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Evangelicals in Power: A Beliefnet Roundtable
When people say "America is being run by evangelical Christians," they usually mean that it only feels that way. But with George W. Bush in the White House, James Dobson on the airwaves, and evangelical books filling the best-seller lists, evangelicals have rarely been as prominent as they are today. And as a major new study by sociologist Michael Lindsay reveals, evangelical Christians now hold seats of influence in American government, business, culture, and higher education. This month, Beliefnet invited Lindsay, journalists Hanna Rosin and Jeff Sharlet, evangelical author Jerry Jenkins, and former Bush aide David Kuo to discuss American evangelicals and their rise to power.
To read from the beginning, scroll to the bottom of the page.
Tuesday October 30, 2007
Counterculture for the Common Good (D. Michael Lindsay)
I’ll begin by (again!) agreeing with Jeff: It’s good for democracy when a group of citizens become politically engaged. Debates are more robust, candidates have sharper visions, and civic participation rises. All of us agree that evangelicals now have power. But their legacy is still up for grabs. What does the future hold?
Power is still relatively new to evangelicals, and as people of the Book, they are in a tough spot when they want guidance.
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Friday October 26, 2007
The Wrong Perception (Jerry Jenkins)
I find it depressing, though I suppose inevitable, that Evangelicals are all painted with the same brush. I hope we are not guilty of the same generalized thinking as we engage the culture. Yes, we extend across a wide philosophical spectrum from the Jim Wallises and Tony Campolos to the James Dobsons and Gary Bauers, but where we land on the political landscape should not be how we are judged.
The New Testament makes clear that we should be known for our love for one another. It seems to me that the more political we get, the less loving we appear.
posted by Nicole Symmonds @11:16am Permalink Email This Add to:
Thursday October 25, 2007
Evangelicals Should Think More Deeply (Jeff Sharlet)
I'm glad to have Hannah's unvarnished account of the Value Voters Summit; though I think she's being unfair to the Politburo, an institution that was at least mercifully corrupt: Everyone had to toe the line publicly, but privately nearly everyone knew better.
I didn't make it to the Value Voters Summit. Instead I went back to my hometown in upstate New York to speak at a Methodist church. A splendid group of people, drawn from other churches in the area as well, smart, informed, critical thinkers. Not all of them liberal, either; but all of them engaged with their faith as more than a done deal. Here's the sad part: a young man in the front row taking notes on a laptop set off alarms with the pastor. What's wrong with notes? Well, this church has been targeted by the Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD), which is bent on conforming mainline denominations to the political program of conservative evangelicals -- or else. IRD has sent monitors to this church before. Fortunately, this guy turned out to be a reporter. But even having to worry about it was an ugly experience.
posted by Nicole Symmonds @11:49am Permalink Email This Add to:
Wednesday October 24, 2007
Evangelicals Have a Long Way to Go (Hanna Rosin)
Ok, I want to inject a little reality check into this conversation. So far we seem to agree on three things that should happen to make us less queasy about evangelicals in high places:
1. Powerful evangelicals stop the servant talk and acknowledge that they want power, and have it, and have to figure out what to do with it.
2. They stop their reflexive support of the Republican party platform.
3. They focus more on soup kitchens and less on transforming the culture.
Here is why I think we have a long way to go.
posted by Patton Dodd @ 5:34pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Tuesday October 23, 2007
The Largest Group of Evangelicals (David Kuo)
The problem with evangelicals today is that so many have lost confidence in Jesus. I think that explains the problems that all of us have with them today.
Consider this from Michael:
"What unites evangelicals is that they believe something is wrong with American culture and that they can help set it aright. 'Cultural redemption' is a phrase I heard from a lot of the people I interviewed."
Note that he didn't say what unites evangelicals today is their belief that the Gospel of Jesus is so life-transforming, so utterly staggering, that to put that Gospel into action through sacrificially loving their neighbor would be change the world.
posted by Patton Dodd @ 5:12pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Monday October 22, 2007
Powerful Faith (Michael Lindsay)
Jeff rightly calls evangelicals on the carpet for hiding their quest for worldly power behind the mask of “servant leadership.” It’s not Jerry’s notion of servanthood, of course, that Jeff disagrees with. Helping the poor and hungry are certainly worthwhile. David asked what I think is “the most under-reported but promising parts of evangelicalism today (in terms of living up to Jesus' Gospel).” One thing I can point to is a number of corporate executives who are choosing to forgo the kind of opulent lifestyle we’re used to seeing and are instead using their money to do good works, making a difference in people’s lives. It’s not a revolution, but it’s not nothing.
posted by Patton Dodd @10:43am Permalink Email This Add to:
Friday October 19, 2007
The True Followers of Christ (Jerry Jenkins)
David asks me, "Jerry - How do we begin to change that perception? You give tremendous examples of evangelicals who are serving and loving - how do we get more and more Christians to do that? Christians, for instance, like me?"
