Evangelicalism draws a certain type of individual. They are most often white, middle to upper middle class, conservative, and generally prejudiced against others that do not look like them. They tend toward ideologies of white privilege.

They are more concerned about fiscal issues that effect their pocket book over issues that impact people outside their circle. They are more likely to be anti-abortion, pro 2nd Amendment,and anti-immigration for a start. In my experience, Evangelicals are the one Christian sect that is the least "Christ-like" of all the Christian sects.

Evangelicals came into the light under Ronald Reagan with Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority, which was neither moral in their political stances, nor a majority. Rather a very loud and in your face minority.

Evangelicals DO definitely know the politics of their church leaders. That is one of the drawing attractions of the sect. Falwell made the Evsngelical a political instrument and remains so still under his don.

By saying that Evangelicalism is just a church that people happens to attend is a bit naive. It ignores the role church differences, just within the Christian world has forged politics throughout history.

#WIlliamFleming

Heres an article that you might like thst reinforces your opinion and argues against mine.

Religion and political civility: The coming generation of American evangelicals
James Davison Hunter
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 364-380, 1984

[scholar.google.com]

Here's one that supports some if my argument:

Journal for the Scientific Study of ReligionVolume 40, Issue 4
Tolerant (In)civility? A Longitudinal Analysis of White Conservative Protestants’ Willingness to Grant Civil Liberties
Sam Reimer Jerry Z. Park
First published:17 December 2002
[doi.org]

Both can be found if you go to Google Scholar and do a key word search for American Evangelicals Political. They are available on JSTOR as a pdf.

Both are undertaken by religious scholars and religious institutions. Seem to be good research, albeit the affiliation may predispose toward a desired outcome for either. Happy reading.

@t1nick Jerry Falwell does not represent the millions of Americans who belong to Protestant Churches. You are over-generalizing and stereotyping horribly. The typical person who is a Baptist, Methodist, etc. was BORN into that tradition. Only half of them attend services, but if you ask them what their religion is, they’ll name the church of their family.

Many church members do NOT know the political opinions of the leaders, and members of all churches overwhelmingly think that politics has no place in religion. The exception is among Blacks.

[pewresearch.org]

Because of historical reasons, most churches in my area are Protestant, and that has little to do with prevailing political opinions. A lot of those political opinions are driven by reaction to the campaign of hate and misinformation typified by this article that you are naively touting.

I keep asking this question that no one ever answers: How do you account for the evangelicalism of Methodist Hillary Clinton, who even aspires to become a preacher?

@t1nick I’ll check those out. Thanks.

@t1nick According to this, 60% of White Catholics voted for Trump:

[pewresearch.org]

Where are all the articles that demonize and dehumanize Catholics? There aren’t any because the parents and grandparents of masses of Democrats are Catholics.

One should always pick a less powerful enemy for scapegoating purposes. Those awful “evangelicals” with their southern association make perfect targets.

I am not an evangelical, but my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc. etc. were, and it is truly hurtful to see those intelligent and loving people demonized.

@WilliamFleming

The evangelicals of your grandparents are different than the Megachurch Evangelicals that support Trump. I grew up Presbyterian but do not consider that I was an Evangelical.

Falwell made Evangelicalism a political movement to the far right and brought into the mainstream. It is now a fundamentalist movement with lots of political clout, especially with this Administration. White Evangelicalism has moved away from what was prior to 1983.

@WilliamFleming

There are plenty of article about the catholic church and its followers but we werent talking about Catholics here. That's a topic for another discussion. I can almost guarantee you there is more written about Catholics than Evangelicals

@t1nick When people say “evangelical” they are not talking just about mega churches. They mean Baptists, Methodists, etc. If the article had been about mega churches that would have been stated. It was clearly about churches that can be somehow connected with the South so that the racism card can be played. I’ve never seen where Catholics as a group were accused of racism. Of course as a group they are NOT racist, and neither are evangelicals. There is racism in the South but more other places.

[worldpopulationreview.com]

I am waiting patiently for your explanation of how you can be rabidly anti-evangelical and still support Hillary. I assume you voted for her.

@t1nick
From the article:

“Evangelicals, in religious terminology, believe that Jesus Christ is the savior of humanity. They have a long history in America, and include a number of different groups, including Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists and nondenominational churches. After the schism among the Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians in the 1850s over slavery, conservative denominations like the Southern Baptists — who defended slavery through their readings of scripture — came into being.“

The article is way, way off, associating churches in the South with the KKK and with lynchings, etc., and they claim that those churches are racist to this day. Note, it’s not about mega churches.

I am so sick of reading garbage like this that demonizes my friends and family and my ancestors. It’s highly exaggerated and inflammatory. Oh, what to do, what to do? I could just not look at it but I’d still know that it’s there, spreading lies and discord. I know because I grew up in a Baptist Church.

Any ideas?

@WilliamFleming

Because something is distasteful or seemingly contrary doesnt make it entirely false. Your experience in your area may have been much more benign and friendly. Diesnt mean that was true everywhere. There's ample proof of that if one were to search.

When I worked in the South they didnt know what to call me. I was from the West, not the North. I think finally decided on Yank, lol. Anyway, therevis a lot of history that has never been reckoned with directly. Some deals with the influence of the church in the bible belt, some with deep seated racism, some just with culture. Given how this President has allowed it to rise to the surface, even encouraged it, there a backlash coming. Part of that backlash is to potentially deal with aspects of our historical background that have been swept under the carpet for a Century and a half. Some will painful, some will be aggravating, nay infuriating, but in the end hopefully it will be a better Union for everybody.

It will come to the west as well. Native Americans are not going to remain quiet long. The West has it's own sins to atone for. Between mining, farming, cattle ranching and general land grabbing, we have a lot to atone for. The sooner the better IMO.

This country was built on white Imperial privilege. Demographics are changing. It's time for whites to get over ourselves and find our spot within the burgeoning masses. But not on tip, but alongside.