Lots of chatter about evangelicals these days, mostly portraying them as mischievous imps whose White Nationalist Politics are to blame for all our problems. Somehow they're the one group we're still allowed to hate.
But evangelicals aren't what most people think.
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But evangelicals aren't what most people think.
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About 8/10 white evangelicals voted for Trump, but white evangelicals are only 15% of US population. Cf. 64% white Catholics, 57% white Mainline Protestants, 46% non-white Protestants, 24% Unaffiliateds & 20% non-white Catholics who also voted for Trump.
It took a village guys.
It took a village guys.
And what the heck is evangelicalism anyway? A guy named Bebbington devised a four-part definition that everyone uses, but all definitions come up short. Evangelicalism is one of the most kinetic and amorphous social phenomena on the planet. It's not monolithic by design.
This sprawling, heterogeneous Protestant movement is a constellation of disconnected groups unified by an emphasis on gospel/biblical authority over politics, ecclesiology, and pretty much everything else.
Evangelicalism is fractal Christianity, pared down for ultimate scale.
Evangelicalism is fractal Christianity, pared down for ultimate scale.
The evangelicals/politics debate is ironic because evangelicalism is one of Christianity's most apolitical expressions. It favors (sometimes too much) faith that is decoupled from worldly affairs and focused on the immediacy of one's personal relationship to God through Jesus.
Evangelicals avoid politics as a rule but have strong, simple beliefs that don't easily bend. What they lack in intellectualism they make up for in dynamism and devotion. Their skill at decentralized social activity inevitably (though accidentally) attracts political influence.
The evangelical "ferment factor" is real. Even 10-15% can turn a country upside down. Their zeal is frenetic, iconoclastic, metastatic. Their presence raises, sharpens, transforms public debate. Their essentialism tends to provoke (again accidentally) essentialist reactions.
Most evangelicals (80%) are non-white which makes evangelicalism one of the largest POC movements in the world. Africa and Latin America are exploding. A highly-iterative creed that welcomes the poor and the powerless, evangelicalism easily adapts to any clime and place.
Evangelicals tend to be divided, disorganized, and unstrategic which makes any suggestion of "evangelical conspiracy" instantly laughable. But because their hive-mind is based on a single text, they inadvertently manage to work toward common ends across many countries at once.
In 1800 there was no such thing as an evangelical. By 2050 evangelicals will occupy a massive slice of global Christendom. Pentecostalism, one of its subsets, didn't exist in 1900. In thirty years it will be the single biggest Christian bloc after the Roman Catholic Church.
Naturally this level of success attracts jealousy and criticism from groups that oppose evangelical values or doctrine. But evangelicals don't much care. They're too busy leading a massive array of religious and humanitarian efforts that are quite literally changing the world.
How could evangelicals vote for Trump? Good question. One explanation may be that they locate ultimate Perfection in the world-to-come which lowers their expectations in the world-right-now. Biblicism may lead to realism, and spiritualism (paradoxically?) to pragmatism.
How can evangelicalism be godly if it operates outside the apostolic church? Perhaps God in his wisdom ordained an unconventional form of Christianity to act as a kind of special operations force, landing on distant shores to clear a path for the regular army. Who knows?
Two things are certain: evangelicals are stunningly diverse and united by a desire to do good. Anyone who attributes ill intentions to them hasn't gotten to know them. Though unsophisticated and underresourced, they are empirically one of mankind's most philanthropic communities.
Analyzing evangelicalism through the lens of American politics is like analyzing Italian food through the lens of American pizza. Fantastic and flawed, maligned and misunderstood, evangelicals make the world a better place.
Thankfully they'll become more influential, not less.
Thankfully they'll become more influential, not less.
