<h2>What is Ark Encounter’s argument?</h2>
<p>According to <a href="https://answersingenesis.org/">Answers in Genesis</a>, the fundamentalist organization that launched Ark Encounter, and its CEO, <a href="https://answersingenesis.org/bios/ken-ham/">Ken Ham</a>, Ark Encounter is a centerpiece of AiG’s mission to “<a href="https://answersingenesis.org/about/">expose the bankruptcy of evolutionary ideas and bedfellow: a ‘millions of years old’ earth (and even older universe)</a>.” </p>
<p>So, according to AiG, when <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201&version=NRSV">Genesis 1</a> says God created the Earth in six days, it literally means six 24-hour days. Similarly, when the Bible says Adam and Eve were created on the sixth day and gives details about their descendants and how long they lived, this is interpreted as recounting real history. And all of this means that, according to AiG, the Earth is “<a href="https://answersingenesis.org/age-of-the-earth/how-old-is-the-earth/">about 6,000 years old</a>.” </p>
<p>While scientists have estimated <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/topics/resource-library-age-earth/?q=&page=1&per_page=25">the Earth to be about 4.5 billion years old</a>, AiG counters by claiming that <a href="https://answersingenesis.org/geology/radiometric-dating/">radiometric dating is not reliable</a>. Instead, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+6-8&version=NRSV">they assert that the catastrophic biblical flood</a> created all the geological formations that make the Earth look ancient.</p>
<p>Over the past few decades, this argument has become <a href="https://works.bepress.com/bill_trollinger/47/">a doctrinal touchstone for many American evangelicals</a>.</p>
<h2>An enormous structure</h2>
<p>We most recently visited the Ark Encounter on March 15, 2022. <a href="https://arkencounter.com/about/">Measuring 510 feet (155 metres) long, 85 feet (25 metres) wide, and 51 feet (15 metres) high</a>, the Ark Encounter is, to quote one visitor we overheard, “so huge!” </p>
<p>After purchasing tickets that cost <a href="https://arkencounter.com/tickets/">US$54.95 per adult</a>, we and other visitors boarded buses and made the ascent up a long hill. Getting off the bus, we walked to the Ark, keenly aware of how small we were in relation to this ginormous structure. </p>
<p>Inside the Ark, visitors walk through three enormous decks, encountering rows of clay food storage containers, burlap sacks and animal cages. They observe over 100 bays featuring placards and digital animations that, among other things, go far beyond the Bible to explain Noah’s training in shipbuilding, carpentry and blacksmithing. The same creativity applies to the various displays explaining how eight human beings on the Ark fed, watered and managed the waste of 7,000 or so creatures.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A wooden model showing a woman painting a vase and a man, standing in front of her, playing the flute." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458341/original/file-20220415-22-kzd3mt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458341/original/file-20220415-22-kzd3mt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458341/original/file-20220415-22-kzd3mt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458341/original/file-20220415-22-kzd3mt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458341/original/file-20220415-22-kzd3mt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458341/original/file-20220415-22-kzd3mt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458341/original/file-20220415-22-kzd3mt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The living quarters of Japheth (Noah’s son) and his wife, Rayneh, aboard the Ark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Susan Trollinger</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Visitors also walk through a life-size diorama of the plush living quarters of Noah’s family, where they learn about the skills, gifts and interests of Noah’s sons – details not included in Genesis. They also learn about Noah’s wife and his sons’ wives. The Bible never identifies these women by name, much less describes them. Nevertheless, the Ark gives them names, different ethnic complexions, biographies and even hobbies. </p>
<p>Notwithstanding the occasional placard acknowledging that designers have taken “artistic license” with these dioramas, we couldn’t help but notice how much of what is in the Ark is not actually found in the Bible. </p>
<p>But visitors to the Ark seem to embrace these dramatic additions to the biblical text. As religion scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/paul-thomas-1152878">Paul Thomas</a> observes in his new book, “<a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/storytelling-the-bible-at-the-creation-museum-ark-encounter-and-museum-of-the-bible-9780567687142/">Storytelling the Bible at the Creation Museum, Ark Encounter, and the Museum of the Bible</a>,” the world created by the designers of the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter satisfies the evangelical longing “for a time and place governed by biblical principles, even if that idealized time and place … never really existed.”</p>
<h2>A very angry God</h2>
<p>AiG requires all Ark Encounter employees to affirm a <a href="https://answersingenesis.org/about/faith/">46-point faith statement</a>. They must agree, for example, that “gender and biological sex are equivalent and cannot be separated,” modern understandings of “social justice” are “anti-biblical,” and all humans “are sinners” and “are therefore subject to God’s wrath and condemnation.” </p>
<p>This emphasis on the overwhelming wrath of God is perhaps the most noteworthy feature of Ark Encounter as a tourist site.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458342/original/file-20220415-22-nxoudl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A placard on a stone wall that shows an image of the Earth and claims that up to 20 billion people inhabited the Earth at the time of a biblical flood." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458342/original/file-20220415-22-nxoudl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458342/original/file-20220415-22-nxoudl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458342/original/file-20220415-22-nxoudl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458342/original/file-20220415-22-nxoudl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458342/original/file-20220415-22-nxoudl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458342/original/file-20220415-22-nxoudl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458342/original/file-20220415-22-nxoudl.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A placard inside the ark explains that, by AiG’s calculations, there were anywhere from about 150 million to 20 billion human beings at the time of the biblical flood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Susan Trollinger</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%207%3A16-18&version=NRSV">Genesis 7:16</a> states that, as the flood waters rose, God slammed shut the door into the Ark. Once shut, all the humans and animals on the other side of the door were doomed to drown. </p>
<p>According to a placard displayed at Ark Encounter, there may have been upwards of 20 billion people on Earth at the time of the Genesis flood, a number that would have included children and infants, not to mention the unborn. </p>
<p>Another placard asks, “Was it just for God to judge the whole world?” The answer: “Since He is the one who gave life, He has the right to take life. Secondly, God is perfectly just and must judge sin. Third, all have sinned and deserve death and judgment.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458343/original/file-20220415-12636-p8t370.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A wooden model showing the door of the biblical Noah's Ark." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458343/original/file-20220415-12636-p8t370.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458343/original/file-20220415-12636-p8t370.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458343/original/file-20220415-12636-p8t370.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458343/original/file-20220415-12636-p8t370.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458343/original/file-20220415-12636-p8t370.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458343/original/file-20220415-12636-p8t370.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458343/original/file-20220415-12636-p8t370.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A model of a door that God is believed to have closed as the biblical flood waters rose.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Susan Trollinger</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Remarkably, Ark Encounter has placed a “keepsake photo” placard near the door that, in the Ark’s depiction, sealed the fate of all those on the other side. As we have witnessed every time we have toured Ark Encounter, happy visitors line up to have their photos taken in front of this door. </p>
<p>According to AiG, this ancient divine slaughter prefigures a future divine slaughter. <a href="https://arkencounter.com/about/good-news/">As the Ark Encounter website puts it</a>, “God will judge this wicked world once again, but this time it will be by fire … God always keeps His promises – judgment will come.” According to AiG, we can escape this fate by believing in Christ, but for the billions (past and present) who have not or do not, the result is “<a href="https://answersingenesis.org/about/faith/">everlasting, conscious punishment in the lake of fire (hell)</a>.”</p>
<p>As historian <a href="https://theotherjournal.com/article-author/doug-frank/">Doug Frank</a> makes clear in his 2010 book, “<a href="https://wipfandstock.com/9781725283725/a-gentler-god/">A Gentler God</a>,” this understanding of a wrathful God is alive and well in American evangelicalism. Frank’s argument is supported by a 2014 Pew Research report that revealed that <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/belief-in-hell/">82% of American evangelicals believe in a literal hell</a>. </p>
<p>Millions of evangelicals visit Ark Encounter for all sorts of reasons, including, perhaps, its sheer immensity. That said, the message they get from Ark Encounter is clear and simple. </p>
<p>The wrathful God has determined that those who do not accept Jesus as savior, those who are resolutely on the wrong side of culture war issues like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, will pay for their sin eternally. </p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan L Trollinger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two scholars of fundamentalism and creationism explain what they found when they visited the Ark Encounter, an evangelical theme park in Kentucky,Susan L Trollinger, Professor of English, University of DaytonWilliam Trollinger, Professor of History, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1806382022-04-06T12:25:55Z2022-04-06T12:25:55ZWar in Ukraine is testing some American evangelicals’ support for Putin as a leader of conservative values<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456371/original/file-20220405-22-y1srld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C11%2C3846%2C2566&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Vladimir Putin lights a candle as he attends an Orthodox Church service in 2011.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/RussiaOrthodoxChristmas/9e713c4565834d61921bde785f739d9b/photo?Query=putin%20church&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=504&currentItemNo=22">AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, pool</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In February 2022, evangelical leader Franklin Graham called on his followers to <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/02/21/outrage-for-franklin-grahams-pray-for-putin-plea_partner/">pray for Vladimir Putin</a>. His tweet acknowledged that it might seem a “strange request” given that Russia was clearly about to invade Ukraine. But Graham asked that believers “pray that God would work in his heart so that war could be avoided at all cost.” </p>
<p>The backlash was fast and direct. Graham had not solicited prayers for Ukraine, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/franklin-graham-pray-putin-twitter-criticism-b2019848.html">some observers commented</a>. And he had rarely called on believers to pray for U.S. President Joe Biden. </p>
<p>A significant subset of the U.S. evangelical community, particularly white conservatives, has been <a href="https://bostonreview.net/articles/the-u-s-christians-who-pray-for-putin/">developing a political and emotional alliance</a> with Russia for almost 20 years. Those American believers, including prominent figures such as Graham and <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/revealed-trump-lawyer-funds-putin-linked-religious-lobbyists-russia/">Jay Sekulow</a> of the American Center for Law and Justice see Russia, Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church as <a href="https://www.the-american-interest.com/2012/06/13/vladimir-putin-defender-of-the-faith/">protectors of the faith</a>, standing against attacks on “<a href="https://politicalresearch.org/2014/07/16/whose-family-religious-rights-family-values-agenda-advances-internationally">traditional” and “family” values</a>. At the center is Russia’s spate of anti-LGBTQ laws, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/03/05/bond-that-explains-why-some-christian-right-support-putins-war/">which have become a model</a> for some anti-trans and anti-gay legislation in the U.S. </p>
<p>Now, with Russia bombing churches and destroying cities in Ukraine, the most Protestant of the former Soviet Republics, American evangelical communities are divided. Most oppose Russia’s actions, especially because there is a strong evangelical church in Ukraine that is <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/march-web-only/ukraine-prayer-bible-help-evangelical-christians-russia-war.html">receiving attention and prayers</a> from a range of <a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/03/01/ukranian-pastor-southern-baptists-imb-rally-to-aid-ukraine/">evangelical leaders</a>. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, a small group of the most conservative American evangelicals cannot quite <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/christian-conservatives-vladimir-putin-ukraine-invasion.html">break up with their long-term ally</a>. The enthusiasm for Russia is embodied by Graham, who in 2015 famously visited Moscow, where he had a warm meeting with Putin.</p>
<p>On that trip, Putin <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-the-republican-right-found-allies-in-russia/2017/04/30/e2d83ff6-29d3-11e7-a616-d7c8a68c1a66_story.html?utm_term=.bb42f0bd95a3">reportedly explained</a> that his mother had kept her Christian faith even under Communist rule. Graham in turn <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/franklin-graham-praises-gay-propaganda-law-critizes-us-secularism-in-russia-visit/">praised Putin</a> for his support of Orthodox Christianity, contrasting Russia’s “positive changes” with the rise of “atheistic secularism” in the U.S. </p>
<p>But it was not always so. Once upon a time, American evangelicals saw the Soviet Union and other communist countries as the world’s <a href="https://britishacademy.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5871/bacad/9780197266915.001.0001/upso-9780197266915-chapter-008">greatest threat to their faith</a>.</p>
<p>They carried out dramatic and illegal activities, smuggling Bibles and other Christian literature across borders. And yet, today, Russia, still a country with <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2014/02/10/russians-return-to-religion-but-not-to-church/">low church attendance</a> and little government tolerance for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/09/20/missionaries-struggle-to-work-in-russia-under-new-law-that-bans-proselytizing/">Protestant evangelism</a>, has become a symbol of the conservative values that some American evangelicals proclaim.</p>
<h2>Bible smuggling</h2>
<p>Starting in the 1950s, but intensifying in the 1970s and 1980s, U.S. and European evangelicals presented themselves as intimately linked to the Christians who were suffering at the hands of communist governments.</p>
<p>One evangelical group that emerged at this time was “<a href="https://www.opendoorsusa.org/">Open Doors</a>,” whose main aim was to work for “persecuted Christians” around the world. It was founded by “<a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1995/december11/5te045.html">Brother Andrew” Van der Bijl</a>, a Dutch pastor who smuggled Bibles into the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. </p>
<p>Brother Andrew and other evangelicals argued that what Christians in communist countries really needed were Bibles – reflecting how important personal Bible reading is in <a href="https://www.nae.net/evangelical-beliefs-research-definition/">evangelical faith</a>. </p>
<p>Brother Andrew turned the smuggling into anti-communist political theater. As he headed toward the border in a specially outfitted vehicle with a hidden compartment that might hold as many as 3,000 Bibles, he prayed. According <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-kingdom-of-god-has-no-borders-9780190213428?cc=us&lang=en&">to one ad</a> that ran in Christian magazines, he said:</p>
<p>“Lord, in my luggage I have forbidden Scriptures that I want to take to your children across the border. When you were on earth, you made blind eyes see. Now I pray, make seeing eyes blind. Do not let the guards see these things you do not want them to see.”</p>
<p>Van der Bijl’s memoir, “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Ssj2txmMyqgC&dq=God%27s+Smuggler&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEkK-K74jdAhVHhuAKHQDdALIQ6AEIOTAC">God’s Smuggler</a>,” became a bestseller when it was published in 1967.</p>
<h2>Taking Jesus to the communist world</h2>
<p>By the early 1970s, there were more than 30 Protestant organizations engaged in some sort of literature smuggling, and there was an intense, sometimes quite nasty, competition between groups.</p>
<p>Their work <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-kingdom-of-god-has-no-borders-9780190213428?cc=us&lang=en&">depended on their charismatic leaders</a>, who often used sensationalist approaches for fundraising.</p>
<p>For example, in 1966, a Romanian pastor named Richard Wurmbrand appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Internal Security subcommittee, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1966/05/07/archives/cleric-tells-of-communist-torture.html">stripped to the waist</a> and turned to display his deeply scarred back.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456369/original/file-20220405-26-r4j3bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man, stripped to the waist, showing scar marks on his back to a committee seated in front of him" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456369/original/file-20220405-26-r4j3bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456369/original/file-20220405-26-r4j3bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456369/original/file-20220405-26-r4j3bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456369/original/file-20220405-26-r4j3bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456369/original/file-20220405-26-r4j3bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456369/original/file-20220405-26-r4j3bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456369/original/file-20220405-26-r4j3bw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rev. Richard Wurmbrand, a refugee Lutheran pastor, stands stripped to the waist to show scars of torture in a prison in Romania, as he testifies to the Senate Internal Security subcommittee in Washington, May 6, 1966.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TorturedClericTestifies/5d3bb7ef39f94b96abc7b66bfe23da06/photo?Query=Richard%20Wurmbrand%20stands%20stripped%20to%20the%20waist%20to%20show%20scars%20of%20torture,%20as%20he%20testifies%20to%20the%20Senate%20Internal%20Security%20Subcommittee&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Henry Griffin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A Jewish convert and Lutheran minister, Wurmbrand had been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/mar/16/guardianobituaries.stephenbates">imprisoned twice</a> by the Romanian government for his activities as an “underground” minister before he finally escaped to the West in 1964.</p>
<p>Standing shirtless before U.S. senators and the national news media, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1966/05/07/archives/cleric-tells-of-communist-torture.html">Wurmbrand testified</a>, “My body represents Romania, my country, which has been tortured to a point that it can no longer weep. These marks on my body are my credentials.”</p>
<p>The next year, Wurmbrand published his book, “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Tortured_for_Christ.html?id=BdSfAAAAMAAJ">Tortured for Christ</a>,” which became a bestseller in the U.S. He founded his own activist organization, “<a href="https://blogs.brown.edu/hallhoag/2014/11/19/jesus-to-the-communist-world/">Jesus to the Communist World</a>,” which went on to engage in a good bit of attention-grabbing behavior. </p>