David, you must realize those are two loaded and very different questions. There is no changing the perception. I say that the true Evangelical leaders are servants, and Jeff says beware of and frankly disbelieve leaders who claim to be servants. (My point, of course, was that it isn't the political leaders who are true leaders but rather the sincere servants -- those who don't claim anything.)
posted by Patton Dodd @11:46am Permalink Email This Add to:
Friday October 19, 2007
Evangelicals Want Power, and They Have it (Jeff Sharlet)
I can't help but admire David's determination to make "evangelical" something other than a political term. David wants to be part of a real movement, one for which politics is no more than one front among many. The good news for David is that he is -- contemporary American evangelicalism is probably changing more lives at very intimate levels than it is through public policy. But then, politics, in the broad sense, is about more than policy, more than Washington -- more, even, than elections. Modern evangelicalism is a cultural politics.
posted by Patton Dodd @10:19am Permalink Email This Add to:
Friday October 19, 2007
Are Evangelicals Moving Forward or Backward? (Hanna Rosin)
Part of me feels like I should just step aside and let Jeff and Michael duke this one out, because I'm really interested in this question of the cosmopolitans and the populists, and who counts as which, and who is more prominent, and who is new. When I was researching the history of Christian conservatives' involvement in politics, I sort of lost the thread around the early eighties. Before that it was relatively clear. If you loved Billy Graham and Christianity Today you were an evangelical. If not, you were sticking with the fundamentalists.
posted by Patton Dodd @10:03am Permalink Email This Add to:
Thursday October 18, 2007
Questions for Hanna, Jeff, Jerry, and Michael (David Kuo)
First, greetings to everyone. I'm excited to be part of this.
Let me start with something upon which everyone might agree. No matter how some of us wish that evangelicals are currently defined and no matter how much we might embrace or reject evangelical tenets, the word 'evangelical' has become primarily a political term.
Whether Hanna is writing about evangelical culture or Jeff is writing about their political goals or Jerry is writing about what evangelicals should be or Michael is writing about how evangelicals are perceived, the reality is that our common definition is largely a political definition. Evangelicals are not defined by their theology in early 21st Century America.
posted by Patton Dodd @ 1:41pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Wednesday October 17, 2007
Evangelicalism is More and Less Than You Think (Michael Lindsay)
Hey, everybody! It’s great to have the chance to interact with a group that has thought so much about the ascent of American evangelicals.
After interviewing several hundred elite evangelicals, I’ve concluded that the evangelical movement is a lot more than we generally think—and also a lot less.
posted by Patton Dodd @ 6:08pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Tuesday October 16, 2007
True Evangelical Leaders Are Servants (Jerry Jenkins)
Greetings, all. I'm honored to be invited to interact with thinkers far above my academic pay grade (read GPA).
Before I speak to Hanna's cogent comments re Hollywood, let me say that I have long been uneasy about Evangelicals in positions of political power, largely because I see this as antithetical to the very teachings of Jesus. He was a preacher of paradoxical truth. If you want to be rich, give your money away. Respond to anger with kindness. Love your enemies. Do good to those who spitefully use you. Want to be exalted? Humble yourself? Want to be a leader? Become a servant of all.
These leaders, I believe, will be judged on their servanthood.
posted by Patton Dodd @ 6:56pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Tuesday October 16, 2007
The Evangelicalization of Secular America (Jeff Sharlet)
Since I'm going to disagree with Hanna, I'll start with some good feelings about her new book, God's Harvard, the first real work of narrative nonfiction about Christian fundamentalism and political power. Hanna has gone further than any other writer in exploring this story using the tools of fiction -- character, scene, metaphor -- combined with the rigors of great reporting. And, of course, the insights of a longtime observer of Christian conservative politics.
posted by Patton Dodd @ 6:37pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Monday October 15, 2007
Evangelical Land is Changing (Hanna Rosin)
Hi everyone. I've spoken to most of you but I'm thrilled to have a chance for this slightly more organized discussion. Something is changing out there in evangelical land – politically, sociologically, culturally. Jerry Falwell's death sort of made it official. The old stereotypes no longer fit and we have to come up with some new ones. In gay circles they called this moment: "we're here, we're queer, get over it." Christianity Today put it this way in a 2005 editorial: "We're no longer overlooked, persecuted, discriminated against, and misquoted in the mainstream media. So we've been mainstreamed, now what?"
