海角大神

For political pollsters and journalists, the term 鈥渨hite Evangelical Protestant鈥� has been one of most handy demographic labels out there.

White Americans who say that they are 鈥渂orn again鈥� or who self-identify as 鈥渆vangelical 海角大神鈥� have for decades voted consistently and overwhelmingly Republican. As a group, too, they reveal some of the most crystal-clear political positions of any subgroup out there. Making up around 25 percent of the population, white Evangelicals are the most worried about the threats posed by immigrants, . They are the most suspicious of Islam, . They are the most resistant to same-sex marriage, .

Which makes it very 鈥渦seful as a category of analysis in sociology and political science,鈥� notes John Schmalzbauer, a professor of religious studies at Missouri State University in Springfield. 鈥淭he fact that 81 percent of people in a religious category voted for a single candidate suggests that it is a helpful way of mapping social reality,鈥� he says about the overwhelming support white Evangelicals gave and continue to give to President Trump.

Yet even as the disruptive forces that helped propel Mr. Trump to the presidency continue to reshape American politics, a growing number of Evangelicals themselves contend the term has been both distorted and corrupted during the Trump era 鈥� a marker of politics rather than a belief system within the 海角大神 faith.

Lately, a number of high-profile Evangelical leaders, such as and Peter Wehner, have been or even . Younger Evangelicals are starting to disavow the label. And after 8 of 10 white Evangelicals in Alabama nearly sent former state chief justice Roy Moore to the US Senate earlier this month, despite charges of sexual misconduct involving teenagers, some Evangelicals have been wondering whether the now politically-charged term has become to even have a future.

鈥淭he biggest issue about the word 鈥榚vangelical鈥� is whether it should be a political identification for an ethno-religious group, or whether, if you look at it from a worldwide or historical perspective, you see that evangelicalism has hundreds of different kinds of expressions,鈥� says George Marsden, emeritus professor of history at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, and a leading scholar of evangelicalism.

鈥淎s a religious designation, it鈥檚 become very confusing here in America to use the term evangelical,鈥� he continues. 鈥淓very time you do, you have to clarify, well, you don鈥檛 mean just white Evangelicals of a particular sort.鈥�

Indeed, as Professor Marsden and other evangelical scholars point out, historical evangelical beliefs span a much wider range of ethnic groups and include those within a number of very different cultural traditions. From staid Calvinists to rollicking suburban megachurches to old-time Baptists in Appalachia, evangelicalism can describe a kaleidoscope of styles and themes. It also describes the faith of most black and Hispanic Protestants, groups who vote Democratic, and who usually don鈥檛 emphasize the term. As a movement, evangelicalism is also in developing regions around the world.

For many scholars, the term 鈥榚vangelical鈥� simply describes a set of traditionalist 海角大神 beliefs, not a political movement per se. Citing a standard set of four core beliefs, described by the scholar David Bebbington in the 1980s, they note that Evangelicals have always claimed the primacy of the authority of the Bible 鈥� in contrast to mainline Protestants, who say some parts are obsolete, or to Catholics, who maintain the equal authority of tradition and the church鈥檚 magisterium of bishops.

Evangelicals are also characterized by their emphasis on salvation through the death and literal resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the need for a personal conversion experience. This experience, then, should be shared with others for the purpose of evangelism, as well as various forms of social engagement and help for the poor.

鈥淏eing evangelical doesn't entail or imply any particular political position,鈥� says Marsden. Rather, evangelicalism is a religious stance on certain doctrinal issues, which could have any number of political implications, depending on the context.

A religious or cultural label?

For some 海角大神 conservatives, the political behavior described by journalists and political pollsters misses the essence of true, church-going evangelicalism. As Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation鈥檚 largest evangelical Protestant denomination, 鈥淪ecular people have for a long time misunderstood the meaning of 鈥榚vangelical,鈥� seeing us almost exclusively in terms of election-year voting blocs or our most buffoonish television personalities鈥� 鈥� including many of those who comprise Trump鈥檚 .

鈥淧art of the problem with the political identity of evangelicals is that typically the questions that pollsters ask are, 鈥楢re you a born-again or evangelical 海角大神?鈥� 鈥� says Marsden, 鈥渁nd you have all sorts of people who say, 鈥業 guess so.鈥� 鈥�

鈥淭hat makes it seem that groups of Evangelicals are bigger than they actually are,鈥� says Marsden. 鈥淎nd it also invites all sorts of people who aren鈥檛 very deeply religious to say that they are in this cultural group.鈥�

With a more ethnically diverse and theologically-focused definition of evangelicalism, the movement may not seem so politically uniform, scholars suggest.

