Presidential politics and the evangelical movement
President Bush has become the most prominent evangelical Christian in America at a time when evangelical Christianity has become the pre-eminent religious bloc in the country. With the presidential campaign heating up, this potent nexis is prompting widespread interest in the culture and beliefs of evangelical Christians and how they intersect with a president’s policies.
Experts say that at least 60 million Americans identify themselves as evangelical or “born-again” Christians in the Protestant tradition, though determining the precise borders of the evangelical world is difficult. Millions more in every denomination describe their faith in classic evangelical terms – as having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through a rebirth experience similar to what Bush has described.
Moreover, evangelicals – namely, the largely suburban and politically conservative white Americans who dominate this category – enjoy an unprecedented level of influence in politics and culture. Many Bush administration officials, members of Congress and elected officials across the country openly identify with the evangelical wing of Christianity, and evangelical products, such as the apocalyptic Left Behind thrillers or The Purpose Driven Life, are huge successes that market an evangelical theology to a mainstream audience.
No other president in American history has been as outspoken about his faith as Bush or as willing to translate those beliefs into public policy positions. During the 2000 campaign, Bush made headlines during a primary debate when he responded to a question about who his favorite political philosopher was with, “Jesus Christ, because he changed my life.”
Bush’s public faith raises many questions: What is the nature of evangelicalism? What is the history of evangelical Christianity in American society and public life? How does this faith affect Bush’s political views and policies?
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Evangelicals and politics today
Why it matters
Evangelical Christianity is a hallmark of Bush’s life, both politically and personally, and this brand of Christianity has certain identifiable characteristics that help to explain his public policies.
In domestic affairs, some experts say that Bush’s philosophy of “compassionate conservatism” and his championing of faith-based programs reflect a Christian view that sees private charity – stemming from personal conviction – as a better answer to poverty issues than government intervention.
In foreign affairs, many experts detect a clear connection between Bush’s faith and his efforts to fight terrorism and promote democracy, especially after the Sept. 11 attacks. After 9/11, “There ensued a marriage of the president’s no-nonsense evangelicalism with the muscular, highly militarized utopianism of the neoconservative (and largely secular) Right,” Boston University political scientists Andrew J. Bacevich and Elizabeth H. Prodromou wrote in the winter edition of the foreign policy journal Orbis.
As Stephen Mansfield, author of The Faith of George W. Bush, wrote in Charisma magazine, “Whatever else George W. Bush is remembered for, his attempt to apply faith to presidential leadership will form a major part of his legacy. It is important for people to understand his faith, then, and to do so before the next election.”
Questions for reporters
• Where does George W. Bush stand on the spectrum of evangelical social and political attitudes?
• How do his professed beliefs fit in with standard evangelical theology?
* How do Bush’s beliefs inform his foreign policy?
• How do they inform his domestic policy – on tax cuts, faith-based programs and such?
• Is Bush guaranteed to win the evangelical vote? What could drive those voters away?
• How does Bush’s faith compare with that of other U.S. presidents?
• Will John Kerry’s Catholicism matter one way or another to evangelicals?
George W. Bush, 57, was raised Episcopalian in Connecticut in a prominent, wealthy family with a history of activism in the Republican Party. He was an altar boy and as a young adult taught Sunday school. Then, like many other young adults, he fell away from active practice.
His journey from there mirrors many of the religious and demographic trends of the past generation. At age 30, Bush moved south to Texas to work in the oil business. By his own account, he lived a hard-drinking life until he underwent a conversion experience in the mid-1980s and rededicated himself to Christianity. He credits a Bible study group in Texas and a beach walk at the Bush compound in Maine with Billy Graham, the evangelical “pastor to the presidents,” for helping to redirect his life. “I am … a lowly sinner who sought redemption and found it,” he told USA Today in January 2002. “That doesn’t make me better than anybody, it just adds perspective, I hope. I think people are going to find that in tough times … they’re going to see a steady hand because the rock on which I stand is something other than the moment, the emotion of the day. Faith can be a steadying influence.”