<p>In May 1979, for example, two 32-year-old men associated with the group flew their small plane over the Cuban coast, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-kingdom-of-god-has-no-borders-9780190213428?cc=us&lang=en&">dropping 6,000 copies of a pamphlet</a> written by Wurmbrand. After the “Bible bombing,” they lost their way in a storm and were forced to land in Cuba, where they were arrested and served 17 months in jail before being released. </p>
<p>As I describe in my book “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-kingdom-of-god-has-no-borders-9780190213428?cc=us&lang=en&">The Kingdom of God Has No Borders</a>,” critics hammered these groups for such provocative approaches and hardball fundraising. One leading figure in the Southern Baptist Convention complained that the practice of smuggling Bibles was “creating problems for the whole Christian witness” in communist areas.</p>
<p>Another Christian activist, however, admitted that the activist groups’ mix of faith and politics was hard to beat and had the ability to draw “big bucks.” </p>
<h2>After communism: Islam and homosexuality</h2>
<p>These days, there is little in the way of swashbuckling adventure to be had in confronting communists. But that does not mean an end to the evangelical focus on persecuted Christians.</p>
<p>After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, advocates turned their attention to <a href="https://www.merip.org/mer/mer249/politics-persecution">the situation of Christians in Muslim-majority countries</a>. Evangelicals in Europe and the U.S. <a href="https://princeton.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.23943/princeton/9780691153599.001.0001/upso-9780691153599-chapter-008">increasingly focused on Islam </a> as both a competitor and a threat. <a href="http://yris.yira.org/essays/1148">Putin’s war against Chechen militants</a> in the 1990s, and his more recent intervention <a href="https://institute.global/insight/co-existence/defender-faith-russias-holy-war-syria">on behalf of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria</a>, made him popular with Christian conservatives. Putin claimed to be <a href="https://institute.global/policy/defender-faith-russias-holy-war-syria">protecting Christians</a> while waging war against Islamic terrorism. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Putin’s policies of cracking down on evangelism do not seem to overly bother some of his conservative evangelical allies. When Putin signed a Russian law in June 2016 that <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2016/june/no-evangelizing-outside-of-church-russia-proposes.html">outlawed any sharing of one’s faith in homes</a>, online or anywhere else but recognized church buildings, some evangelicals were outraged, but others looked away.</p>
<p>This is in part because American evangelicals in the 2010s continued to see Putin as being willing to openly support Christians in what they saw as a <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/imagining-persecution/9781978816817">global war on their faith</a>. But the more immediately salient issue was Putin’s <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-american-conservatives-love-anti-gay-putin">opposition to LGBTQ+ rights</a> and <a href="https://politicalresearch.org/2015/01/21/natural-deception-conned-by-the-world-congress-of-families">nontraditional views</a> of the family. </p>
<p>Graham was among those who waxed enthusiastically about Russia’s <a href="https://www.advocate.com/world/2015/11/03/evangelist-franklin-graham-loves-putins-antigay-policies">so-called gay propaganda law</a>, which limits public material about “nontraditional” relationships. Others, such as the <a href="http://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/ExposedTheWorldCongressOfFamilies.pdf">World Congress of Families</a> and the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/alliance-defending-freedom">Alliance Defending Freedom</a>, have long been <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/history-of-christian-fundamentalists-in-russia-and-the-us-a6bdd326841d/">cultivating ties</a> with Russian politicians as well as the Russian Orthodox Church.</p>
<h2>Putin allies on defensive</h2>
<p>In the 21st century, then, the most conservative wing of evangelicals was not promoting its agenda by touting the number of Bibles transported across state lines, but rather on another kind of border crossing: the power of Putin’s reputation as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/26/world/europe/russia-putin-matteo-salvini-marine-le-pen.html">leader in the resurgent global right</a>. </p>
<p>Now, the invasion of Ukraine has put Putin’s allies on the defensive. There are still those, including the <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/election-2020/ct-lauren-witzke-delaware-qanon-flat-earth-20200917-w6xeptfn65bqrj4tzv75oygnoa-story.html">QAnon-supporting 2020 Republican candidate for Congress</a> Laura Witzke, who <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/russia-ukraine-crisis-complicates-american-white-evangelicals-love-putin-n1290442">explained in March 2022</a> that she identifies “more with Putin’s Christian values that I do with Joe Biden.” But Graham himself emphasized to <a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/02/26/franklin-graham-sends-disaster-response-teams-to-europe-says-he-opposes-war/">the Religion News Service</a> that he does not support the war, and his humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse sent <a href="https://www.samaritanspurse.org/our-ministry/ukraine-response">several teams to Ukraine</a> to operate clinics and distribute relief.</p>
<p>For the moment, Putin’s status as the global right’s moral vanguard is being severely tested, and the border-crossing advocates of traditional marriage may find themselves on the brink of divorce.</p>
<p><em>This article includes material <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-putin-is-an-ally-for-american-evangelicals-101504">from a piece published on Sept. 4, 2018</a></em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melani McAlister had received funding from Princeton's Davis Center for Historical Studies. </span></em></p>Vladimir Putin has long been a favorite with many American evangelicals who praised his support for conservative values – and some of them still can’t break up with him.Melani McAlister, Professor of American Studies and International Affairs, George Washington UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1670232021-09-16T12:17:22Z2021-09-16T12:17:22ZUnderneath all the makeup, who was the real Tammy Faye?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421415/original/file-20210915-20-19wibi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C55%2C3035%2C1990&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When asked how she wanted to be remembered, Tammy Faye replied, "My eyelashes and my walk with the Lord."</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/talk-show-host-tammy-faye-bakker-messner-applying-mascara-news-photo/50693696?adppopup=true">John Storey/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What is it about televangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker that continues to fascinate nearly 35 years after the fall of their evangelical empire? </p>
<p>Jim Bakker <a href="https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2021/sep/11/televangelist-jim-bakker-agrees-to-refund/">still makes headlines</a> selling survival food and miracle cures from his television compound near Branson, Missouri. While Tammy Faye died in 2007, a new biopic about her, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9115530/">The Eyes of Tammy Faye</a>,” stars Jessica Chastain as Tammy.</p>
<p>Jim and Tammy rose to fame in the 1970s and 1980s as the married hosts of a Christian television talk show called “The PTL Club.” The show was broadcast live, with a studio audience, five days a week, with little scripting. It was reality television before there was a name for it, and the show, at its peak, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ptl-9780199379712?q=John%20wigger&lang=en&cc=us">was beamed via satellite into 14 million American homes</a>.</p>
<p>The format of “The PTL Club” was largely Jim’s invention, but it was Tammy whom people came to love. For my book “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ptl-9780199379712?q=John%20wigger&lang=en&cc=us">PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s Evangelical Empire</a>,” I spoke with dozens of former PTL staffers. They all remember Tammy in pretty much the same way: candid, spontaneous and charismatic. </p>
<p>She said exactly what was on her mind, no matter how inappropriate. Viewers watched just to see what she would say next. And while evangelicals are often portrayed as intolerant fundamentalists, Tammy represented a different side of the faith. </p>
<h2>Getting started</h2>
<p>Born in 1942, Tammy LaValley grew up in a house without indoor plumbing in International Falls, Minnesota, the oldest of eight children. She attended Pentecostal churches with her mother and aunt and never wore lipstick or went to the movies until she was married.</p>
<p>In 1960, Tammy left home to attend North Central Bible College in Minneapolis. There she met Jim Bakker, who had arrived the year before. </p>
<p>On their third date, Jim proposed. They married on April 1, 1961, bought a used Plymouth Valiant and set off to become Pentecostal healing evangelists, traveling a circuit throughout <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26228980">the Bible Belt</a>.</p>
<p>Looking to broaden their appeal, they created a puppet show for children who attended their meetings. Tammy was brilliant with her puppets, giving each a voice and personality. She used them to say things she could not otherwise express, sometimes continuing earlier arguments she’d had with Jim in front of the kids and parents who gathered for the show.</p>
<p>“I guess it was therapy for me,” <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/I_Gotta_Be_Me.html?id=5bnO-OWQ2LwC">she later wrote in her autobiography</a>.</p>
<h2>PTL shoots into orbit</h2>
<p>The puppet show brought them to the attention of Pat Robertson, a recent seminary graduate <a href="https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1994/940619/06180244.htm">who had just launched a tiny Christian television station</a> in Portsmouth, Virginia. </p>
<p>“The Jim and Tammy Show” – a children’s variety show that featured Tammy’s puppets – soon became the station’s most popular program. </p>
<p>In 1974, the Bakkers moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, to start the PTL television network with a half-dozen employees in a former furniture store. Four years later, PTL – an abbreviation that originally stood for “Praise the Lord,” but sometimes morphed into “People That Love” – started its own satellite network. Only <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/HBO">HBO</a> and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/turner_hi.html">Ted Turner’s WTBS station in Atlanta</a> were quicker to make the jump to satellite than PTL. ESPN wouldn’t launch <a href="https://espnpressroom.com/us/espn-inc-fact-sheet/">until a year later</a>. </p>
<p>Thanks to the satellite network’s national reach, donations to the ministry poured in. Jim and Tammy quickly became television stars.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man and woman hold microphones and speak before crowd." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421220/original/file-20210914-15-1n8v9gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421220/original/file-20210914-15-1n8v9gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421220/original/file-20210914-15-1n8v9gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421220/original/file-20210914-15-1n8v9gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421220/original/file-20210914-15-1n8v9gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421220/original/file-20210914-15-1n8v9gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421220/original/file-20210914-15-1n8v9gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker talk to their television audience at their PTL Ministry in 1986.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/JimAndTammyFayeBakker1986/55d8d4bfb16b40609bc660990c3a8f22/photo?Query=jim%20tammy%20faye%20bakker&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=50&currentItemNo=37">AP Photo/Lou Krasky</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Apart from hosting the flagship talk show with Jim, Tammy at times had her own television shows aimed at women, the last of which was called “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/televangelist-tammy-faye-bakker-messner-dies-at-65/2020/05/11/5f285410-916e-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html">Tammy’s House Party</a>,” in which she cooked and talked decorating, fashion and makeup with guests. She wanted her shows to be fun and less overtly religious than Jim’s. (She once did an entire show on a merry-go-round, and one of the show’s cast members threw up inside the dog costume he was wearing.)</p>
<p>For a dozen years Tammy threw herself into PTL’s ministry. But performing on television was never what she really wanted. She was smart but lacked confidence, often hiding her insecurities with ditzy self-deprecation. She never, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/I_Gotta_Be_Me.html?id=5bnO-OWQ2LwC">she wrote</a>, thought she was “pretty enough, thin enough or talented enough.”</p>
<p>Instead, as <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/288717/i-will-survive-and-you-will-too-by-tammy-faye-mesner/9781101144084">Tammy wrote in her second autobiography</a>, the “happiest time” in her life was when she got to spend time with her two children, Tammy Sue and Jamie, and just “be a Mom.”</p>
<p>There was something in Tammy that resisted Jim’s relentless marketing of their faith. When promoting her first autobiography on an episode of “The PTL Club,” <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ptl-9780199379712?q=John%20wigger&lang=en&cc=us">Tammy said</a> that if she could not be herself, she would be Sophia Loren or Dolly Parton. </p>
<p>Jim jumped in and suggested that she should have said <a href="https://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2016/02/14/40-years-after-death-Kathryn-Kuhlman-still-inspires-a-small-but-steady-flock/stories/201602140012">Kathryn Kuhlman</a>, the famous healing evangelist, or “someone spiritual.” </p>
<p>Tammy disagreed.</p>
<h2>Perils of prosperity</h2>
<p>Coinciding with their rise to fame, the Bakkers embraced <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-you-should-know-about-the-new-thought-movement-72256">the prosperity gospel</a>, which taught believers to expect the best of everything. In the era of post-World War II affluence, <a href="https://theconversation.com/jesus-christ-businessman-from-john-humphrey-noyes-to-donald-trump-66327">the good life and the godly life merged</a>. </p>
<p>The message fit the 1980s perfectly. Many evangelicals might not have agreed with Gordon Gecko, the fictional character portrayed by Michael Douglas in the 1987 film “Wall Street,” that “<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/greed-is-good-or-is-it-quote-and-meaning-3306247">Greed is good</a>,” but they generally had little patience for the notion that restraint, let alone poverty, was any better.</p>
<p>“God wants you to be happy, God wants you to be rich, God wants you to prosper,” Jim wrote in his 1980 book, “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Eight_Keys_to_Success.html?id=n_r3rP3JcwwC">Eight Keys to Success</a>.” The couple used PTL money to buy a 10,000-square-foot home near Charlotte, a Florida beach condo and vacation homes in Palm Springs and Palm Desert, California, along with one in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. </p>
<p>Even so, the money was never central to Tammy’s identity. Yes, she was legendary for her love of shopping. But she was just as happy to scrounge through bargain bins as buy from upscale stores.</p>
<p>By this time, Tammy had dramatically transformed her image, adding the thick makeup for which she became famous. </p>
<p>“Not by any stretch of the imagination does she look like a preacher’s wife,” wrote a reporter for a Charlotte newspaper. She more resembled “a country music singer or a nightclub entertainer.” </p>
<p>PTL staffers that <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ptl-9780199379712?q=John%20wigger&lang=en&cc=us">I interviewed</a> said that they could tell what sort of mood she was in as soon as she walked in the door. If her makeup was relatively light and she was wearing only her natural hair, it would be a good day. If her makeup was thick and she had on a Parton-style wig, they were in for trouble. </p>
<p>She hid behind her makeup much in the way she had hidden behind her puppets.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman smiles holding a stuffed bear." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421421/original/file-20210915-28-1y3f2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421421/original/file-20210915-28-1y3f2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421421/original/file-20210915-28-1y3f2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421421/original/file-20210915-28-1y3f2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421421/original/file-20210915-28-1y3f2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421421/original/file-20210915-28-1y3f2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421421/original/file-20210915-28-1y3f2k6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Staffers came to interpret Tammy Faye’s mood by the amount of makeup she was wearing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tammy-bakker-shows-off-a-stuffed-bear-given-to-her-by-news-photo/515429014?adppopup=true">Bettmann/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As Jim became obsessed with building <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/heritage-usa-2">Heritage USA</a>, PTL’s 2,300-acre theme park, their marriage fell apart. Tammy was already having an affair when they took their show on location in Hawaii for a month in late 1980. There, Tammy told Jim she was moving out and wanted a divorce. </p>
<p>“That was a miserable, miserable time,” <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ptl-9780199379712?q=John%20wigger&lang=en&cc=us">Don Hardister</a>, PTL’s longtime head of security, told me in an interview for my book.</p>
<p>Jim and Tammy reconciled, but enduring the whirlwind that was PTL continued to take its toll. By 1987 Tammy was addicted to a range of prescription drugs, including Valium. </p>
<p>Two years later Jim <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jim-bakker-is-indicted-on-federal-charges">was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison</a> for wire and mail fraud. They divorced in 1992.</p>
<h2>Tammy perseveres</h2>
<p>After PTL, Tammy branched out in ways that brought her new fans. <a href="https://www.wussymag.com/all/2020/3/16/steve-pieters-35-years-after-his-interview-with-tammy-faye">She had been one of the first public figures in the 1980s to reach out to gay men who were dying of AIDS</a>, at a time when there was a great deal of fear about the disease. </p>
<p>In 1996 she co-starred with the openly gay actor Jim J. Bullock in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115225/">The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show</a>,” a nationally syndicated daytime talk show. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man pushing a wheelbarrow with a woman in it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421419/original/file-20210915-26-931oe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421419/original/file-20210915-26-931oe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421419/original/file-20210915-26-931oe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421419/original/file-20210915-26-931oe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421419/original/file-20210915-26-931oe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421419/original/file-20210915-26-931oe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421419/original/file-20210915-26-931oe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jim. J. Bullock wheels Tammy Faye on the set of their show.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/talk-show-host-jim-j-bullock-wheeling-co-host-tammy-faye-news-photo/50371859?adppopup=true">John Storey/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tammy was “all about acceptance,” <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ptl-9780199379712?q=John%20wigger&lang=en&cc=us">Bullock told me</a>. She left the show in 1996 when she was diagnosed with colon cancer. By then she had become, as Entertainment Weekly put it, the “<a href="https://ew.com/article/2000/08/04/eyes-tammy-faye-3/">Judy Garland of televangelism</a>.”</p>
<p>The Bakkers represent two sides of the evangelical coin. Jim had a better sense of what would sell in the cultural moment, seizing upon the prosperity gospel during <a href="https://www.abi.org/abi-journal/a-tale-of-two-economies-it-was-the-best-of-times-it-was-the-worst-of-times">the go-go 1980s</a> and then tapping into end-times survivalism <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/09/i-thought-9-11-was-the-end-times-literally.html">in the wake of 9/11</a>.</p>