Now what? There are evangelicals on this virtual panel, and I'll let them say what it means for them. I'll answer from the outside.
posted by Patton Dodd @ 4:05pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Monday October 15, 2007
Elite Evangelicals: Good News or Bad News? (Patton Dodd)
Hi Hanna, Jeff, Jerry, Michael, and David,
Welcome one and all. Each of you has already made significant contributions to the matter at hand—either by fostering it, covering it, or studying it—and I'm glad for the chance to bring your voices together. I'll get things started, then step aside and let you all at it.
Let's begin with a broad observation, and a question:
Evangelical Christians have not grown much in number in this country in recent decades, but they have certainly grown in prominence and influence. As Michael Lindsay's new book "Faith in the Halls of Power" shows, evangelical leaders today are not only visible figures like James Dobson, Rick Warren, or even George W. Bush; they are also professors at leading colleges and universities, managers of Fortune 500 companies, well-networked figures in government offices, and creators of respected art and entertainment. Evangelicals are part of the American elite.
This news should not necessarily be unusual or surprising, though it may be to some, including evangelicals who have long felt themselves to exist in the cultural backwaters of the U.S. But it's worth asking about the short- and long-term effects of these elite evangelicals on American life. Based on what you have observed and experienced, how do you feel about people with evangelical beliefs working at the highest professional, political, and cultural levels? Are powerful evangelicals good news or bad news for America?
I look forward to your responses.
Patton Dodd
posted by Patton Dodd @ 2:23pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Friday October 12, 2007
Bio: David Kuo
David Kuo blogs for Beliefnet at "J-Walking." A former special assistant to President George W. Bush, Kuo chronicled his time at the White House in his book "Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction."
] Kuo is also the author of "dot.bomb: My Days and Nights at an Internet Goliath" and his writing has appeared in the New York Times and Slate, among other publications.
posted by Patton Dodd @ 6:45pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Friday October 12, 2007
Bio: D. Michael Lindsay
D. Michael Lindsay is a sociologist at Rice University who specializes in issues surrounding leadership, religion, and culture. The author of several books, scholarly articles, and research reports, Lindsay most recently completed "Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite," the nation's largest and most comprehensive study of public leaders who are people of faith.
posted by Patton Dodd @ 6:37pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Friday October 12, 2007
Bio: Jerry B. Jenkins
Jerry B. Jenkins is the author of more than 170 books, including the 65,000,000-selling Left Behind series. Riven, Jenkins’ standalone novel, will release in March 2008. Jenkins's writing has appeared in Time, Reader's Digest, Parade, Guideposts, and dozens of Christian periodicals. His non-fiction books include as-told-to biographies with Hank Aaron, Brett Butler, Bill Gaither, Orel Hershiser, Luis Palau, Walter Payton, Nolan Ryan, and Sammy Tippit. Jenkins also assisted Dr. Billy Graham with his memoirs, Just As I Am, also a New York Times bestseller. He also founded Jenkins Entertainment, a film production company, and the Christian Writers Guild, a writing mentoring program.
posted by Patton Dodd @ 6:30pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Friday October 12, 2007
Bio: Jeff Sharlet
Jeff Sharlet is a contributing editor for Harpers and Rolling Stone, and his writing on religion, culture, and politics has appeared in The Dallas Morning News, Nerve, Oxford American, and Salon, among other publications. Sharlet was a founding editor of The Revealer, an online review of religion journalism, and of Killing the Buddha. He is the author of "Killing the Buddha: A Heretic's Bible" and the forthcoming (tentatively titled) "In the Shadow of the Cross: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of America’s Civil Religion."
posted by Patton Dodd @ 6:19pm Permalink Email This Add to:
Friday October 12, 2007
Bio: Hanna Rosin
Hanna Rosin is the author of “God’s Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America.” She has covered religion and politics for the Washington Post. She has also written for the New Yorker, the New Republic, GQ, and the New York Times. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Slate deputy editor David Plotz, and their two children.
posted by Patton Dodd @ 6:02pm Permalink Email This Add to:
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