Although Bush regularly attended a Presbyterian church in Midland, Texas, and later was a member of Highland Park United Methodist Church near Dallas, he does not openly identify with any particular denomination. He is said to prefer small prayer groups with like-minded believers. That reflects the growing preferences of American believers across the spectrum who shun institutional religion and embrace a more fluid, personalized spiritual life.
Bush rarely attends formal church services, preferring the military-led services in the chapel at the presidential retreat at Camp David. He said in an interview in Ladies’ Home Journal in October 2003 that he reads the Bible every morning along with devotionals by the Rev. Charles Stanley, the popular senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Atlanta and a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Bush told Fox News in April 2003 that he frequently prays in the Oval Office: “I pray all the time.”
According to Bush biographer Stephen Mansfield and other chroniclers of the president’s faith, his beliefs correlate directly to his political career. For example, it was reported that Bush first heard a “call” to run for president during a sermon by the Rev. Mark Craig at Highland Park United Methodist Church. Before Bush announced his candidacy, he invited Texas-based evangelist James Robison to meet with him. Bush reportedly told Robison that he had given his life to Christ and that he believed that God wanted him to be president.
Mansfield reports that Bush also told Robison that he felt “something was going to happen” and that the country would need his leadership in a time of crisis. Many reports indicate that Bush has said he believes that the events of 9/11 show that Providence chose him to lead the country at this time. Experts say that attitude helps explain his religious – and characteristically evangelical – rhetoric in framing the war on terrorism as battle between the forces of good and evil.
Church historians trace the roots of evangelicalism to the colonial period and the First Great Awakening, whose leading figures, such as the famous theologian Jonathan Edwards and the charismatic preacher George Whitefield, set a revivalist tone that would characterize this movement up to the present day.
Long after the Revolution, evangelicalism remained a vital part of the American religious landscape, sparking periodic spiritual “awakenings” and helping to fuel social movements such as abolitionism and the temperance movement, even as mainline Protestantism held sway in society, politics and culture.
In the early 20th century, many white conservative Protestants grew alienated from the wider society and retreated from public life. Part of their alienation was fueled by waves of immigration, largely of Roman Catholics, whom they viewed as practicing a heretical brand of Christianity. That chasm has been bridged in many significant ways in recent years, although differences remain. Observers say that could be an issue as the evangelical Bush squares off against the Catholic Kerry.
In the 1940s and ’50s, the evangelical isolation began to change. Evangelists such as Billy Graham brought evangelicalism back to prominence and found common cause with Christian denominations that most evangelicals had previously shunned. This re-emergence proved to be a decisive break with fundamentalists, who experts stress are very different from most evangelicals.
While there is some overlap, fundamentalists are a much smaller subset of conservative Christianity that remains far more hostile to the wider culture and isolated from their evangelical brethren. Fundamentalists, experts say, reject any accommodation with the prevailing culture and tend to be far stricter in observing proscriptions against behaviors such as dancing or drinking. They also shun ecumenical dialogue and believe that their version of Christianity is the sole way to gain eternal salvation, whereas many evangelicals take a more permissive view of the possibility that other Christians could enter heaven.
In contrast to fundamentalists, mainstream evangelicals embraced culture to promote their religious message. That message is difficult to sum up, but scholars say it is essentially nondenominational Protestantism in the Puritan-Calvinist tradition, as the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society explains.
Evangelicals are non-creedal and focus on a few essentials that are reiterated through emotional services and presentations. They are decidedly non-institutional and non-hierarchical. They rely solely on the authority of Scripture and stress a personal experience of the risen Jesus. They tend to be “exclusivist” theologically, meaning they believe that people can only find eternal salvation by believing in Jesus as God. That accounts for their strong emphasis on seeking conversions through intense missionary activity and their reticence to participate in interfaith dialogue. Evangelicals also tend to be biblical literalists who read the Bible as fact, rather than a mix of history, moral lessons and metaphors. They see the promised return of Jesus in the Book of Revelation as a real-life prophecy and focus intently on converting others before the final Judgment Day, which many believe is imminent.