<p>But Tammy had a better feel for what would endure, a stronger sense of how to keep faith relevant and connected to people over the long haul. Her vulnerability and compassion give her a timelessness not tied to the politics of the moment. Her faith was more holistic, and less a vehicle for power.</p>
<p>When asked what she wanted to be remembered for shortly before she died, <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/religion/article200298814.html">Tammy replied</a>, “my eyelashes,” and then, “my walk with the Lord.” </p>
<p>She was right about both.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Wigger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The subject of a new biopic, Tammy Faye was a televangelist icon. But she also represented another side of the evangelical coin – one that was big-hearted, vulnerable and accepting.John Wigger, Professor of History, University of Missouri-ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1642882021-09-15T12:16:06Z2021-09-15T12:16:06ZCritical race theory is an important tool in better understanding how religion operates in America<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420337/original/file-20210909-19-1rmx676.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C432%2C2700%2C1766&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many churches propped up white supremacist beliefs through pulpit rhetoric and segregationist policies.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/KKKSUNDAYSERVICES/4674d3299be5da11af9f0014c2589dfb/photo?Query=church%20AND%20KKK&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=13&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The debate over critical race theory has played out <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/dueling-critical-race-theories-watch-how-differently-morning-joe-and-fox-friends-explain-the-same-idea/">in TV studios</a>, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/critical-race-theory-invades-school-boards-help-conservative-groups-n1270794">school board meetings</a> and <a href="https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/education/2021/07/09/402708/the-texas-legislature-has-targeted-critical-race-theory-but-is-it-being-taught-in-public-schools/">state legislatures</a> across the U.S. It has also found its way into <a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2021/07/24/critical-race-theory-debate-dividing-christian-church-texas-pastors-say-2/">churches</a>. </p>
<p>The theory comprises <a href="https://theconversation.com/critical-race-theory-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt-162752">a set of concepts</a> that frame racism as structural, rather than simply expressed through personal discrimination. Scholars <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24833093-900-systemic-racism-what-research-reveals-about-the-extent-of-its-impact/">point to racial discrepancies</a> in educational achievement, economic and employment opportunities and in the criminal justice system as evidence of how racism is embedded in U.S. institutions.</p>
<p>But as its critics tell it, critical race theory is a divisive ideology that has <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/2021/07/14/marsha-blackburn-keep-critical-race-theory-out-american-classrooms/7971030002/">infiltrated classrooms and needs to be stopped</a>. By and large, such depictions of critical race theory are <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/many-americans-embrace-falsehoods-about-critical-race-theory-2021-07-15/">inaccurate and misconstrued</a>, <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/christopher-rufo-and-the-critical-race-theory-moral-panic.html">perhaps at times even intentionally so</a>. But they have nonetheless made critical race theory a “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/07/25/critical-race-theory-sex-education-culture-wars/">culture war” issue</a>.</p>
<p>Religious voices, particularly among white evangelical Christians, were <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/where-did-white-evangelicalisms-hatred-of-critical-race-theory-really-begin/">among the earliest</a> and loudest in calling for critical race theory to be stopped. Conservative evangelical bloggers warned against the supposed dangers of the theory “<a href="https://truthandliberty.me/2018/04/18/dont-let-critical-race-theory-infiltrate-the-church-contra-david-platt/">infiltrating the church</a>” <a href="https://sovereignnations.com/2018/07/10/the-rise-of-woker-than-thou-evangelicalism/">back in 2018</a>. </p>
<p>And in 2019 – before the anti-critical race theory movement gained widespread attention – the <a href="https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-critical-race-theory-and-intersectionality/">Southern Baptist Convention</a>, the largest evangelical group in the U.S., passed a resolution criticizing the theory as a problematic secular ideology that conflicts with the authority of Scripture. A push by conservative Southern Baptists to again reject CRT by name failed at this year’s convention, but a <a href="https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-the-sufficiency-of-scripture-for-race-and-racial-reconciliation/">resolution was passed</a> against any theory that frames racism in a way other than its being “a sin” to be resolved by redemption through Christ.</p>
<p>These resolutions reflect a <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/White-Too-Long/Robert-P-Jones/9781982122874">common evangelical ideology</a>. Essentially, evangelical morality sees social problems such as racism as the result of sinful individuals, not larger structures or institutions. In the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/critical-race-theory-debate-divides-christians">words of evangelical pastor and theologian</a> Voddie Baucham: “Critical race theory is at odds with Christianity because it takes the problem of racism out of the individual heart and puts it out there somewhere in systems and structures.” </p>
<p>Such views from evangelicals <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/where-did-white-evangelicalisms-hatred-of-critical-race-theory-really-begin/">laid the groundwork</a> for the uproar over CRT in recent months.</p>
<p>Rhetoric aside, it’s worth noting what critical race theory actually is: a complex body of scholarship that reflects the efforts of legal scholars to analyze how race functions in American society. As legal scholars <a href="https://www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/kimberle-w-crenshaw">Kimberlé Crenshaw</a>, <a href="https://www.wsulaw.edu/divi_overlay/neil-gotanda/">Neil Gotanda</a>, <a href="https://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/gary-peller/">Gary Peller</a> and <a href="https://www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/kendall-thomas">Kendall Thomas</a> <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/critical-race-theory">explain</a> in their introduction to a key collection of writings on the topic, it explores “how a regime of white supremacy and its subordination of people of color have been created and maintained in America.”</p>
<p>As a <a href="http://tiffanypuett.me">scholar of religious studies</a>, I frequently use critical race theory as a tool to better understand how religion operates in American society. While critical race theorists initially focused on how race has been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/07/02/1012696188/how-critical-race-theory-went-from-harvard-law-to-fox-news">embedded in our legal system</a>, the theory can also help us think about how race is entrenched in religious institutions. </p>
<p>It helps move beyond the idea of religion’s being primarily a matter of individual belief to seeing religious institutions and identities as shaped by larger social structures and movements.</p>
<p>In the U.S., race and religious institutions have been intertwined from the beginning. Early U.S. leaders used language that described a “true” American as essentially <a href="https://theconversation.com/protestantisms-troubling-history-with-white-supremacy-in-the-us-141438">both white and Protestant</a>. And many Protestant churches supported white supremacy through rhetoric from the pulpit, interpretations of the Bible and policies of segregation.</p>
<p>Critical race theory sheds light on the ways that religious institutions and rhetoric have helped justify and reinforce white supremacy. </p>
<p>And the Southern Baptist Conventions’s resolution against critical race theory is an example of this. Denying the existence of structural racism takes away the opportunity to assess its presence in education, housing, the legal system and religion. It also makes it harder to conceptualize new, more equitable policies. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>As such, theological arguments rejecting critical race theory can reinforce white supremacy by refusing to acknowledge the role racism has played in U.S. institutions. It is much akin to the ways that proponents of “colorblind” approaches to racism, in which people claim not to see race, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/color-blindness-is-counterproductive/405037/">may unwittingly reinforce racism</a>. </p>
<p>While some religious organizations may see critical race theory as incompatible with their ideology, the theory provides an important framework for analyzing the seen and unseen ways that race operates within all institutions and structures of American society – and that includes organized religions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164288/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tiffany Puett is also the Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity and Civic Life.</span></em></p>Race and religion have intertwined since the earliest days of the US. Critical race theory can explore how white supremacy has operated through religious establishments.Tiffany Puett, Adjunct Professor of Religious and Theological Studies, St. Edward's UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1666282021-08-26T12:33:08Z2021-08-26T12:33:08ZAmerican religious groups have a history of resettling refugees – including Afghans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417599/original/file-20210824-27-190s4hh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C0%2C2986%2C2007&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many of the organizations helping refugees resettle are faith-based groups.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/USAfghanistan/08b06f64380d4ba58a1f4c1f83fceea0/photo?Query=afghanistan&mediaType=photo,video,graphic,audio&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=74616&currentItemNo=41">AP Photo/Airman 1st Class Kylie Barrow</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, on Aug. 15, 2021, there has been a frenetic <a href="https://theconversation.com/where-do-afghanistans-refugees-go-166316">evacuation of foreigners and Afghan nationals</a>. Thousands of these Afghans assisted the United States government, which now puts them in danger. </p>
<p>The United States provides a <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/special-immg-visa-afghans-employed-us-gov.html">special immigrant visa</a> to resettle such individuals. But applicants are facing long backlogs, and immigrant advocates have appealed to the Biden administration to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-afghanistan-evangelicals-cite-moral-urgency-to-help-refugees-2021-8">increase the processing speed</a>.</p>
<p>Many of these advocates are religious organizations. Since the <a href="https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/2573268/biden-announces-full-us-troop-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-by-sept-11/">April 2021 announcement of U.S. troop withdrawals</a>, <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/august/afghan-refugees-taliban-biden-evacuation-world-relief-siv.html">faith-based organizations</a> like Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services, World Relief, National Association of Evangelicals and the Jewish nonprofit HIAS, have implored the Biden administration to evacuate Afghans. Faith-based voluntary agencies are <a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2021/us-bishop-chairmen-respond-evolving-crisis-afghanistan">preparing to receive</a> as many Afghan refugees as possible.</p>
<p>This is part of a long history of religious involvement in refugee policy, in which most religious leaders support receiving refugees. However, <a href="https://sociology.msu.edu/people/directory/nawyn-stephanie.html">as a refugee studies scholar</a>, I have observed signs that such widespread support may be waning, particularly among white conservative Christians.</p>
<h2>Religious advocacy on behalf of refugees</h2>
<p>The idea of <a href="https://www.lutterworth.com/title/safeguarding-the-stranger">welcoming the stranger</a> is central to Christianity, Judaism and Islam. It originally arose from cultures born in deserts, where leaving someone outside the city gates could be a death sentence. Religious leaders often connect that ethic to a responsibility to shield refugees and other immigrants from violence and oppression.</p>
<p>Starting in the late 19th century, and <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/defying-nazis/america-and-holocaust">during the Holocaust</a>, faith communities appealed to the U.S. government to <a href="https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9780195042740/Uneasy-Alliance-Religion-Refugee-Work-0195042743/plp">welcome Jews</a> seeking safety from persecution. They also advocated for <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2202189">allowing Armenians</a>, who were <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-armenian-genocide-1915-16-overview">murdered en masse by leaders of the Ottoman Empire</a>, to <a href="https://www.everyculture.com/multi/A-Br/Armenian-Americans.html">immigrate to America</a>.</p>
<p>After World War II, an alliance between Protestant, Catholic and Jewish organizations finally swayed policymakers to adopt a more <a href="http://byfaithonline.com/the-role-of-faith-in-foreign-policy/">humanitarian-focused U.S. foreign policy</a>. The U.S. then joined with other nations to sign the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-guide-to-the-geneva-convention-for-beginners-dummies-and-newly-elected-world-leaders-72155">1951 Geneva Convention</a>, a U.N. agreement that established the rights of refugees to legal protection. </p>
<p>Among the convention’s main tenets is a global ban on sending refugees back to countries where they will be unsafe. This sometimes requires resettling refugees in a safer country. <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll16/id/427804">Faith-based organizations</a> have been partnering with the U.S. government ever since.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person holds a sign that says Leviticus 19:34: " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417856/original/file-20210825-25-paaadt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417856/original/file-20210825-25-paaadt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417856/original/file-20210825-25-paaadt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417856/original/file-20210825-25-paaadt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417856/original/file-20210825-25-paaadt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417856/original/file-20210825-25-paaadt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417856/original/file-20210825-25-paaadt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many advocates for refugees say their work is rooted in faith.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vpickering/29033952398/in/album-72157696484197121/">Victoria Pickering/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The sanctuary movement</h2>
<p>Between 1951 and 1980, the government resettled refugees in the U.S. on an ad hoc basis without <a href="https://academic-oup-com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/jrs/article/24/3/586/1573216">spending much on assisting them</a>. During this time, faith-based organizations filled in gaps to ensure refugees got off to a good start.</p>
<p>Religious groups also advocated for asylum seekers, people who arrived seeking protection without first getting refugee status. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4638184/">Between 1980 and 1991, almost 1 million</a> Central Americans crossed the U.S. border seeking asylum. From the start, the government <a href="http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/491/">denied most of their petitions</a>.</p>
<p>Many Christian and Jewish leaders advocated on behalf of these migrants. They preached sermons, lobbied the government and organized protests calling for protecting Central American asylum seekers. Hundreds of <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/whitlr9&div=48&id=&page=">religious communities provided sanctuary</a>, usually inside houses of worship, and gave them <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/central-americans-and-asylum-policy-reagan-era">legal support</a>.</p>
<p>In 1985 the Center for Constitutional Rights <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/american-baptist-churches-v-thornburgh">sued the federal government</a> on behalf of the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-asylum/asylum/american-baptist-churches-v-thornburgh-abc-settlement-agreement">American Baptist Church</a>, Presbyterian Church USA, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the United Methodist Church and four other religious organizations, claiming discrimination against Salvadoran and Guatemalan asylum seekers. The government later settled the class-action lawsuit, allowing temporary protection for those asylum seekers.</p>
<h2>Faith-based nonprofits supporting refugees today</h2>
<p>Ever since Congress passed the <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/resource/the-refugee-act">1980 Refugee Act</a>, creating the current system of refugee resettlement, U.S. faith-based organizations have played a central role in it.</p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/programs/matching-grants/about">nine national voluntary agencies</a> that work directly with the government, six of which are faith based: One is Jewish, one Catholic, one evangelical Christian and three are mainline Protestant. These groups arrange for refugees to find housing, land jobs and enroll in English classes. They <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0002764206288462">do so regardless of the newcomers’ own religions</a> or their <a href="https://immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-u-s-refugee-resettlement/">countries of origin</a>.</p>
<p>In my research, I have found that staff at faith-based organizations commonly use <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764206288462">religious rhetoric to justify their work</a> and to describe their commitment.</p>
<p>At the same time, religiously based refugee organizations <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002764206288462">frame their efforts</a> using interfaith language. They invoke the ethical imperative to provide asylum and refuge in ways that cross-cut multiple religious traditions as they collect and disburse money and household goods – and mobilize volunteers.</p>
<p>“The Jewish dimension is helping people realize that America is a place that welcomes all, and helping people that have come from a land where maybe sometimes being a Jew was considered worse than dirt,” a director of a local office of HIAS, formerly known as the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/9/25/9392151/hias-jewish-refugees-immigrants">Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society</a>, told me. “Do we apply those same kinds of principles to other communities that we help? Absolutely.”</p>
<p>The director of a Catholic Charities office echoed that sentiment. “We have a saying,” he told me. “We help people not because they are Catholic, but because we are.”</p>
<h2>Changing religious politics?</h2>
<p>Despite the deep foundation of religious belief and morality for granting asylum, this connection may have frayed, at least for some communities. In response to a <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html">record number of people displaced globally</a>, especially people who are not white, I’m seeing signs that the moral framework supporting asylum is giving way in some quarters to support for restrictive policies that avoid any moral or international obligation to asylum seekers.</p>
<p>This became clear when the Trump administration enacted its “<a href="https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2018/jun/06/what-you-need-know-about-trump-administrations-zer/">zero tolerance</a>” policy to arrest anyone crossing the border without documentation – including people with babies and toddlers. Government agents <a href="https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/when-they-took-my-son/">and contractors</a> separated <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000179-e972-d32d-af79-f9f3f9110000">nearly 4,000 children</a> from their parents, sparking outrage.</p>
