About this episode

The episode explores the evolution of evangelical Christianity and its political implications from the 1730s to the present day.

Ever since the birth of evangelical Christianity in the 1730s, believers have disagreed over whether to dedicate themselves to changing society as well as converting individuals. For most of that time, the most activist American Protestants were politically progressive but that all changed in the 1970s thanks to two activist entrepreneurs: Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Falwell and Robertson turned televangelism, or the “electric church”, into a lucrative industry, producing celebrity preachers like Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. They also had unprecedented political ambitions. Beginning with Falwell’s Moral Majority in 1979 and expanding with Robertson’s Christian Coalition in the 1990s, their crusade sought to put social conservatism at the heart of the Republican Party and wage a culture war against so-called “secular humanism”. What Darwinism was to the original fundamentalists of the 1920s, abortion and homosexuality were to the new religious right. Evangelicals gave Republicans their votes in return for policies but this quid pro quo was complicated by broken promises, overreach and scandal. The movement and the party developed a symbiotic relationship that proved mutually…

Topics covered

• evangelical Christianity
• political activism
• televangelism
• social conservatism
• Republican Party
• cultural influence
• youth engagement

Keywords

• evangelicals
• Jerry Falwell
• Pat Robertson
• televangelism
• Moral Majority
• Christian Coalition
• Donald Trump
• culture war
• social conservatism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Moral Majority, Christian Coalition, Republican Party, evangelical Christianity

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