Experts note that some evangelicals try to downplay the message that salvation is only possible through Jesus for fear of alienating others, prompting sharp debate within the community. They point out that Bush himself once sparked controversy when, as governor of Texas, he implied that Jews may not find eternal life. He has since responded to the issue by saying that God alone knows the fate of each person’s soul.
Evangelicalism is characterized by its adaptability. As evangelicals emerged in the culture in recent years, they also made peace with many mainline denominations. As a result, rather than sealing themselves off religiously, many evangelicals – such as President Bush – often worship within traditional denominations. Some are working to make those denominations more traditional, while others find a congregation that suits their style and ignore the internal politics of the denomination’s leadership.
An extensive survey, “American Evangelicals,” was released in April 2004 in connection with a May special section by U.S. News & World Report and a four-part series by the PBS program Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. The survey is the best current snapshot of America’s evangelical community. In one key finding, 75 percent of evangelicals believe they fit into mainstream American society, and an equal number believe they have to struggle to have their voices heard. Experts say this dynamic is central to understanding evangelical political and social behavior today.
Scholars say it is also important to note that whites make up about 80 percent of the evangelical community, and they are predominantly social and political conservatives. Many African-Americans and some Hispanics identify as evangelicals, but they remain small subsets – 15 percent and 5 percent, respectively, of the evangelical community, according to the survey “American Evangelicals.” Moreover, while minority and white evangelicals share some socially conservative views and theological outlooks, they are opposites in voting patterns. The “American Evangelicals” poll found that 69 percent of white evangelicals said they consider themselves to be Republicans or lean Republican, while 84 percent of African-American evangelicals called themselves Democrats or lean Democrat.
Evangelicals and politics today
As evangelical Christians moved from the margins of society to its center in the postwar years, experts say they also engaged in politics to an extent that was unprecedented for them. The apocalyptic beliefs of most evangelicals, scholars say, often led them to eschew political and social movements because the imminent return of Jesus made social involvement a moot point. It was widely held that if things got worse in the world, it was a sign that the Second Coming was at hand.
In the ’60s and ’70s, court rulings on school prayer, abortion and civil rights angered many evangelicals and mobilized leaders to become active in politics. Ironically, the first self-described “born-again” Christian president – Georgia Democrat Jimmy Carter, elected in 1976 – proved to be such a disappointment to his more conservative brethren that grass-roots evangelicals were motivated even more.
In the 1970s, the Rev. Jerry Falwell founded the now-defunct Moral Majority, and in the 1980s the Rev. Pat Robertson started the Christian Coalition. Along with a range of other groups, they collectively became known as the “religious right,” a label that many evangelicals today dislike. It was used to sum up the movement’s agenda of social conservatism, usually promoted through the Republican Party.
At first these groups and the people they claimed to represent were dismissed by many political observers. A 1983 Washington Post article famously referred to conservative Christians as “poor, uneducated and easily led.” The reality was much different, and with the ascent of the Republican Party in the 1980s and 1990s, evangelical Christians began to dominate many political debates.
Their growing numbers added to their electoral heft.
Because evangelicalism lacks denominational structures or membership requirements, and because those who identify as evangelicals often have varying definitions of what that label means, it is difficult to count them. A 2003 Gallup Poll found that 42 percent of Americans self-identified as “born-again or evangelical,” up from 36 percent in 1992.
The election of George W. Bush in 2000 was seen as a breakthrough for evangelicals after political setbacks in the late 1990s. But political triumph also brought complications as evangelicals learned to play the game of politics – but also began to make compromises that left some of their rank and file disillusioned. In fact, while evangelicals tend to be socially and politically conservative, scholars say it is important to remember that there are many fault lines within this group on a range of issues. Those divisions have sometimes affected Bush, who has upset some evangelicals by appointing homosexuals to federal jobs and by saying (at a news conference in November 2003 with British Prime Minister Tony Blair) that he believes Christians, Jews and Muslims all “worship the same God.”