<p>Many faith leaders spoke out against the child separation, like prominent evangelical leader <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/why-religious-conservatives-are-calling-out-trump-on-family-separation-at-the-border/563060/">Franklin Graham</a>, without directly criticizing aggressive border enforcement. But many were more pointed in their comments, specifically calling out immigrant exclusion as antithetical to their religious beliefs. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/why-religious-conservatives-are-calling-out-trump-on-family-separation-at-the-border/563060/">Mainline Protestant</a>, <a href="http://www.jewishpublicaffairs.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2015/09/Jewish-Letter-on-Family-Separation-FINAL.pdf">Jewish</a>, <a href="https://www.lds.org/church/news/church-calls-for-unity-compassion-in-new-statement-on-immigration?lang=eng">Mormon</a>, <a href="https://justiceforimmigrants.org/news/statements/">Catholic</a> and <a href="http://old.evangelicalimmigrationtable.com/cms/assets/uploads/2018/06/EIT-Family-Separation-Letter-6.1.2018.pdf">evangelical</a> Christian groups all released statements against tighter immigration enforcement itself.</p>
<p>What was unusual is that some <a href="https://evangelicalsforbiblicalimmigration.com/faith-leaders-urge-congress-to-strengthen-securing-americas-future-act/">conservative Christian groups</a> lobbied in favor of strengthened immigration enforcement. This was a break from the past. While there have been theological differences between conservative and mainline Protestant Christians on a number of issues, welcoming the stranger had been one point upon which Christians generally agreed.</p>
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<p>Race and racial politics are intertwined with this split. There now appears to be an inverse relationship in the U.S. between religious identity and support for asylum among white Americans. In a <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/05/24/republicans-turn-more-negative-toward-refugees-as-number-admitted-to-u-s-plummets/">Pew survey conducted in May 2018</a>, only 43% of white Protestants and 25% of white evangelical Christians thought that the U.S. had a responsibility to accept refugees. Conversely, 63% of Black Protestants and 65% of the religiously unaffiliated thought that the nation has that responsibility.</p>
<p>It is unclear whether this represents an overall downward trend in white Christian support for people seeking safe haven. Faith leaders and those working in faith-based resettlement organizations that I have spoken with recently enthusiastically support accepting as many Afghan refugees as possible. Whether there will be such support broadly among Americans of faith remains to be seen.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/religion-and-refugees-are-deeply-entwined-in-the-us-105923">piece originally published on Oct. 31, 2018</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166628/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie J. Nawyn received funding from Michigan State University, Hayes Foundation, and Elrha for research related to refugees and refugee service provision. </span></em></p>Faith-based organizations have been central partners in resettling refugees in the United States. But there are signs that support may be waning.Stephanie J. Nawyn, Associate Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the Center for Gender in Global Context, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626522021-08-09T12:28:36Z2021-08-09T12:28:36ZIn Moscow, Idaho, conservative ‘Christian Reconstructionists’ are thriving amid evangelical turmoil<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414815/original/file-20210805-19-m0qhz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1890&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, protest an order to either socially distance or wear a face mask in public.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/oct/07/trump-tweets-video-of-idaho-church-gathering-false/">Geoff Crimmins/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Evangelical groups in the U.S. have for years <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/08/rapid-decline-white-evangelical-america/">faced dwindling numbers</a>. And a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/29/southern-baptist-convention-america-culture-wars">messy cultural fight</a> over the direction of the movement might serve to <a href="https://theconversation.com/white-gen-x-and-millennial-evangelicals-are-losing-faith-in-the-conservative-culture-wars-162407">drive further defections</a>.</p>
<p>But while some of the largest Protestant denominations in America, such as Southern Baptists, <a href="https://religionnews.com/2021/05/21/southern-baptist-decline-continues-denomination-has-lost-more-than-2-million-members-since-2006/">continue to hemorrhage members</a>, one small group of conservative evangelicals appears to be bucking the trend – despite numbering only around 1,300 or so.</p>
<p>For the past 30 years, believers from across the United States and beyond have been gathering in Moscow, a city in northern Idaho with a population of around 25,000. Here, as part of the Christ Church congregation, they have set their face against the cultures of American modernity. Guided by a controversial social theory known as “<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/12/nation-under-god/">Christian Reconstruction</a>,” which holds that biblical law should apply in today’s setting, they look to the Bible to understand how they believe American institutions should be reformed. Followers believe that abortion rights and same-sex marriage, among other evidences of what they would see as moral decline, will eventually be repealed. Their goal is simple – the <a href="https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/nov/17/leaders-of-moscows-christ-church-say-theyre-pushin/">conversion of the people of Moscow</a> to their way of thinking as the first step toward the conversion of the world.</p>
<p>This hope might appear to be unrealistic. But as a scholar who has charted the rise of the movement in my book “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/survival-and-resistance-in-evangelical-america-9780199370221?cc=us&lang=en&">Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America</a>,” I know that these believers have already made steps toward that goal.</p>
<h2>Growing influence</h2>
<p>In Moscow, the community has established churches, a classical Christian school, a liberal arts college, a music conservatory, a publishing house, and the makings of a media empire. With books published by major trade and academic presses, and a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Man-Rampant/dp/B07Z8G12XP">talk show on Amazon Prime</a>, the community is setting the agenda for a theologically vigorous and politically reactionary evangelical revival.</p>
<p>These believers are led by conservative <a href="https://dougwils.com/">pastor Douglas Wilson</a>, whose views on gender, marriage and many other topics are <a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/scandal-in-moscow/">controversial</a>, even among the most conservative Christians. For over 30 years, Wilson has been campaigning against the influence of everything from atheism to feminism. </p>
<p>In so doing, he has attracted some significant critical attention – not least from the late journalist and prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens, with whom he debated whether Christianity was good for the world in a series of exchanges that was later turned <a href="https://canonpress.com/products/is-christianity-good-for-the-world/">into a book</a>. </p>
<p>The community that Wilson leads in Moscow is still small. It is hard to obtain figures for the growth of Christ Church in terms of numbers, but my research and conversations with members of the congregation suggest it is expanding. What is clear is that in little more than three decades, Christ Church has gone from being a little-known congregation to one generating media attention and getting attention from senior political figures.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Pastor Douglas Wilson leads others at a protest in Moscow, Idaho." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414816/original/file-20210805-21-gr8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414816/original/file-20210805-21-gr8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414816/original/file-20210805-21-gr8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414816/original/file-20210805-21-gr8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414816/original/file-20210805-21-gr8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414816/original/file-20210805-21-gr8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414816/original/file-20210805-21-gr8sdi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pastor Douglas Wilson and followers at a protest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Geoff Crimmins/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The community has established a K-12 school, a member of an <a href="https://classicalchristian.org/?v=a44707111a05">association</a> of hundreds of classical Christian schools heavily influenced by the educational beliefs of Wilson. In a testament to the political reach of the group, in 2019 Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska was one of the speakers at the association’s annual convention.</p>
<p>As I note in my book, the community’s <a href="https://nsa.edu/presidents-page/">liberal arts college</a> sends students <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/survival-and-resistance-in-evangelical-america-9780199370221?cc=us&lang=en&">into doctoral programs in various disciplines at Ivy League and leading European universities</a> – it isn’t an insular educational world. Its small and closely connected group of authors has worked with publishers such as Random House and Oxford University Press.</p>
<p>And then there is the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Man-Rampant/dp/B07Z8G12XP">talk show on Amazon Prime</a>.</p>
<p>This talk show, “Man Rampant,” gives an indication of why this community is growing in influence despite the evangelical decline. Wilson, as its host, uses the platform to set out the ideas that undergird his vision of Christian renewal – developing an agenda drawn explicitly from the Bible about the revival of traditional masculinity.</p>
<p>As its title suggests, “Man Rampant” promotes an extremely muscular Christianity. Forget Jesus as well-meaning, meek and mild; the first episode condemned the “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDtIRMGrrNA">sin of empathy</a>.” Empathy, says Wilson, “is not a good thing.”</p>
<p>The “Man Rampant” agenda is reinforced on Wilson’s website, which draws upon the creative people living in the Moscow community to turn his arguments into <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBEnaNOFMR8">striking visual metaphors</a>, and where, while dismissing racism, he argues that “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycBCHPfgzXA">it really is OK to be white</a>.”</p>
<h2>Going local to convert America</h2>
<p>In America’s crowded religious marketplace, Wilson’s message is clearly distinct. </p>
<p>One of Wilson’s most important influences is the late <a href="https://chalcedon.edu/founder">R.J. Rushdoony</a>, an Armenian-American Presbyterian theologian who was driven by protecting Protestants in the U.S. from suffering the kind of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-16352745">genocide</a> from which his parents escaped. Frustrated by the other-worldliness of many American Christian denominations, whose adherents he feared preached more about heaven than earth, and their complacency in what he perceived to be a hostile liberal culture, Rushdoony set about developing <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469622743/christian-reconstruction/">biblical principles for how society should be organized</a>.</p>
<p>The Ten Commandments were no longer to be considered as an artifact in the history of morality, Rushdoony argued. Instead, they should be understood as setting out the core principles for the running of the modern state. “Thou shalt not steal” ruled out the possibility of inflation, which Rushdoony argued devalued monetary assets and was therefore was a form of theft. And “Thou shalt have no other gods besides me” ruled out any possibility of religious pluralism.</p>
<p>Rushdoony promoted these ideals in titles such as 1973’s “<a href="https://chalcedon.edu/store/42255-the-institutes-of-biblical-law-set">Institutes of Biblical Law</a>” – a 1,000-page exposition of the Ten Commandments that argued for both the abolition of the prison system and a massive extension of capital punishment. </p>
<p>Christians would be secure in American society only when it was shaped by their religious values, he argued. But the Christian America that he anticipated would not be secured through revolution or any form of top-down political change – only by the transformation of individual lives, families, towns and states. </p>
<p>This strategy of promoting beliefs at the local level explains why Christian Reconstructionists, like those led by Wilson, prefer to focus energies in small towns. The Reconstructionists in Moscow believe that they can achieve much more significant cultural impact if they can secure significant demographic change, either by the conversion of existing inhabitants or by encouraging others to move to the area.</p>
<h2>Eschewing the existential crisis</h2>
<p>The stated goal of Wilson’s congregation is to <a href="https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/nov/17/leaders-of-moscows-christ-church-say-theyre-pushin/">make Moscow a Christian town</a>; at present only <a href="https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/nov/17/leaders-of-moscows-christ-church-say-theyre-pushin/">around a third of Moscow residents identify as “religious</a>,” according to a 2019 report.</p>
<p>But it is Wilson’s attitude about public health measures during the pandemic that has most recently brought him and his church back to the attention of political leaders. Throughout the pandemic, he has argued that mask requirements reveal the hypocrisy of government. In September 2020, Wilson led his congregation in the illegal hymn-sing in front of City Hall that led to the arrests of several church members – footage of which was <a href="https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/oct/07/trump-tweets-video-of-idaho-church-gathering-false/">retweeted by President Trump</a>, who suggested that the Moscow congregation’s arrests were emblematic of what would happen to evangelicals if Democrats took control. “DEMS WANT TO SHUT YOUR CHURCHES DOWN, PERMANENTLY,” the former president tweeted in all caps. </p>
<p>And yet, whatever the former president’s fears, Wilson’s congregation is growing. While large denominations, like the Southern Baptists, divide in the debate about critical race theory, Wilson’s church shows how some congregations could respond to evangelicalism’s existential crisis – and possibly thrive.</p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162652/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Crawford Gribben received funding from the Irish Research Council for a research project on "Radical religion in the trans-Atlantic world."</span></em></p>A controversial pastor is aiming to convert a town of 25,000 people as part of grand expansion plans. A scholar says the congregation’s influence is growing.Crawford Gribben, Professor of history, Queen's University BelfastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1648512021-08-04T12:32:50Z2021-08-04T12:32:50ZUnderstanding evangelicalism in America today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414351/original/file-20210803-15-11uf99u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C2977%2C1971&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Evangelicals share the recognition of the Bible as the ultimate authority.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/attendees-hold-hands-and-pray-as-rev-franklin-graham-speaks-news-photo/963640408?adppopup=true">Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A precipitous decline in the number of Americans identifying as white evangelical was revealed in <a href="https://www.prri.org/">Public Religion Research Institute’s</a> <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/2020-census-of-american-religion/">2020 Census on American Religion</a>. In 2006, almost a quarter of the American population identified as white evangelical, but only 14.5% the population does so today. </p>
<p>Evangelical is an umbrella category within Protestant Christianity. The category of <a href="https://theconversation.com/think-us-evangelicals-are-dying-out-well-define-evangelicalism-152640">evangelical is complicated</a>; unlike Catholics, who have a centralized authority, evangelicals do not maintain a single spokesperson or institution. Instead, evangelicalism in the United States today is composed of several institutions, churches and a network of largely conservative spokespersons. </p>
<p>Consequently, there are a variety of churches, theologies and practices within evangelicalism. They include certain groups such as Baptists, Methodists and nondenominational churches, among others, many of which are members of the <a href="https://www.nae.net/">National Association of Evangelicals</a>.</p>
<p>So what constitutes an evangelical, or what is evangelicalism in the United States today? </p>
<h2>Conversion and converting</h2>
<p>One place to begin is historian <a href="https://www.stir.ac.uk/expert/name/professor-david-bebbington-139">David Bebbington</a>’s four-part definition of evangelicalism. In his <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Evangelicalism-in-Modern-Britain-A-History-from-the-1730s-to-the-1980s/Bebbington/p/book/9780415104647">1989 book</a>, Bebbington argued that evangelicals share a recognition of the Bible as the ultimate authority, emphasize the work of Jesus’ crucifixion in human salvation, share a born-again experience and are active socially in reforming society.</p>
<p>Most Christians recognize the authority of the biblical text and the centrality of Jesus’ crucifixion. The born-again conversion experience and a particular kind of social engagement separate evangelicals from other types of Christians in the United States. For evangelicals, the born-again experience is the only way that any <a href="https://billygraham.org/story/is-jesus-the-only-way-to-heaven/">individual can gain access into heaven in the afterlife</a>. All other religious alternatives are rejected.</p>
<p>Born-again represents a new life that evangelical converts gain when they recognize the redemptive power of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Generally, the born-again experience is enacted when individuals recite the “sinner’s prayer.” This simple religious ritual acknowledges the individual’s imperfection in this life, a request to be guided by God for the remainder of the individual’s life and a promise of a blissful afterlife. </p>
<p>For most evangelicals, the born-again moment signifies a fresh start or a cleansing of one’s soul – old mistakes are forgotten by the divine. Afterward, baptism, a ritual water purification, follows.</p>
<p>An expectation for all new evangelical converts is that they will eventually participate in evangelizing – sharing their Christian experience with others in the hopes of leading others to a born-again experience. </p>
<p>There are some theologically specific differences within evangelicalism. Internal debates focus on such topics as <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/march6/32.84.html">speaking in tongues</a> or <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/june-web-only/research-evangelicals-women-leaders-complementarian-preach.html">the role of women in leadership</a>. Speaking in tongues is thought by charismatic or Pentecostal evangelicals to be the ability to speak in different or angelic languages to transmit a message from the divine.</p>
<p>Like a diversity of ideas related to speaking in tongues, some denominations deny that women can be pastors or ministers while others ordain women into the ministry. There are popular female evangelical authors, such as <a href="https://joycemeyer.org/">Joyce Meyer</a>, and televangelists, such as <a href="https://paulawhite.org/">Paula White</a>, a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/01/26/paula-white-miscarry-metaphor/">spiritual adviser to former President Donald Trump</a>. </p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p>
<h2>Political engagements</h2>