鈥淭he crisis over the 鈥榚vangelical鈥� label is a crisis for the 20 percent of white Evangelicals who did not vote for Donald J. Trump, as well as the lion鈥檚 share of nonwhite Evangelicals,鈥� says Professor Schmalzbauer. 鈥淲hite Evangelicals who sympathize with Trump鈥檚 rhetorical defense of white 海角大神 America and his religious nationalism are not worried about the future of the evangelical brand.鈥�

鈥淭he soul searching and agonizing is among moderate to progressive Evangelicals, Latino and Asian-American Evangelicals, and evangelical scholars 鈥� especially those who do not 鈥榩ray Republican鈥� or who reject the Trump takeover of the Republican Party,鈥� he continues.

Impact of cultural anxieties and threats to power

Even so, a number of other thinkers reject the move to limit the definition of evangelicalism to faithful churchgoers or an exclusive focus on doctrine and beliefs.

Cultural change and perceived threats to political power, in fact, have long defined the anxieties of many white evangelical Protestants. After the Scopes 鈥渕onkey鈥� trial in the 1920s, many Evangelicals began a withdrawal from the country鈥檚 political and intellectual life as 鈥渕odernist鈥� ideas and Darwinian science became cultural norms 鈥� leading to the emergence of a separatist fundamentalism.

鈥淚n the 1920s, 鈥榬espectable Evangelicals鈥� were distancing themselves from the fundamentalists,鈥� says Tim Gloege, author of 鈥淕uaranteed Pure: The Moody Bible Institute, Business, and the Making of Modern Evangelicalism.鈥�

A similar dynamic occurred in the 1950s, he says, when a group of 鈥渘eo-Evangelicals,鈥� including figures like the theologian Carl F.H. Henry and the evangelist Billy Graham again tried to distance themselves from their fundamentalist peers.

But both movements converged in the 1960s when it came to politics. Historians such as Dartmouth鈥檚 Randall Balmer, also a leading scholar of American evangelicalism, point out that the rise of the religious right, especially in the South, was and the rise of the private 海角大神 academy.

And since emerging as a particular political force with the election of Ronald Reagan, who many still revere as a virtual saint in American presidential history, white Evangelicals have also for decades voted consistently and overwhelmingly Republican, using terms such as the 鈥渕oral majority鈥� with a particular 鈥渇ocus on the family,鈥� even as many became aggressively active in various culture wars over abortion, prayer in public schools, and vouchers for private school choice.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to talk about modern, 20th-century American evangelicalism without putting race at the center,鈥� says Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a professor of history at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. 鈥淎nd so it鈥檚 not just a pure doctrinal matter.鈥澛�

If people identify as being born again or as an evangelical, this means something to them, she says. And in addition to faithful church attendance, there鈥檚 also what she calls a 鈥渃ulture of consumption,鈥� in which popular evangelical media, books, movies, and music, often promoted by the television personalities other evangelicals like Mr. Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention dismiss as buffoons and heretics.

鈥淚 look at the last half century of American evangelicalism, I find as a defining feature the desire to claim cultural power,鈥� says Professor Du Mez. 鈥淎nd along with that comes a 海角大神 nationalism.鈥�

It鈥檚 a political emphasis that has driven scholars like Bill Svelmoe, of the history department at St. Mary鈥檚 College in Indiana and a former Evangelical and Republican, to reject both identities.

鈥淚f you don鈥檛 know these eternal truths of evangelicalism, or you commit to other beliefs, it鈥檚 not that you鈥檙e just foolish or mistaken,鈥� he says. 鈥淣o, you鈥檙e wrong, you鈥檙e in error, and this error will likely cost you eternally.鈥�

鈥淚f you move with that approach to the world, and wholeheartedly embrace one side of all political arguments, then what happens is, as you plant your flag over the Republican Party as the party not just with the right ideas about abortion, or even ideas about the economy, it becomes the moral party, God鈥檚 party,鈥� Professor Svelmoe continues. 鈥淎nd now you have to defend everything with a religious fervor. And the folks on the other side are now your enemies, they are on the Devil鈥檚 side.鈥