Experts say that Bush is both a leader in the evangelical emergence and a product of its growing presence in public life. But they say the very success of evangelicalism is testing its limits, and they say that the presidential campaign could intensify debate about whether evangelical Christians – including Bush – have adapted so readily to modern life that American culture is changing them rather than vice versa.
Still, it appears certain that evangelicals will be key to the 2004 election for Bush. The Gallup Poll showed that in 1994, 42 percent of Republicans and 38 percent of Democrats identified as “born-again or evangelical.” In 2003, the gap was up to 10 points, with 49 percent identifying as Republicans and 39 percent as Democrats. And the recent survey “American Evangelicals” showed that nearly seven in 10 white evangelicals are either Republican or lean GOP, while just 23 percent would vote or lean toward the Democrats.
National sources
• Peter Kuzmic is the Distinguished Professor of World Missions & European Studies at Gordon-Conwell Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass. He can comment on a range of issues related to evangelicalism. He is one of 40 evangelical leaders who signed a 2002 letter urging Bush to balance his Middle East policy in favor of Palestinians as well as Israelis. Contact him through Anne Doll, 978-468-7111 ext. 4141, adoll@gcts.edu.
• John Green is a professor of political science and director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio. Green is a leading expert on trends in religion and politics. Contact 330-972-5182, green@uakron.edu.
• Richard Cizik is vice president for government affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals, which includes 43,000 congregations from 50 member denominations, individual congregations from an additional 27 denominations, and 250 parachurch ministries and educational institutions. Contact 202-789-1011, rcizik@nae.net.
• Kimberly Conger is a professor of political science at Iowa State University. She has studied the influence of religious conservatives in state Republican parties, and she presented a paper titled “Evangelicals: Outside the Beltway” at a 2003 seminar at the Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Contact 515-294-3403, conger@iastate.edu.
• James Guth is a professor of political science at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. He has written widely on the emergence of Christian conservatives in the political arena. Contact 864-294-2210, jim.guth@furman.edu.
• Ron Sider is executive director of Evangelicals for Social Action, based in Wynnewood, Pa., which promotes Christian engagement, analysis and understanding of major social, cultural and public policy issues. Contact 610-645-9354, ronsider@esa-online.org.
• Robert Wuthnow is director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University and a frequently cited commentator on the sociology of religion, his specialty. He edited the Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion. Contact 609-258-5545, wuthnow@princeton.edu.
• Mark J. Rozell is chairman of the department of politics at the Catholic University of America in Washington. He presented a paper titled “Evangelicals: Inside the Beltway” at a 2003 seminar at the Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Contact 202-319-6229, rozell@cua.edu.
• Barry G. Hankins is an assistant professor of history and church-state studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is an expert on Christian conservatives and their interaction with American culture. Contact 254-710-4667, Barry_Hankins@baylor.edu.
Background
• Read a fall 2000 Beliefnet interview with Bush in which the candidate talked about his faith and how it affects his policies.
• Read a March 2004 George Will column, “Paradoxes of Public Piety,” posted by MSNBC that discusses two essays in a special edition of The Public Interest relating to Bush’s faith and political life.
• Read a February 2004 article in Christianity Today by church historian Martin Marty on the emergence of evangelicals in American society, titled “At the Crossroads: Evangelicals have become major players in American culture, and that may be their biggest problem.”
• On April 29, 2004, PBS’ Frontline aired a show titled “The Jesus Factor: Understanding the President and His God.”
• Read a March 2003 Weekly Standard analysis titled “Providence and the President” by James W. Ceaser, a professor of politics at the University of Virginia, on how Bush’s faith affects his decision-making.
• Read a Dec. 4, 2003, analysis of Bush’s religious language in an article by Juan Stam, a Costa Rican pastor and theologian, that was translated from the Spanish original and reprinted in The Nation magazine.