<p>As a scholar of religion in America, I’ve seen how evangelicalism in the United States is generally recognized for its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/28/us/religion-politics-evangelicals.html">political allegiances with the Republican Party</a>. Since <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/03/22/reagan-tied-republicans-white-christians-now-party-is-trapped/">the Ronald Reagan era</a>, evangelicals have overwhelmingly supported Republican presidential candidates. This is ironic, as President Jimmy Carter, who identified as a born-again Christian, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2014/05/25/jimmy_carters_evangelical_downfall_reagan_religion_and_the_1980_presidential_election/">lost evangelical support</a> to Reagan, who identified as Christian. But as religion scholar <a href="https://faculty-directory.dartmouth.edu/randall-balmer">Randall Balmer</a> noted, Reagan “<a href="https://www.salon.com/2014/05/25/jimmy_carters_evangelical_downfall_reagan_religion_and_the_1980_presidential_election/">seemed a tad uneasy about the label</a>” of evangelical. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414353/original/file-20210803-15-1287uif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="President Ronald Reagan speaking to the National Association of Evangelicals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414353/original/file-20210803-15-1287uif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414353/original/file-20210803-15-1287uif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414353/original/file-20210803-15-1287uif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414353/original/file-20210803-15-1287uif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414353/original/file-20210803-15-1287uif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414353/original/file-20210803-15-1287uif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414353/original/file-20210803-15-1287uif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evangelicals in the U.S. have been politically aligned with the Republican Party.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-ronald-reagan-gestures-as-he-speaks-to-the-news-photo/515564272?adppopup=true">Bettmann / Contributor via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Evangelicalism in the United States is composed of institutions and networks of conservative Christians working to spread its ideologies in the political sphere. Organizations like evangelical author <a href="https://www.drjamesdobson.org/">James Dobson</a>’s <a href="https://www.focusonthefamily.com/">Focus on the Family</a>, along with lobbying groups like political consultant <a href="https://www.ffcoalition.com/leadership/">Ralph Reed</a>’s <a href="https://www.ffcoalition.com/">Faith & Freedom Coalition</a>, remain influential in attempting to shape the American government into an evangelical worldview. </p>
<p>Politically, evangelicals are extremely active in advancing anti-abortion, anti-same sex marriage and “<a href="https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15416.html">family values</a>” positions in an effort to restore the country to its perceived Christian roots. </p>
<p>But not all evangelicals agree about politics. Within evangelicalism there exist <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/divided-by-faith-9780195147070?cc=us&lang=en&">racial differences</a>. <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religious-tradition/evangelical-protestant/racial-and-ethnic-composition/">Many sociological projects</a> highlight the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-01/us-presidential-election-evangelical-vote-is-diverse/12834126">political distinctions in voting patterns and on social issues</a> between white and Black evangelicals.</p>
<h2>Exiles, marginals and ‘dones’</h2>
<p>Some people raised within evangelicalism <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-some-younger-evangelicals-are-leaving-the-faith-164230">are rejecting the faith’s rigid boundaries and constraints</a> today. There are a growing number of “exvangelicals” – those who were insiders who no longer fit the parameters. Many within the exvangelical movement have voluntarily left. However, others describe their <a href="https://religionandpolitics.org/2019/04/09/the-rise-of-exvangelical/">departure as exilic, or having been forced out because of their views and lifestyles</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://religiondispatches.org/exvangelical-tiktokkers-arent-a-sign-of-the-end-times-but-heres-what-evangelicals-need-to-understand-about-the-falling-away/">Using forms of social media</a>, many exvangelicals are sharing their stories and exposing the theology and church practices negatively affecting their lives. </p>
<p>Changes in theology often result in political alterations as well. For instance, exvangelical podcaster and blogger <a href="https://thebeachedwhitemale.com/blake_chastain/">Blake Chastain</a> wrote, “As more and more people question the teachings of their white evangelical churches, they will inevitably consider the consequences of its social and political actions.” Many younger evangelicals reject, for example, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-some-younger-evangelicals-are-leaving-the-faith-164230">evangelicalism’s resistance to immigration expansions and gay marriage</a>. </p>
<p>Some raised within evangelicalism remain in the margins of evangelicalism. Liberal forms of evangelicalism exist – albeit in the minority – including some featuring progressive evangelical churches that accept members of the LGBTQ community, question the reality of hell and read the Bible less literally. Some within these circles debate <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelical-brand-redeemable-donald-trump-tony-campolo.html">whether the label of evangelical is redeemable</a>, while others <a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2017/10/16/burying-word-evangelical/">reject the moniker</a> entirely. </p>
<p>The future of evangelicalism in the United States is undetermined, but some within the tradition are calling for serious reflection regarding evangelicalism’s political stances. For instance, some evangelicals are critical of white evangelicals’ <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/24/970685909/evangelical-leaders-condemn-radicalized-christian-nationalism">Christian nationalism</a>, which is <a href="https://academic.oup.com/socrel/article/79/2/147/4825283?login=true">defined as</a> “a set of beliefs and ideals that seek the national preservation of a supposedly unique Christian identity.” Others are questioning <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/11/andy-stanley-evangelicals-trump/617103/">political allegiances</a> and <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/american-christianitys-white-supremacy-problem">race relations</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terry Shoemaker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A religion scholar explains how evangelicalism in the US is not a monolith. It includes a a variety of churches, theologies and practices.Terry Shoemaker, Lecturer Religious Studies, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1642092021-07-19T12:11:22Z2021-07-19T12:11:22ZEvangelical support for Israel is neither permanent nor inevitable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411528/original/file-20210715-32900-1hrwmn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C3%2C1007%2C679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Trump's evangelical supporters cheered the 2018 move of of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MideastUSEmbassyToJerusalem/b6ce96595ae2499cbbc86872bc51ffdf">Ariel Schalit/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Israel’s former ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/dermer-suggests-israel-should-prioritize-support-of-evangelicals-over-us-jews/">made waves</a> in May 2021 when he publicly suggested that Israel should prioritize its relationship with American evangelicals over American Jews. </p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/AmbDermer">Dermer described</a> evangelicals as the “backbone of Israel’s support in the United States.” By contrast, he described American Jews as “disproportionately among [Israel’s] critics.” </p>
<p>Dermer’s comments seemed shocking to many because he stated them in public to a reporter. But as <a href="https://walkerrobins.com/">a historian of the evangelical-Israeli relationship</a>, I didn’t find them surprising. The Israeli right’s preference for working with conservative American evangelicals over more politically variable American Jews has been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/19/world/middleeast/netanyahu-evangelicals-embassy.html">evident for years</a>. And this preference has in many ways paid off. </p>
<h2>Christian Zionism in the Trump era</h2>
<p>American Christian Zionists are evangelicals who believe that Christians have a duty to support the Jewish state because the Jews remain God’s chosen people.</p>
<p>During the Trump years, Christian Zionists were crucial allies for former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. They helped Netanyahu lobby Trump for the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/19/world/middleeast/netanyahu-evangelicals-embassy.html">relocation of</a> the U.S. embassy <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/12/18/the-biggest-fans-of-president-trumps-israel-policy-evangelical-christians/">to Jerusalem</a>, as well as the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/05/08/the-withdrawal-from-the-iran-deal-signals-a-new-power-player-in-washington-christian-zionists/">withdrawal of the U.S.</a> from the “Iran Deal” – the international nuclear arms control agreement with Iran.</p>
<p>These evangelicals also backed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-endorses-israeli-control-of-the-disputed-golan-heights/2019/03/21/7cfc0554-4bfb-11e9-93d0-64dbcf38ba41_story.html">Trump’s recognition</a> of Israel’s 1981 annexation of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-trumps-recognition-of-the-golan-heights-as-israeli-territory-matters-114132">the Golan Heights</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-cuts-more-than-200-million-in-aid-to-the-palestinians/2018/08/24/5bd7d58e-a7db-11e8-97ce-cc9042272f07_story.html">cuts of more than US$200 million to American funding for the Palestinian Authority</a> in 2018. </p>
<p>Coming after this string of policy victories for the Israeli-evangelical alliance, Dermer’s comments made sense.</p>
<p>However, the alliance’s future may be in doubt. <a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/evangelical-youth-losing-love-for-israel-by-35-percent-study-shows-671178">Recent polling shows dramatic declines</a> in support for Israel among <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/05/26/as-israel-increasingly-relies-on-us-evangelicals-for-support-younger-ones-are-walking-away-what-polls-show/">young American evangelicals</a>. Scholars <a href="https://uncp.academia.edu/MottiInbari">Motti Inbari</a> and <a href="https://www.uncp.edu/profile/dr-kirill-bumin">Kirill Bumin</a> found that between 2018 and 2021, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/support-for-israel-among-young-us-evangelicals-drops-sharply-survey/">rates of support fell</a> from 69% to 33.6% among evangelicals ages 18-29.</p>
<p>While these polls speak most immediately to the current context, they also underline a larger historical point: Evangelical support for Israel is neither permanent nor inevitable.</p>
<h2>Southern Baptists and Israel</h2>
<p>The Southern Baptist Convention – long the denominational avatar of white American evangelicalism – offers an example of how these beliefs have shifted over time, which I examine in my book “<a href="http://www.uapress.ua.edu/product/Between-Dixie-and-Zion,7406.aspx">Between Dixie and Zion: Southern Baptists and Palestine before Israel</a>.” </p>
<p>Southern Baptists are broadly supportive of Israel, and have been for much of the past half-century. Baptist leaders like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/20/archives/evangelists-meet-in-the-holy-land-1000-from-32-countries-confer-on.html">W.A. Criswell</a> and <a href="https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/ed-mcateer-pioneer-for-faith-in-public-policy-dies-at-78/">Ed McAteer</a> helped organize Christian Zionism in the U.S. The Southern Baptist Convention itself has passed a number of <a href="https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/?fwp_resolution_search=israel">pro-Israel resolutions</a> in recent decades.</p>
<p>More recently, Southern Baptist support for Israel was highlighted when the Trump administration <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/05/15/mitt-romney-may-not-like-it-but-robert-jeffress-was-a-natural-choice-to-deliver-the-invocation-at-the-new-u-s-embassy-in-jerusalem/">invited Robert Jeffress</a>, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, to lead a prayer at the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in 2018.</p>
<p>However, Southern Baptists were not always so unified in support for Israel, or the Zionist movement that led to its creation. This was evident only days after the establishment of Israel in 1948, when messengers to the convention’s annual meeting <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1948/05/20/archives/baptists-criticize-truman-on-israel-refuse-commendation-consider.html?searchResultPosition=1">repeatedly and overwhelmingly voted down resolutions</a> calling for the convention to send a congratulatory telegram to U.S. President – and fellow Southern Baptist – Harry Truman for being the first foreign leader to recognize the Jewish state. </p>
<h2>Zionism was ‘God’s plan’ – unless it wasn’t</h2>
<p>This seems shocking today, after years of seemingly unanimous evangelical support for Israel. However, as I document in <a href="http://www.uapress.ua.edu/product/Between-Dixie-and-Zion,7406.aspx">my book</a>, Southern Baptists had diverse views on Zionism and “the Palestine question” in the decades leading up to Israel’s birth. While some did argue that support for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine was a Christian duty, others defended the Arab majority’s rights in the Holy Land. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="U.S. President Harry S. Truman holds a copy of the Torah, presented to him by Chaim Weizman, right, in Washington on May 25, 1948." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411331/original/file-20210714-13-hcy588.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411331/original/file-20210714-13-hcy588.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411331/original/file-20210714-13-hcy588.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411331/original/file-20210714-13-hcy588.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411331/original/file-20210714-13-hcy588.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411331/original/file-20210714-13-hcy588.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411331/original/file-20210714-13-hcy588.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Southern Baptist Convention refused to congratulate President Harry Truman for being the first world leader to officially recognize the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, even though he was one of their own. At right is Chaim Weizman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TrumanandWeizman/ae37ce7d442f4f5388d28efdb8b9938d">ASSOCIATED PRESS</a></span>
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<p>During this era, the Southern Baptist Convention published books, pamphlets and other materials reflecting both sides. In 1936, its press <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9963436">published a work by missionary Jacob Gartenhaus</a>, a convert from Judaism to evangelical Christianity, arguing that to be against Zionism was “to oppose God’s plan.” The following year, however, the press published <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7962317">a mission study manual by J. McKee Adams</a> contending that “by every canon of justice and fair-play, the Arab is the man of first importance.” </p>
<p>Adams was one among a coterie of professors at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary who spoke out against what they sometimes derided as “Christian Zionism” – then an unusual term.</p>
<p>Even evangelicals who believed the Bible anticipated the return of Jews to Palestine disagreed on whether the Zionist movement was part of God’s plan. </p>
<p>The influential Baptist leader J. Frank Norris of Fort Worth, Texas, who broke away from the mainstream Southern Baptist Convention in the 1920s, argued in the 1930s and 1940s that Christians had a duty to God and civilization <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/432608001">to support the Zionists</a>. </p>
<p>But there was no widespread sense that being a Baptist – or an evangelical Protestant – entailed support for Zionism. John R. Rice, a prominent disciple of Norris’, rejected his mentor’s arguments outright. “The Zionist movement is not a fulfillment of the prophecies about Israel being restored,” Rice <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/31748240">wrote in 1945</a>. “Preachers who think so are mistaken.” </p>
<p>Regarding the political question of whether Arabs or Jews should control Palestine, most evangelicals were unconcerned. The Southern Baptists focused on other priorities in the Holy Land, such as the growth of their missions in Jerusalem and Nazareth. Even those Baptists who supported the establishment of a Jewish state did not organize politically around the issue.</p>
<h2>The future of Christian Zionism</h2>
<p>In the decades after the establishment of Israel, however, <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15966.html">motivated evangelical and Jewish activists – as well as the Israeli government – </a> worked to stitch together the interfaith relationships, build the institutions and spread the ideas underpinning today’s Christian Zionist movement. These efforts have been remarkably effective in making support for Israel <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15966.html">a defining element</a> of many evangelicals’ religious and political identities.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://religionnews.com/2021/05/26/survey-young-evangelicals-largely-backed-biden-and-have-shifting-views-on-israel/">as the latest polling of young evangelicals shows</a>, there is no guarantee this will be permanent. This diverse and globally connected generation of evangelicals has <a href="https://theconversation.com/white-gen-x-and-millennial-evangelicals-are-losing-faith-in-the-conservative-culture-wars-162407">its own ideas and priorities</a>. It is more interested in social justice, less invested in the culture wars and increasingly weary of conservative politics.</p>
<p>Young evangelicals remain to be convinced of Christian Zionism. And they very well may not be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164209/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Walker Robins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The political alliance between American evangelicals and Israel’s right wing may have peaked during the Trump administration.Walker Robins, Lecturer in History, Merrimack CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1642302021-07-15T12:27:12Z2021-07-15T12:27:12ZWhy some younger evangelicals are leaving the faith<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411295/original/file-20210714-23-12f7dj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=56%2C28%2C4632%2C3104&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young evangelical Christians are facing a dilemma whether to follow in the footsteps of their parents or pursue other choices.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-bow-their-heads-in-prayer-during-a-sunday-evening-news-photo/506230990?adppopup=true">Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The extent to which the number of white evangelicals have declined in the United States has been laid bare in 2021 by the <a href="https://www.prri.org/">Public Religion Research Institute’s</a> <a href="https://www.prri.org/press-release/prri-releases-groundbreaking-2020-census-of-american-religion/">2020 Census on American Religion</a>.</p>
<p>The institute’s study found that only 14% of Americans identified as white evangelical in 2020. This is a drastic decline since 2006, when America’s religious landscape was composed of 23% white evangelicals, as the report notes.</p>
<p>Along with a decline in white evangelicalism, the data indicates a stabilized increase in the number of those who no longer identify as religious at all. Scholars of religion refer to this group as “<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/08/why-americas-nones-dont-identify-with-a-religion/">nones</a>,” and they make up about a quarter of the American population. These statistics are even more drastic when considering age. In short, older Americans are much more religious than younger Americans, while millennials are likely to not practice or identify with religion. </p>
<p>This data is significant. Even though white evangelicals tend to be politically <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-christian-media-is-shaping-american-politics-95910">vocal and influential</a>, several are known to be leaving the faith. </p>
<p>Increasingly, scholarship is tracking the emergence of those defecting from religion. Religious studies scholar <a href="https://www.scu.edu/cas/religious-studies/faculty--staff/elizabeth-drescher/">Elizabeth Drescher’s</a> 2016 book, “<a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199341221.001.0001/acprof-9780199341221">Choosing Our Religion</a>,” examines numerous cases in which people transition away from their faith. She notes that people leaving evangelicalism “tended to express anger and frustration with both the teachings and practices of their childhood church.” </p>
<p>Although the statistics are sure to capture the attention of various readers, the data can give only limited insights into the more nuanced perspectives specific to critiquing white evangelicalism.</p>
<p>Over the past six years, I have been part of a team of scholars from various disciplines and universities <a href="https://wipfandstock.com/9781532617621/the-emerging-church-millennials-and-religion-volume-1/">examining the hesitancy and rejection</a> of younger individuals either leaving or attempting to reform evangelicalism in America. Some younger evangelicals are disenchanted with their faith traditions’ staunch and divisive political positions and how theology has been used to prop up these positions. </p>