• Read a March 2, 2004, Chicago Tribune story, “Bush’s Expressions of Faith Enter War Debate,” (registration required) for a roundup of commentary on his remarks about faith.
• Read an April 4, 2004, Boston Globe article, “Apocalyptic President?” by Alan Jacobs, an evangelical and English professor at Wheaton College. The article tries to clarify some misconceptions about Bush’s faith and situates evangelicalism in a historical context while distinguishing it from fundamentalism.
• Read a synopsis of the March 10, 2003, Newsweek cover story package, “Bush & God.”
• Read an October 2003 Slate story, “Debunking Myths About the Religious Right” by Beliefnet editor Steve Waldman that explores seven “myths” about evangelical voters, claiming they are not as unified a bloc as many assume. Together with University of Akron professor John Green, Waldman explored these splits in a Beliefnet story called “Freestyle Evangelicals: The Surprise Swing Vote.”
• Read a 2004 survey, “American Evangelicals,” conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research of Washington, D.C., for U.S. News & World Report and the PBS program Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. Here are 10 key findings about evangelicals from the survey, as compiled by Religion News Service:
| • Attend religious services more than once a week: 35 percent
• Think only born-again Christians go to heaven: 48 percent • Believe only hope for salvation is through personal faith in Jesus Christ: 84 percent • Believe it is important to spread their faith: 90 percent • Believe Bible is actual word of God: 66 percent • Read religious books, newspapers or magazines weekly: 58 percent • Watch or listen to religious broadcasting weekly: 57 percent • Oppose gay marriage: 83 percent • Believe evangelicals are part of mainstream U.S. society: 75 percent • Believe evangelicals have to fight for voices to be heard by American mainstream: 75 percent |
• Read a July 2003 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey titled “Religion & Politics: Contention and Consensus” that examines the public’s views on Bush’s faith.
• Read a Barna Research poll conducted after the 2000 presidential vote showing that Bush outpolled Al Gore among self-identified “born-again” voters, 57 percent to 42 percent. Some 10 million white born-again voters did vote for Gore.
• A July 2002 ABC News/Beliefnet.com found that 37 percent of Americans described themselves as born-again or evangelical. Read a July 18, 2002, ABC News story.
• Read a Dec. 5, 2002, Associated Baptist Press story about a Barna poll that showed that only 22 percent of non-Christians had a favorable view of evangelical Christians.
• Link to an April 2004 Gallup analysis of recent survey data on evangelicals titled “Born-Agains Wield Political, Economic Influence.” (Subscriber only.)
• Evangelical Protestant congregations make up the largest portion, 58 percent, of new congregations, according to the “Faith Communities Today” study of more than 14,000 congregations released by Hartford Seminary in 2001.
• Read a definition of “evangelicalism” from the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College. The site also parses the differences with “fundamentalists” and provides a good synopsis of the history of evangelicalism up to the present day.
• Evangelical Christian pollster George Barna posts a definition of “born-again” and evangelical Christianity at his web site, along with relevant research.
• The Faith of George W. Bush (J.P. Tarcher, 2004) by Stephen Mansfield is a generally admiring look at Bush’s faith and its impact on his policies. Bush “is among a small number of American presidents to have undergone a profound religious transformation as an adult,” Mansfield writes, adding: “He came to the presidency, then, with the zeal of the newly converted.”
• The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty (Doubleday, 2004) by Peter and Rochelle Schweizer. Peter Schweizer is a fellow at the Hoover Institution and the author of several books, including Reagan’s War. Rochelle Schweizer is a writer and media consultant. In their book the Schweizers quote an unnamed relative on Bush’s view of the war on terrorism: “He doesn’t have a p.c. view of this war. His view of this is that they are trying to kill the Christians. And we the Christians will strike back with more force and more ferocity than they will ever know.”