<h2>Younger evangelicals’ experiences</h2>
<p>Between 2010 and 2018, I conducted over 75 interviews with those dissatisfied with their evangelical faith and observed multiple white evangelical megachurches.</p>
<p>My interviewees, all white, were typically in their late 20s to early 40s and highly critical of the Christian faith of their youth. These interviewees respond differently to their dissatisfaction. Some completely leave their faith while others try to reform their faith from within. For the majority, church was a major part of their social life, and they described rigid expectations to defend their theology, politics and spiritual communities to outsiders. </p>
<p>Several of those interviewed during my research mentioned how politics had influenced the theology of white evangelicalism in the United States. Rob, who resides in Florida and spent the majority of his early adult life as a musician in a white evangelical megachurch, told me that his church preached “God, country and the Republican Party.” He was even taught as a teenager that “Jesus was definitely a Republican,” and he characterized God as “quite angry, a cosmic referee” seeking to regulate the lives of the faithful. Today, Rob identifies as a progressive Christian and holds a much more generous view of his god. </p>
<p>My research shows <a href="https://theconversation.com/white-gen-x-and-millennial-evangelicals-are-losing-faith-in-the-conservative-culture-wars-162407">some younger evangelicals are fatigued with white evangelicalism’s allegiance to the Republican Party</a> and to specific stances on racism and sexuality. White evangelicals categorize these issues as <a href="https://iasculture.org/research/publications/culture-wars-struggle-define-america">a “culture war” for the soul of America</a> – an internal struggle for who will define and decide the future of America. </p>
<p>By framing these issues as a cultural battle, white evangelicals maintain an embattled posture targeting a list of such enemies as liberals, secularists and atheists. As sociologists <a href="https://raac.iupui.edu/about/who-we-are/our-staff/andrew-l-whitehead/">Andrew Whitehead</a> and <a href="https://www.ou.edu/cas/soc/people/faculty/samuel-perry">Samuel Perry</a> note in their <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190057886.001.0001/oso-9780190057886">study of Christian nationalism</a>, white evangelicals maintain a “collective desire to protect their cultural-political turf.” </p>
<p>Furthermore, in a racially and ethnically diversifying and increasingly pluralistic country, some evangelicals’ experiences transform their positions on political issues. Take for instance, the issue of immigration policies in the United States. White evangelicals as a group highly <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/a-nation-of-immigrants-diverging-perceptions-of-immigrants-increasingly-marking-partisan-divides/">favor restrictive immigration policies</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Rev. Jose Rodriguez, of the Waltham Worship Christian Center, speaks at a meeting in Boston in March 2018 to bring attention to immigration issues." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411296/original/file-20210714-21-1pdh2mt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some evangelicals have taken a position against restrictive immigration policies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/USImmigration40DayFast/9714d1dae5e64e568342f8ee94574812/photo?Query=evangelicals%20united%20states&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=223&currentItemNo=79">AP Photo/Sarah Betancourt</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, Jerry, one of my interviewees who lives in North Carolina and grew up Methodist, cited the white evangelical position against restrictive immigration policies as a reason to question his faith. Today, Jerry identifies as spiritual but not religious; while still an evangelical, Jerry explained, “When it came to issues of immigration, we wanted our kids to know what it means to be an outsider. We want our kids to have a global experience.” His theological interpretation of the Bible at that time taught Jerry to welcome outsiders, and he applied this to national borders. </p>
<p>Political changes can shift religious beliefs. Jerry’s growing cultural awareness eventually replaced his evangelical interpretation of Scripture. He notes, “As opposed to looking to the Bible or church for answers, let’s have a multicultural world perspective to answer those questions.” </p>
<p>Likewise, Sarah grew up in Kentucky, spending much of her childhood in church services, Bible studies and Christian camps within a Baptist denomination. “Part of me likes the idea of church,” she says, “but I think I like the idea of just helping people more. That’s my idea of what a Christian is, someone who helps others.” She admits this while maintaining that for her personally, religious identity is unimportant. </p>
<p>Sarah’s involvement in poverty alleviation in Kentucky influenced her attitudes on how she sees white evangelical worship today: “The way that the church operates in Kentucky is so backwards. It’s all about the self. About pleasing yourself. It’s all white, middle- to upper-class people watching a big screen with a full band. I think that’s probably the opposite of what Jesus wanted.” </p>
<h2>Why is this happening now?</h2>
<p>For those trained and disciplined within white evangelicalism, the insular and authoritarian nature of the faith often creates circumstances where questioning or critiquing the faith seems impossible and can lead to shunning. </p>
<p>Brandy, in Tennessee and raised a Baptist, recounted that her family actually held a religious intervention, with a screen, PowerPoint and projector, after she stopped attending her family’s church. She experienced ostracization: “I felt rejected, overlooked, looked down upon,” she says. “I felt apart from the community.” Brandy is still a Christian and attends another more progressive church regularly, but her evangelical family refuses to accept her church as legitimate. </p>
<p>This is only a sample of interviewee comments I heard indicating a growing disaffection with the political stances and alliances of white evangelicalism. They represent a growing movement of <a href="https://www.emptythepews.epiphanypublishing.us/">“exvangelicals”</a> – those who grew up in the faith but have since abandoned it. </p>
<p>The staunch resistance to civil unions, transgender rights and women’s equality, along with the inability of white evangelicalism to grapple with its <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/White-Too-Long/Robert-P-Jones/9781982122867">racialized</a> and <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631495731">patriarchal</a> structures, is misaligned with some of these younger perspectives today.</p>
<p>As the report indicates, many millennials are simply rejecting traditional forms of religion altogether.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164230/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terry Shoemaker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Disaffected young evangelicals and those who left the church describe an out-of-touch institution not in line with their political beliefs, a scholar foundTerry Shoemaker, Lecturer in Religious Studies, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1636132021-07-13T12:29:01Z2021-07-13T12:29:01ZWhat is biblical inerrancy? A New Testament scholar explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409983/original/file-20210706-17-10f0hw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=91%2C30%2C5000%2C3366&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many prominent Christians believe in inerrancy, or that the Bible is without error.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/open-bible-and-christian-cross-on-dry-fallen-autumn-leaves-news-photo/1314859041?adppopup=true">Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In his farewell address at the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention, outgoing president <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zX89hz3fhU">J.D. Greear</a> acknowledged the internal disputes but assured attendees that the Baptist faith continues to affirm “those doctrines most contested in our culture,” such as “the authority, and the inerrancy, and the sufficiency of scripture.”</p>
<p>Recently, other prominent Christians have touted a belief in <a href="https://defendinginerrancy.com/why-is-inerrancy-important/">inerrancy</a>, including <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/why-mike-lindell-and-the-majority-of-white-evangelicals-cant-give-up-the-big-lie/">MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and former Vice President Mike Pence</a>. Even if support for the doctrine has declined in recent years, <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/210704/record-few-americans-believe-bible-literal-word-god.aspx">nearly one in four</a> Americans believes the Bible is God’s literal word. </p>
<p>But what is “inerrancy,” and why is it important to so many Christians?</p>
<p>I first encountered the doctrine of biblical inerrancy as an undergraduate at <a href="https://www.biola.edu/">Biola University</a>. The evangelical school’s <a href="https://www.biola.edu/about/theological-positions">faith statement</a> affirms that “the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are without error or misstatement in their moral and spiritual teaching and record of historical facts.” </p>
<p>Now, as a <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/rs/faculty/gs25494">New Testament scholar</a> teaching courses at a university in the Bible Belt, I frequently interact with students familiar with – if not committed to – the doctrine of inerrancy. </p>
<h2>Why the doctrine of inerrancy matters</h2>
<p>The Bible itself does not claim to be inerrant. Perhaps the closest the Bible comes to claiming to be without error is in a New Testament letter known as <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+timothy+3%3A16&version=NRSV">2 Timothy 3:16</a>. In this letter, the apostle Paul states that “all scripture is inspired and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” In other words, the Bible is God’s authoritative instruction for the church. </p>
<p>Biblical scholars are <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=41rx-TDIF9gC&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=%22all+scripture%22+2+timothy+septuagint&source=bl&ots=xpcJhR1ADK&sig=ACfU3U3K_Io7q5aedwAJZQnIqcG6wtI0aQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiRyPzFw9bxAhUEHc0KHRNbA3c4ChDoATAJegQIChAD#v=onepage&q=%22all%20scripture%22%202%20timothy%20septuagint&f=false">quick to point out</a> that “all scripture” here does not likely refer to both the Old and New Testaments, and that the apostle Paul likely <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6U9jBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=epistles%20witten&f=false">did not even write</a> 2 Timothy. This verse, however, remains central to those who see the Bible as without error. </p>
<p>The doctrine of inerrancy is more post-biblical, even modern. And <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-wasting-of-the-evangelical-mind">it has been particularly influential</a> <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=J2fmHHqc-vIC&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127&dq=mark+noll+%22pieces+in+a+jigsaw+puzzle+that+needed+only+to+be+sorted+and+then+fit+together%22&source=bl&ots=CAZ441pOhk&sig=ACfU3U1Tf57XvNJ_HqbDU8K0zMPD3mXqFQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjdtoemrcPxAhWim2oFHWGXBdgQ6AEwBHoECAsQAw#v=onepage&q=inerrancy&f=false">among U.S. evangelicals</a>, who often <a href="https://conservativebaptistnetwork.com/press-release/">appeal to the doctrine</a> of inerrancy in arguments against gender equality, social justice, critical race theory and other causes thought to violate the God’s infallible word. </p>
<p>The doctrine of inerrancy took shape during the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fundamentalism-turns-100-a-landmark-for-the-christian-right-123651">19th and 20th centuries in the United States</a>. A statement crafted in 1978 by hundreds of evangelical leaders remains its fullest articulation. Known as the <a href="https://www.etsjets.org/files/documents/Chicago_Statement.pdf">Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy</a>, the statement was a response to <a href="https://www.christiantoday.com/article/what-is-the-chicago-statement-on-biblical-inerrancy-and-should-evangelicals-believe-it/126747.htm">emerging “liberal” or nonliteral</a> interpretations of the Bible. According to the statement, the Bible speaks with “infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches.”</p>
<p>In short, the Bible is the final authority. </p>
<p>As Southern Baptists and other American evangelicals attempt to articulate biblical positions on issues such as social justice, abortion, gender and sexuality, one thing remains certain: Even a Bible thought to be without errors still has to be interpreted. </p>
<p><em>The Conversation U.S. publishes short, accessible explanations of newsworthy subjects by academics in their areas of expertise.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163613/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoffrey Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The doctrine of inerrancy likely took shape during the 19th and 20th centuries in the United States, in response to the rise of liberalism within Christianity.Geoffrey Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1624652021-06-11T12:40:48Z2021-06-11T12:40:48ZWhy the legacy of Billy Graham continues to endure: 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405496/original/file-20210609-28624-43rtdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=156%2C32%2C3381%2C2358&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Evangelist Billy Graham came to have an enormous influence on American politics and culture.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/evangelist-billy-graham-addressing-a-meeting-news-photo/3317456?adppopup=true">Keystone/ Collections Hulton Archive/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A new two-hour <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/billy-graham/">documentary on PBS</a> examines the life and rise of Billy Graham, the famed preacher, who died on Feb. 21, 2018, at 99. Graham’s enduring legacy is that he helped shape the modern-day American right.</p>
<p>Graham’s rallies, known popularly as “crusades,” attracted millions of people all over the globe. His influence extended deep into American politics, and he provided spiritual counsel to several American presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Donald Trump.</p>
<p>Here are three articles from The Conversation U.S. that offer insights into his life. </p>
<h2>Representative of new evangelicalism</h2>
<p>In the early part of the 20th century, evangelicalism came to be seen as being “<a href="https://theconversation.com/could-there-be-another-billy-graham-92250">synonymous with intolerance and anti-intellectualism</a>,” writes <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrew-dole-446668">Andrew Dole</a>, professor of religion at Amherst College. </p>
<p>In 1925 fundamentalists succeeded in bringing in legislation banning the teaching of evolution in public schools in Tennessee. That same year, as Dole writes, the young teacher John Scopes was prosecuted for teaching evolution. Known famously as the “Scopes monkey trial,” it made headlines all over the country.</p>
<p>Quoting the congregationalist minister Harold Ockenga, Dole points out that a new generation wanted to create “a progressive fundamentalism with an ethical message.”</p>
<p>Billy Graham, he writes, “would lead evangelicalism to revival.” As he says, “Graham, already a rising star, was soon adopted as the right man to represent the new ‘evangelicalism.’” Over time, Graham would “became the closest thing to an official spokesman for this movement,” which was then seen to be rescuing evangelicalism from fundamentalism.</p>
<h2>Influence on Eisenhower</h2>
<p>Over the next few decades, Graham had an unparalleled influence on American politics. Scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-mislin-357694">David Mislin</a> points to the religious language that found its way into government and politics, “due in no small part to Billy Graham.”</p>
<p>Mislin writes that in 1953 President Dwight Eisenhower held the first National Prayer Breakfast, “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-billy-grahams-legacy-lives-on-in-american-life-92229">at the strong encouragement of Graham</a>.” The event is now an annual tradition that brings together high-profile political, military and corporate leaders in Washington, D.C., usually on the first Thursday of February. Eisenhower would later sign a bill placing the phrase “In God We Trust” on all American currency.</p>
<p>Mislin argues that in the early years of the Cold War, these actions emphasized the religious commitment of Americans. And Graham, as he writes, stressed the use of religious language, not just as a way to set the U.S. apart from “the godlessness of Soviet communism,” but to address other domestic concerns that included social welfare policies that conservatives business leaders and others were opposed to.</p>
<p>“To be sure, Billy Graham was not singularly responsible for all of these developments. But as his biographers have noted, he loomed large in the religious politics of the 1950s,” adds Mislin.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405523/original/file-20210610-39374-1bnjezq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rev. Billy Graham in a conversation with President Dwight Eisenhower." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405523/original/file-20210610-39374-1bnjezq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405523/original/file-20210610-39374-1bnjezq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405523/original/file-20210610-39374-1bnjezq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405523/original/file-20210610-39374-1bnjezq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405523/original/file-20210610-39374-1bnjezq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405523/original/file-20210610-39374-1bnjezq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405523/original/file-20210610-39374-1bnjezq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">President Dwight Eisenhower held the first National Prayer Breakfast at the encouragement of Billy Graham.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/RevDrBillyGrahamandDwightDEisenhowerTalking/ba17d9c2cfa04c158ff084edfb4464a2/photo?Query=billy%20Graham%20eisenhower&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=17&currentItemNo=5">AP Photo/Zieglero</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>God’s wrath and Christian nation beliefs</h2>
<p>In addition to political influence, evangelical leaders such as Billy Graham deeply influenced the moral values and America as a Christian nation. Scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/samuel-perry-239674">Samuel Perry</a> says for many evangelical leaders such as Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell Sr., social and cultural changes of the 1970s and 1980s such as racial integration of schools “<a href="https://theconversation.com/evangelical-leaders-like-billy-graham-and-jerry-falwell-sr-have-long-talked-of-conspiracies-against-gods-chosen-those-ideas-are-finding-resonance-today-132241">were signs of a fallen country</a>.”</p>
<p>Part of this rhetoric was that God punishes America when Americans are unfaithful to his commandments, writes Perry. In the lead-up to Obama’s reelection, Graham wrote an article with a premise that Obama’s leadership would lead to God’s wrath. It was, for Graham and other evangelical leaders, “an intentional move away from Christian values toward immorality,” says Perry.</p>
<p>“Trump offered himself as an antidote to that fallen America and as a savior from the destruction,” he writes.</p>
<h2>What is the future of evangelicalism?</h2>
<p>Evangelicalism is once again going through a change. As scholar Andrew Dole points out, “evangelicalism of the future will be smaller, grayer, more closely identified with the Republican Party, and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/04/though-still-conservative-young-evangelicals-are-more-liberal-than-their-elders-on-some-issues/">more out of step</a> with the views of younger Americans than it is at present.” </p>
<p>To many it might appear that Billy Graham was the last of evangelicals who enjoyed nonpartisan support. However, adds Dole, “as one who teaches the history of evangelicalism, I can imagine different possibilities.”</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162465/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
A PBS documentary has reinitiated conversations about the influence of Billy Graham. Here are three articles that describe the impact and the enduring legacy of the famed preacher.Kalpana Jain, Senior Religion + Ethics Editor/ Director of the Global Religion Journalism InitiativeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1580232021-04-01T11:33:14Z2021-04-01T11:33:14ZChristian nationalism is a barrier to mass vaccination against COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392921/original/file-20210331-19-tnnog7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C0%2C4187%2C2883&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some evangelical leaders are trying to counter Christian nationalist misinformation over vaccines.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/maryland-residents-receive-the-moderna-covid-19-vaccine-news-photo/1308671560?adppopup=true">Win McNamee/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/03/05/growing-share-of-americans-say-they-plan-to-get-a-covid-19-vaccine-or-already-have/">majority of Americans</a> either intend to get the COVID-19 vaccine or have already received their shots, getting white evangelicals to vaccination sites may prove more of a challenge – especially those who identify as Christian nationalists.</p>
<p>A Pew Research Center survey conducted in February found <a href="https://religionnews.com/2021/03/05/black-protestants-arent-least-likely-to-get-a-vaccine-white-evangelicals-are/">white evangelicals to be the religious group least likely to say</a> they’d be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Nearly half (45%) said they would not get the COVID-19 shot, compared with <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/03/05/growing-share-of-americans-say-they-plan-to-get-a-covid-19-vaccine--or-already-have/?utm_content=buffer20458&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">30% of the general population</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="Nz1dO" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Nz1dO/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Some evangelicals have even linked <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/religion/2021/01/25/the-covid-vaccine-not-the-mark-of-the-beast-here-is-what-an-edmond-bible-prophecy-expert-has-to-say/323205007/">coronavirus vaccinations to the “mark of the beast”</a> – a symbol of submission to the Antichrist found in biblical prophecies, <a href="https://www.thenivbible.com">Revelation 13:18</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://politicalscience.gsu.edu/2020/02/25/monique-deal-barlow/">scholar of religion and society</a>, I know that this skepticism among evangelicals has a background. Suspicion from religious conservatives regarding the COVID-19 vaccine is built on the back of their <a href="https://www.journalism.org/2020/06/29/three-months-in-many-americans-see-exaggeration-conspiracy-theories-and-partisanship-in-covid-19-news/">growing distrust</a> of science, medicine and the global elite. </p>
<h2>‘Anti-mask, anti-social distance, anti-vaccine’</h2>
<p>Vaccine hesitancy is not restricted to immunization over COVID-19. In 2017, the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2017/02/02/vast-majority-of-americans-say-benefits-of-childhood-vaccines-outweigh-risks/">Pew Research Center</a> found that more than 20% of white evangelicals – more than any other group – believed that “parents should be able to decide not to vaccinate their children, even if that may create health risks for other children and adults.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, there are concerns that many white evangelicals are <a href="https://religionnews.com/2021/02/25/the-creeping-radicalization-of-white-evangelicals/">becoming more radical</a>. Faith is not in itself an indication of extremism, but the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 showed that there is a problem when it comes to some evangelicals also holding extreme beliefs. White evangelicalism, in particular, has been susceptible to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/24/evangelical-leaders-christian-nationalism-capitol-riot">Christian nationalism</a> – the belief that the U.S. is a Christian nation that should serve the interests of white Americans.</p>
<p>Those who identify as Christian nationalists believe they are God’s chosen people and <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article242784396.html#:%7E:text=A%20message%20from%20God,-Nearly%20two%2Dthirds&text=More%20than%20half%20of%20the,Americans%20who%20believe%20in%20God.">will be protected from any illness</a> or disease.</p>
<p>This proves problematic when it comes to vaccinations. A study earlier this year found Christian nationalists were far more likely to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/2378023120977727">abstain from taking the COVID-19 vaccine</a>. It builds on research that found Christian nationalism was a leading predictor of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12677">ignoring precautionary behaviors</a> regarding coronavirus. </p>
<p>Christian nationalists tend to place vaccinations within a worldview that generally distrusts science and scientists as a threat to the moral order. This was seen in the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/socrel/advance-article/doi/10.1093/socrel/sraa047/6054784">response of many on the religious right to guidance on masks and social distancing</a> as well as, now, vaccines.</p>
<p>And in some cases it was driven by church leaders in the wider conservative evangelical community. For example, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/american-evangelicals-and-the-resistance-to-covid-vaccines/a-55957915">Tony Spell</a>, a minister at the Life Tabernacle Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, defied authorities in holding mass church gatherings even after the state deemed them illegal. He has also rejected warnings that the pandemic is dangerous, stating, “We’re anti-mask, anti-social distancing, and anti-vaccine.” </p>
<p>He believes the vaccine is politically motivated and has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/opinion/coronavirus-trump-evangelicals.html">used his pulpit to discourage church members from taking the vaccine</a>.</p>
<p>This anti-vaccine attitude fits with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-capitol-siege-recalls-past-acts-of-christian-nationalist-violence-153059">anti-government libertarianism</a> that <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-power-worshippers-9781635573435/">predominates among Christian nationalists</a>. Many within the movement place this belief in freedom from government action within a traditional religious framework.</p>
<p>They feel that COVID-19 is God’s <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7234870/">divinely ordained message</a> telling the world to change. If the government tells them to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508421995741">go against</a> that idea and vaccinate, many of them they feel they are either going against God’s will or that the government is violating their religious freedom.</p>
<p>Such a view was also seen before the vaccination rollout. White evangelicals were the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/pathways-2020/covid_econopen/total_us_adults/us_adults/">least likely religious group to support mandated closures of businesses</a>, for example.</p>
<h2>Countering misinformation</h2>
<p>The problem isn’t just that Christian nationalist beliefs will be a considerable barrier to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-herd-immunity-and-how-many-people-need-to-be-vaccinated-to-protect-a-community-116355">herd immunity</a>. To dispel myths about the COVID-19 vaccination among conservative religious communities, church leaders need to be enlisted to communicate facts about the vaccine to their parishioners – who may trust church leaders more than scientists and the government.</p>
<p>For vaccination rates to be increased, <a href="http://info.primarycare.hms.harvard.edu/blog/start-local">messages must come from trusted people in the community</a>. The opinion of a government official will in many instances matter far less to a Christian nationalist than advice from a church leader.</p>
<p>As such, I argue, faith leaders can guide their followers and use their pulpits to encourage parishioners that the vaccine is safe and in line with religious doctrines.</p>
<p>To enable this, church leaders need to both understand and communicate to parishioners the origins of the vaccine. Many evangelicals are under the mistaken impression that <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/03/973428720/christian-groups-resist-johnson-johnson-vaccine-for-using-abortion-derived-cells">vaccines were developed using fresh fetal tissue</a> and are immensely troubled by that fact.<br>
In reality, none of the vaccinations for COVID-19 available in the U.S. was manufactured <a href="https://www.nebraskamed.com/COVID/you-asked-we-answered-do-the-covid-19-vaccines-contain-aborted-fetal-cells">using new fetal stem cells</a>, but the Johnson & Johnson one was developed using <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/covid-vaccine-aborted-fetal-cells/">lab-created stem cell lines</a> derived from a decades-old aborted fetus. Many evangelical churches <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/14/health/clergy-covid-vaccine.html">have determined that it is ethical</a> for anti-abortion Christians to take the other vaccines when there are no other options for the preservation of life. </p>
<p>Some within the wider evangelical movement have begun <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/24/970685909/evangelical-leaders-condemn-radicalized-christian-nationalism">sounding the alarm</a> over the influence of radicalized Christian nationalism. </p>
<p>After the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, a coalition of evangelical leaders published an <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbvRNRgAcUo1UfZfxuBZHmv63FI8k2gnxxAaNVlCvsiG9xHw/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0">open letter</a> warning: “We recognize that evangelicalism, and white evangelicalism in particular, has been susceptible to the heresy of Christian nationalism because of a long history of faith leaders accommodating white supremacy.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="National Institutes of Health director Dr. Francis Collins addresses faith leaders at an event in Washington, D.C." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392879/original/file-20210331-23-bunth9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392879/original/file-20210331-23-bunth9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392879/original/file-20210331-23-bunth9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392879/original/file-20210331-23-bunth9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392879/original/file-20210331-23-bunth9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392879/original/file-20210331-23-bunth9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392879/original/file-20210331-23-bunth9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">NIH director Dr. Francis Collins, a devout Christian, has urged faith leaders to get behind the vaccine program.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/national-institutes-of-health-director-dr-francis-collins-news-photo/1307480211?adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And many <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-26/u-s-evangelical-leaders-preach-vaccine-to-holdout-flocks">high-profile evangelical leaders acknowledge</a> that they can maintain their personal and biblical integrity while also supporting scientific breakthroughs by connecting what they see as the wonders of God’s universe to science. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/12/12/coronavirus-vaccine-nih-francis-collins-faith-leaders/">Francis Collins</a>, head of the National Institutes of Health and a devoted evangelical Christian, has said: “The church, in this time of confusion, ought to be a beacon, a light on the hill, an entity that believes in truth.”</p>
<p>“This is a great moment for the church to say, no matter how well intentioned someone’s opinions may be, if they’re not based upon the fact, the church should not endorse them.”</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-corona-important">The Conversation’s most important coronavirus headlines, weekly in a new science newsletter</a>.</em>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monique Deal Barlow is affiliated with Scholars Strategy Network (<a href="https://scholars.org/scholar/clara-deal-barlow">https://scholars.org/scholar/clara-deal-barlow</a>). </span></em></p>Christian nationalists are far less likely to be vaccinated than other groups, research has found. Some evangelical leaders are trying to counter vaccine misinformation.Monique Deal Barlow, Doctoral Student of Political Science, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1481612021-01-06T13:10:12Z2021-01-06T13:10:12ZIn Mike Pence, US evangelicals had their ‘24-karat-gold’ man in the White House<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377256/original/file-20210105-17-192gi86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C4997%2C3324&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Exit, stage religious right.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Pence/f18460461f6c42be8a897cdd50de6278/photo?Query=Mike%20Pence%20waving&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=525&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Lynne Sladky</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mike Pence has remained one of the only constants in the often chaotic Trump administration.</p>
<p>Variously described as “<a href="https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2016-10-04/donald-trumps-vp-mike-pence-hides-extremism-behind-boring-facade">vanilla</a>,” “<a href="https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/04/04/steady-devout-mike-pence-leads-coronavirus-fight-past-the-haters/">steady</a>” and loyal to the point of being “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/22/opinions/vice-president-sycophant-pence-trump-goldstein-opinion/index.html">sycophantic</a>,” he is, in the words of one profile, an “<a href="https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2010/February/Ind-Rep-Mike-Pence-It-All-Begins-with-Faith-">everyman’s man with Midwest humility and approachability</a>,” and in another, a “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54423497">61-year-old, soft-spoken, deeply religious man</a>.”</p>
<p>That humility and loyalty has been tested in recent days. “I hope Mike Pence comes through for us,” Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/04/us/politics/pence-trump.html">told supporters at a rally</a> on Monday, seemingly under the mistaken belief that Pence could overturn the election result. But presiding over the Electoral College vote count at a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, Pence <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/electoral-college-vote-count-biden-victory/">broke with Trump’s wishes and confirmed Joe Biden</a> as the next president, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2021/jan/06/trump-lashes-out-pence-mob-breaches-capitol-video">provoking the ire of Trump</a>.</p>
<h2>Balancing the ticket</h2>
<p>Throughout the past four years, the vice president has offered a striking contrast to the mercurial, abrasive temperament of his commander in chief. Indeed, in his acceptance speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/20/in-accepting-vp-nod-mike-pence-uses-phrases-from-reagan-the-bible-and-bill-clinton/">Pence joked</a> that he’d been chosen because Trump, with his “large personality,” “colorful style,” and “lots of charisma,” was “looking for some balance on the ticket.” </p>
<p>Commentators have attributed Pence’s steadiness to his Hoosier roots and his “<a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/16/vice-president-mike-pence-profile-feature-215257">savvy political operator</a>” skills. But it is his religious beliefs that perhaps inform his politics and style more than anything else; as Pence has <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/world/im-a-christian-conservative-and-republican-steadfast-in-his-outlook-pence-brings-calm-to-trumps-chaos-3031469.html">oft repeated</a>, he is “a Christian, conservative and Republican – in that order.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377254/original/file-20210105-13-1rchnid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mike Pence meets with staff at his office in 2005.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/congressman-mike-pence-meets-with-staff-at-his-office-on-news-photo/576539032?adppopup=true">The Washington Post/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a 2011 profile during Pence’s run for Indiana governor, noted state political columnist Brian Howey remarked, “Pence doesn’t just wear his faith on his sleeve, he wears the whole <a href="http://archive.courierpress.com/columnists/brian-howey-pences-career-has-centered-on-faith-and-finance-ep-445443749-327267462.html?page=1">Jesus jersey</a>.”</p>
<p>It isn’t a characterization that Pence has shied away from. “My Christian faith is at the very heart of who I am,” Pence said <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2016/10/04/kaine-and-pence-talk-faith-final-moments-vice-presidential-debate">during the 2016 vice presidential debate</a>.</p>
<p>Richard Land, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and current president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/gods-plan-for-mike-pence/546569/">told the Atlantic</a> in 2018, “Mike Pence is the 24-karat-gold model of what we want in an evangelical politician. I don’t know anyone who’s more consistent in bringing his evangelical Christian worldview to public policy.” </p>
<p>But as <a href="https://www.colorado.edu/rlst/deborah-whitehead">a scholar of U.S. religion and culture</a>, I believe that Pence’s faith and political identities are more complex than these statements suggest. In fact, one can trace three distinct conversion experiences in his biography.</p>
<h2>Three-point conversion</h2>
<p>Growing up in an Irish Catholic family with five siblings, working-class roots and Democratic political commitments, Pence attended Catholic school, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/06/pence-shares-role-catholic-upbringing-says-catholics-have-ally-trump/102549294/">served as an altar boy at his family’s church</a>, idolized John F. Kennedy and was a youth coordinator for the local Democratic Party in his teens.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377250/original/file-20210105-13-adzfvl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mike Pence’s 1977 yearbook photo at Columbus North High School.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mike_Pence_in_1977_Log.jpg">Columbus North High School</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>It was as a freshman at Hanover College in 1978 that Pence <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/mar/21/christian-music-festivals-mike-pence-politics-lifestyle-culture">experienced an evangelical conversion</a> while attending a music festival in Kentucky billed as the “Christian Woodstock.”</p>
<p>For some years afterward he remained active in the Catholic Church, attending Mass regularly, serving as a youth minister and seriously <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/07/15/what-it-means-that-mike-pence-called-himself-an-evangelical-catholic/">considering joining the priesthood</a>. At the same time, he and his future wife Karen were part of a <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/chapter-2-religious-switching-and-intermarriage/">demographic shift</a> of Americans who “had grown up Catholic and still loved many things about the Catholic Church, but also really loved the concept of having a very personal relationship with Christ,” as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/mike-pence-religion.html">close friend</a> put it.</p>
<p>By the mid-1990s he was a married father of three who identified as a “born-again, evangelical Catholic,” an unusual term that has caused <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/07/15/what-it-means-that-mike-pence-called-himself-an-evangelical-catholic/">some consternation among both evangelicals and Catholics</a>.</p>
<p>In subsequent interviews, Pence <a href="https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2010/February/Ind-Rep-Mike-Pence-It-All-Begins-with-Faith-">has spoken freely</a> about how his 1978 conversion gave him a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ” that “changed everything.” But he has tended to avoid labeling his religious views when pressed, referring to himself as a “<a href="https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/longform/incoming-mike-pence">pretty ordinary Christian</a>” who “<a href="https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2010/February/Ind-Rep-Mike-Pence-It-All-Begins-with-Faith-">cherishes his Catholic upbringing</a>.” He has attended nondenominational evangelical churches with his family since at least 1995. </p>
<p>Pence’s political conversion was more clear cut. Though he voted for Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election, he quickly came to embrace Ronald Reagan’s economic and social conservatism and his populist appeal. In a <a href="https://www.ocregister.com/2016/09/09/mike-pence-explains-how-ronald-reagan-made-him-a-republican/">2016 speech at the Reagan Library</a>, Pence credited Reagan with inspiring him to “leave the party of my youth and become a Republican like he did.” “His broad-shouldered leadership changed my life,” he said. Pence has frequently <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/08/12-times-mike-pence-praised-donald-trumps-shoulders.html">compared Trump to Reagan</a>, arguing that they have the same “broad shoulders.”</p>