• The President of Good and Evil: The Ethics of George W. Bush (Dutton Books, 2004) by Peter Singer, a controversial Princeton University ethicist and champion of animal rights, takes a critical look at the ethics of Bush’s decisions in office.
• American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush (Viking Press, 2004). Political analyst and former GOP strategist Kevin Phillips says Bush’s faith is key to understanding his approach to world affairs. He says Bush has a sense of providence about the 9/11 attacks and his role in the aftermath.
Regional sources
• Alan Wolfe is director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass. He is the author of The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith (Free Press, 2003), a study that focuses heavily on the impact of evangelicals on American religious culture. Contact 617-552-1862, wolfe@bc.edu.
• Andrew J. Bacevich is a professor of international relations at Boston University and co-author of the Orbis magazine article “God Is Not Neutral: Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy after 9/11″ (winter 2004). Contact 617-358-0194, bacevich@bu.edu.
• Elizabeth H. Prodromou is the other co-author of the Orbis article and studies international affairs at Boston University. Contact 617-358-1863, ehpk@bu.edu.
• Michael Cromartie heads the Evangelicals in Civic Life program at the Ethics & Public Policy Center in Washington. Contact 202-682-1200, crom@eppc.org.
• Ambassador Robert Seiple is a leader in the largely evangelical movement pressing for religious freedom and founder and head of the Institute for Global Engagement, based at Eastern University in St. David’s, Pa. The IGE’s periodical, the Brandywine Review of Faith & International Affairs, published an article describing evangelicals as the “newest internationalists.” Contact 610-225-5678, rseiple@globalengage.org.
• Jim Wallis is a widely quoted Christian author and commentator and founder of Sojourners magazine, a periodical that tries to promote social change through Christian values. In 1995, Wallis helped found Call to Renewal, a national federation of churches, denominations, and faith-based organizations from across the theological and political spectrum working to overcome poverty. Contact through Sojourners in Washington, D.C., at 202-328-8842, sojourners@sojo.net.
• Randall Balmer is professor of religion in Barnard College at Columbia University in New York. He is the author of several books, including Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey Into the Evangelical Subculture in America (Oxford, 1989). Contact 212-854-3292, rb281@columbia.edu.
• Stephen Chapman is a biblical scholar at Duke Divinity School. He has been critical of Bush’s use of religious rhetoric on behalf of his military policies. Contact 919-660-3408, schapman@div.duke.edu.
• David Aikman is the author of A Man of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of George W. Bush (W Publishing Group, 2004) and founder of Gegrapha, an organization of Christian journalists based in Alexandria, Va. Contact through Diane Bryhn at 703-751-9095.
• Thomas Freiling is the editor of George W. Bush: On God and Country (Allegiance Press, 2004), a collection of Bush’s sayings related to faith. Freiling, a former congressional staffer, is president and CEO of Xulon Press in Fairfax, Va. He has appeared on C-SPAN and other television and radio programs. Contact 703-934-4411.
• Laura R. Olson is political science professor at Clemson University in South Carolina. She is the co-editor of the book Christian Clergy in American Politics (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001). Contact 864-656-1457, laurao@clemson.edu.
• James Davison Hunter is a William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology and Religious studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He has written the book Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation (University of Chicago Press, 1987). Contact 434-924-6524, jdhunter@virginia.edu.
• Susan Pace Hamill is a professor at the University of Alabama Law School specializing in federal corporate tax law. Hamill prompted national headlines when she wrote that the Alabama tax code was the most regressive and harsh on the working poor of any in the country. That led her to write an article, “An Argument for Tax Reform Based on Judeo-Christian Ethics,” which persuaded Alabama’s Republican Gov. Bob Riley, a fellow evangelical, to propose a state constitutional amendment to redress the tax imbalance. The proposal failed in a 2003 vote, but the debate over evangelicalism and social justice remains. Hamill told her story in an April 2004 Sojourners magazine article. Contact 205-348-5931, shamill@law.ua.edu.