<p>Pence ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1988 and 1990, and the second bruising loss precipitated a third conversion, this time in political style. In a <a href="https://craigfehrman.com/2013/01/06/mike-pences-confessions-of-a-negative-campaigner/">1991 published essay</a> titled “Confessions of a Negative Campaigner,” he described himself as a sinner and wrote of his “conversion” to the belief that “negative campaigning is wrong.” </p>
<p>Between 1992 and 1999, Pence honed his blend of family values and fiscal conservatism in an eponymous conservative talk show.</p>
<p>The show’s popularity provided a springboard to a successful run for Congress in 2000. During his six terms in the House, Pence acquired a reputation for “<a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a5110/10-best-members-congress-text/">unalloyed traditional conservatism</a>” and principled opposition to Republican Party leadership on issues like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/us/politics/trump-vp-mike-pences-record-on-education.html">No Child Left Behind</a> and Medicare prescription drug expansion.</p>
<h2>Religious acts</h2>
<p>In addition to his “<a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2016/07/14/whos-mike-pence-and-why-has-trump-picked-him/">unsullied</a>” reputation as a “culture warrior,” he also attracted attention for following the “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/mike-pence-and-the-sexism-of-the-billy-graham-rule/521328/">Billy Graham Rule</a>” of avoiding meeting with women alone and avoiding events where alcohol was served when his wife was not present. </p>
<p>During the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/04/the-mike-pence-vs-tim-kaine-vice-presidential-debate-transcript-annotated/">2016 vice presidential debate</a>, Pence said that his entire career in public service stems from a commitment to “live out” his religious beliefs, “however imperfectly.”</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377253/original/file-20210105-15-7om8kj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mike Pence meeting Indiana constituents in 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Pence2012/f6c01f6b59f845a8bac443e30110bdee/photo?Query=Michael%20AND%20Pence&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=788&currentItemNo=36">AP Photo/Michael Conroy</a></span>
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<p>One of those beliefs is his opposition to abortion, grounded <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/21/how-bible-helps-pence-navigate-his-role-trumps-vice-president/1044357001/">in his reading of particular biblical passages</a>. As a congressman in 2007, he was the first to sponsor legislation defunding Planned Parenthood, and did so repeatedly until the first defunding bill passed in 2011. “I long for the day when Roe v. Wade is sent to the ash heap of history,” he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/07/15/mike-pence-has-made-no-secret-about-his-views-on-abortion-will-this-help-or-hurt-trump/">said at the time</a>.</p>
<p>In 2016, over the objections of many Republican state representatives, he signed the most restrictive set of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/17/us/politics/mike-pence-conservative-abortion.html">anti-abortion measures</a> in the country into law, making him a conservative hero. Among other things, the bill prevented women from terminating pregnancies for reasons including fetal disability such as Down syndrome. Although opponents succeeded in getting the bill overturned in the courts, Indiana is still seen as <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2019/05/15/abortion-law-map-interactive-roe-v-wade-heartbeat-bills-pro-life-pro-choice-alabama-ohio-georgia/3678225002/">one of the most anti-abortion states in America</a>.</p>
<p>As vice president, Pence also <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/03/30/vice-president-pence-breaking-tie-senate-moves-against-planned-parenthood/99820022/">cast the tie-breaking Senate vote</a> to allow states to withhold federal family planning funds from Planned Parenthood in 2017.</p>
<p>Pence has also been an outspoken opponent of LGBTQ rights. He <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/us/politics/09hate.html">opposed the inclusion of sexual orientation in hate crimes legislation</a> and the end of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. He likewise supported both state and federal constitutional <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2016/01/04/what-we-know-gov-mike-pences-position-gay-rights/78257192/">amendments to ban same-sex marriage</a>, and <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/06/26/hoosiers-reacting-sex-marriage-ruling/29329915/">expressed disappointment</a> at the <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2014/14-556">2015 Obergefell decision</a>, which required all states to recognize such unions.</p>
<p>At the same time he has been a strong supporter of “religious freedom,” particularly for Christians.</p>
<p>In March 2015, as Indiana governor, he signed the state’s <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/04/25/rfra-indiana-why-law-signed-mike-pence-so-controversial/546411002/">Religious Freedom Restoration Act</a> “to ensure that religious liberty is fully protected.” The act ignited a firestorm of nationwide controversy: Critics alleged that it would allow for individuals and businesses to legally discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community. Under pressure from LGBTQ activists, liberals, business owners and moderate Republicans, Pence <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/04/01/indiana-rfra-deal-sets-limited-protections-for-lgbt/70766920/">signed an amendment a week later</a> stipulating that it did not authorize discrimination.</p>
<h2>Staked reputation</h2>
<p>Pence’s religious and political biography mirrors key political and religious shifts over the past 40 years, from <a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-the-legacy-of-jerry-falwell-sr-in-trumps-america-79551">the rise of the religious right</a> and its growing influence in the Republican Party to the <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133">conservative coalition of evangelicals and Catholics</a> across denominational lines, to the legacy of the “outsider” celebrity president.</p>
<p>These threads converge in Mike Pence, whose “24-karat,” “unalloyed” conservative credentials were instrumental in rallying evangelical voters behind Trump in the 2016 election and whose loyalty to Trump seems to have finally broken with the shocking events of Jan. 6 and whose political future is now uncertain.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated on Jan. 7, 2021 to take in recent events in Congress</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148161/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah Whitehead does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As Mike Pence prepares for life after the vice presidency, a scholar of religion looks back at the political and religious conversions that informed the politician’s worldview.Deborah Whitehead, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1497792020-11-15T14:03:45Z2020-11-15T14:03:45ZWhy did Donald Trump do better than expected in the U.S. election?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369131/original/file-20201112-17-32uh8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=89%2C0%2C1907%2C1278&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a Veterans Day wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., on Nov. 11, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What happened in the American presidential election? Most pollsters and pundits predicted a large majority for Joe Biden and the Democrats, but Donald Trump once again defied the polls and had a stronger showing than expected, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/12/us/joe-biden-trump?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage#biden-wins-arizona">even though he suffered a decisive loss</a>. The Democrats also lost seats in the House of Representatives, an unexpected outcome since polls suggested widespread dissatisfaction with the president. </p>
<p>Prior to the election, I identified several groups that made up the 20 to 30 per cent of committed Trump supporters, mostly citizens who feel ignored by government, particularly by Democrats.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-hard-core-trump-supporters-ignore-his-lies-144650">Why hard-core Trump supporters ignore his lies</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>They include many evangelical Christians, people who have lost their jobs, their families and friends, those who depend on the spending of people who have lost their jobs, xenophobes who are angry at countries they believe hurt U.S. industry and at immigrants who they allege threaten the American way of life, and strongly committed supporters of small government and low taxes. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369155/original/file-20201112-17-w2phdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Donald Trump talks to Amy Coney Barrett." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369155/original/file-20201112-17-w2phdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369155/original/file-20201112-17-w2phdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369155/original/file-20201112-17-w2phdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369155/original/file-20201112-17-w2phdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369155/original/file-20201112-17-w2phdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369155/original/file-20201112-17-w2phdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369155/original/file-20201112-17-w2phdf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Trump and Coney Barrett stand on the Blue Room Balcony after she was sworn onto the Supreme Court on Oct. 26, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As he accentuated divisions among Americans, Trump sewed a crazy quilt of these and other divergent groups by treating each of them differently. </p>
<p>He won the support of more evangelicals by pushing the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/law/2020/sep/26/donald-trump-amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court-ruth-bader-ginsburg">speedy approval</a> of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. For xenophobes, he continued to blame COVID-19 on China, and refused to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/30/politics/proud-boys-trump-white-supremacists-debate/index.html">condemn the white supremacist Proud Boys</a> until severely criticized. For those hurt by the shrinking industrial economy, he prioritized the economy over fighting the pandemic.</p>
<h2>Not all about COVID-19</h2>
<p>The election was not fought on one issue. While pre-election polls showed the pandemic to be <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/09/covid-19-shaped-2020-election-amid-split-biden-trump-response/3729201001/">the foremost issue</a> for a majority of Americans, the election revealed that other issues, especially the economy, mattered more. Some of these issues, such as Black Lives Matter and the treatment of immigrant children, worked in favour of the Democrats. But others amplified Trump’s support among the aforementioned groups, and drew in more supporters. </p>
<p>His emphasis on <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2020/09/02/trump-2020-law-order-mantra-nixon/">law and order</a> rather than racial grievances, while only partially successful, appealed to many who yearned for a <a href="https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/177410">return to a “kinder” America</a>. These voters in many cases <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-supporters-california-clinton-fake-news-vote-2020-a9214131.html">claim they are not anti-immigrant or anti-Black</a>, but say they deplore the violence that broke out during some racial protests, much of which was actually caused by reactions of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/16/this-summers-black-lives-matter-protesters-were-overwhelming-peaceful-our-research-finds/">police and actions of counter-protesters</a>, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/3/13/17053886/trump-rural-america-populism-racial-resentment">feared creeping socialism</a> and bigger government with higher taxes to support it. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three women in masks, looking terrified, are on the ground as police carrying assault weapons surround them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369156/original/file-20201112-21-1jfmyiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369156/original/file-20201112-21-1jfmyiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369156/original/file-20201112-21-1jfmyiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369156/original/file-20201112-21-1jfmyiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369156/original/file-20201112-21-1jfmyiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369156/original/file-20201112-21-1jfmyiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369156/original/file-20201112-21-1jfmyiv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Motorists are ordered to the ground from their vehicle by police in May 2020 in Minneapolis, where people protested the slaying of George Floyd by police.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/John Minchillo)</span></span>
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<p>They come from a time and a place in which rural America was overwhelmingly white, and if your neighbour down the street had a problem, you would go help him. One where service clubs, not the government, helped the needy. </p>
<p>This nostalgia for a simpler time resulted in a noticeable rural-urban split in the vote, and maintained <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/05/us-election-demographics-race-gender-age-biden-trump">support among older voters</a>, who should have been worried about uncontrolled COVID-19. </p>
<p>Biden’s talk of massive spending on switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy appealed to the environmentally concerned. For others, Trump’s claim that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-pennsylvania-elections-c28fbf9d921915f3a65c01e6c4cebcf6">Biden would end fracking</a> sounded a warning that the Democrats would continue to ignore the shrinking job market for non-college-educated citizens. Though Pennsylvania was Biden’s home state, Trump <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-2020-election-takeaways-biden-trump-20201107.html">won most rural areas</a>, where considerable fracking takes place. </p>
<p>Trump may promise much more than he delivers, but what he says is much more aligned with what the economically injured want to hear. <a href="https://www.aei.org/op-eds/how-democrats-became-the-party-of-the-upper-middle-class/">The Democrats are seen</a> by this group as having ignored them for years.</p>
<h2>Appearance of authority</h2>
<p>There were other factors at work as well. It has been proven many times that <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/08/why-we-prefer-dominant-leaders-in-uncertain-times">a strong leader</a>, even a demagogue who spouts lies, gives the appearance of authority and of being capable of leading.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369140/original/file-20201112-19-1lezdqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Biden, wearing a mask, waves to photographers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369140/original/file-20201112-19-1lezdqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369140/original/file-20201112-19-1lezdqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369140/original/file-20201112-19-1lezdqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369140/original/file-20201112-19-1lezdqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369140/original/file-20201112-19-1lezdqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369140/original/file-20201112-19-1lezdqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369140/original/file-20201112-19-1lezdqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">President-elect Biden waves as he leaves The Queen theatre in Wilmington, Del., on Nov. 10.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Joe Biden’s measured prose and calls for calm were clearly appealing to many who were tired of Trump’s rants, but possibly left others feeling that he was weak and ineffectual. Trump’s constant references to “<a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/final-2020-debate-trump-calling-biden-senile-dementia-sleepy-joe.html">Sleepy Joe</a>” were designed to emphasize this.</p>
<p>Pollsters were surprised at how much <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/28/928359082/many-latino-men-are-supporting-president-trump-in-tuesdays-vote">support Trump won among Latino males</a>, a group that he has denigrated for the last four years, but the <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/11/06/trump-support-black-latino-men-rappers/">strong male is venerated</a> in Latin American culture. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/28/928359082/many-latino-men-are-supporting-president-trump-in-tuesdays-vote">Many Latinos</a> are also deeply religious and proponents of law and order.</p>
<p>One group that provided far more votes to Trump than pollsters expected was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/23/opinion/sunday/gender-gap-2020-election.html">college-educated white males</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369142/original/file-20201112-21-1i2pfce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A smiling man wearing a Make America Great Again cap." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369142/original/file-20201112-21-1i2pfce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369142/original/file-20201112-21-1i2pfce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369142/original/file-20201112-21-1i2pfce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369142/original/file-20201112-21-1i2pfce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369142/original/file-20201112-21-1i2pfce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369142/original/file-20201112-21-1i2pfce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369142/original/file-20201112-21-1i2pfce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">William Chowning of Virginia voted for Trump, saying: ‘I like everything he’s done. I think he’s a great leader. I think he’s very intelligent, high energy. I agree with his agenda.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Hank Kurz)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One assumes anyone with an education would be able to see through the president’s lies and dislike his appeals to prejudice. But if you believe <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/23/opinion/sunday/gender-gap-2020-election.html">business drives the country</a>, and that the Democrats will spend big and raise taxes, Trump is your man. </p>
<p>If you also believe, as Trump claims, that the pandemic is <a href="https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/lifestyles/health/why-americans-arent-more-afraid-of-covid-and-why-that-should-worry-canadians-517848/">not that much of a threat</a> to the nation, but the Black Lives Matter protests are, he would be the logical choice for your vote.</p>
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<h2>The media’s influence</h2>
<p>Social media and Fox News were other big factors that influenced the vote. Those who sought information about the issues from either of these sources, and many did, could get a highly skewed version of the truth. </p>
<p>In most cases, this would be more in line with Trump’s version of reality than what reality really was. This served to amplify his appeal to the various groups of aforementioned voters. It even won him the support of believers in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/technology/qanon-election-trump.html">QAnon conspiracy theory</a>, which was born on social media.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/facebook-youtube-moves-against-qanon-are-only-a-first-step-in-the-battle-against-dangerous-conspiracy-theories-147883">Facebook, YouTube moves against QAnon are only a first step in the battle against dangerous conspiracy theories</a>
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<p>Certainly there were committed Republican voters who supported Trump, some possibly <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/why-people-who-hate-trump-stick-him/616758/">holding their noses</a> while they voted, but a lot of the credit for the large vote in favour of the sitting president, and perhaps also for the Republican gains in the House, must go to Trump himself. </p>
<p>Sadly, Trump fuelled further divisions within the American population to do it, as he continues to do while refusing to admit he lost to Biden by millions of votes.</p>
<p>Even if the Biden government both takes action against the pandemic, and moves to create jobs for those in the economy who feel ignored for too long, the road to reconciliation will be a bumpy one.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ron Stagg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A look at the forces at work in the 2020 presidential election in which Donald Trump defied pollsters again even though he lost to Joe Biden.Ron Stagg, Professor of History, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.