• Wilfred M. McClay holds the SunTrust Bank Chair of Excellence in Humanities at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is a widely published author on issues related to religion in America. He is the author of the essay titled “The Soul of a Nation,” printed in the spring 2004 issue of The Public Interest, which is dedicated to the current state of faith in America. Contact 423-755-5202, Bill-McClay@utc.edu or mcclay@mindspring.com.
• Allison Calhoun-Brown is associate professor of political science at Georgia State University. She specializes in religion and politics and African-American politics. Contact 404-651-4836, polacb@panther.gsu.edu.
• Dr. Kenneth J. Collins studies American Christianity at the Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky. He can comment on the evolution of evangelicalism in the United States. Contact 859-858-3581, ext. 2368 or 2213.
• Mark Noll is a Carolyn and Fred McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. He is co-founder of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals and author of American Evangelical Christianity: An Introduction (Blackwell Publishers, 2000). Contact 630-752-5865, Mark.Noll@wheaton.edu.
• Corwin Smidt holds the Paul B. Henry Chair in Christianity and Politics at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., and serves as executive director of the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics. He has written widely on the influence of evangelicals. Contact 616-526-6233, smid@calvin.edu.
• George M. Marsden is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. His areas of expertise include the history of fundamentalism and American religious and intellectual history. His books include Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism (Eerdmans, 1991) and Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism (Oxford, 1980). Contact 574-631-7319, George.M.Marsden.1@nd.edu.
• Joel A. Carpenter is the provost of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. He also is the former Religion Officer for the Pew Charitable Trusts and former director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicalism. He has written numerous articles dealing with the history of fundamentalism and contemporary evangelicalism. Contact 616-957-6102, jcarpent@calvin.edu.
• Clarke E. Cochran is a professor in the department of political science at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He is an expert on religion and politics in America. Contact 806-742-2987, Clarke.Cochran@ttu.edu.
• P. Kent Smith is a professor of missions at the graduate school of theology at Abilene Christian University in Texas, where he teaches a course on culture and evangelism in North America. Contact smith@bible.acu.edu.
• William Martin is a Harry and Hazel Chavanne Professor of Religion and Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He wrote the article “With God on Their Side” for the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (winter/spring 2000), which looked at the impact of religion on American foreign policy. Contact 713-348-3481, wcm@rice.edu.
• Allen D. Hertzke is professor of political science and director of religious studies at the University of Oklahoma. He is co-author of Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001). Contact 405-325-6421, ahertzke@ou.edu.
• Richard J. Mouw is a well-known writer and commentator on evangelical Christianity and is president of the Fuller School of Theology in Pasadena, Calif., a leading evangelical institution. Contact 626-584-5201, rjmouw@fuller.edu.
• J.P Moreland is a philosophy professor at the evangelical Talbot School of Theology of Biola University in La Mirada, Calif. Contact 562-944-0351 ext. 5550, jp.moreland@biola.edu.
• Telford Work is assistant professor of theology at Westmont College, Santa Barbara, Calif. He has written frequently on evangelicals, including a February 2004 article in Christianity Today, and he maintains a personal web site. Contact 805-565-6199, work@westmont.edu.
• Chris Soper is a professor of political science at Pepperdine University in California and the author of Evangelical Christianity in the United States and Great Britain: Religious Beliefs, Political Choices (Macmillan and New York University Presses, 1994). Contact 310-506-4792, csoper@pepperdine.edu.
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Dear Editor I am a resident of Midland, Texas. That does not have much influence except I come to understand what the professors are talking about in reference to Politics and the Evangelical Movement.
I personally want my morality to be a reflection of my ethics. Yet, the overt mention of Christianity in a Political setting presents problems for me. The Lord gave me good sense and I think he expects me to do as good a job as I can with what he has given me. I do not have to push Christianity in a Poltical Setting.
I am good Citizen because I am a Christian. I am not a Christian who has to be a “Citizen” of leadership in this world. This approach has very little appeal to those in the city I abide in.
Thank you for your efforts in a difficult area!