Local author takes a look at history of Evangelicals
Christian Evangelicals have changed in the last few centuries.
“Things were not always the way they are now,” said Kristin Kobes DuMez, who has garnered critical and international acclaim with her book, “Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation.”
Dumez, a professor of history and gender studies at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, was invited to speak at a Zoom meeting Monday, as part of the Reid Knox Forum, a series created by a group of Alma College faculty and community members to address important issues.
She began with a history of Evangelicals and the country,
noting the belief held by many Evangelicals that America was created as a Christian nation.
In the 1800s, Evangelicals were part of a patriarchal society with distinct gender roles. And men were seen as gentlemen, capable of self restraint, who had a duty to protect women, children and their slaves, she said.
That Victorian view changed at the beginning of the 20th century as a more muscular Christianity that included rugged individualism and militancy took hold.
And it wasn’t just conservative Christians who were “embedded in muscular Christianity but liberal Protestants” as well after World War I, Dumez said.
Following world war II, things “started to fall into place.”
They wanted to reassert their belief and power in their Christian nation. And they did this by way of popular culture- books, radio, and TV shows, she said.
During the Cold War, “they were committed to defending America and defending Christianity.”
But then came the 1960s. The new decade ushered in the civil rights movement, the women’s movement and, importantly, Vietnam.
Unlike both world wars, America wasn’t winning in Vietnam.
“The military wasn’t getting the job done,” Dumez said. “For the evangelicals, it was a huge problem.”
It was believed that somehow they weren’t raising the boys properly and several books were published on how to do just that, she said.
With the end of the Cold War, other Evangelical actions and movements took shape, including the Promise Keepers movement, which were alarming to liberals.
“A tough Christian manhood” was the desired outcome.
Following 9- 11, and the attack on the World Trade Center, the Christian militant masculinity exploded.
“They were condoning torture,” she said.
Evangelicals believed they were losing some of their members and with issues such as gay marriage, they were losing the culture war too.
“There was an increasing sense of urgency,” she said.
By 2016, she said there was “almost panic. Christianity was under siege and needed a protector - a strong man.”
Most Evangelicals knew Donald Trump was not “a virtuous man” and didn’t have family values, she said
But they felt they needed a man who might be reckless, even violent, she said.
So they held their noses and voted for him.
“They felt they had no choice.”
While others may have thought it was a betrayal of their values and hypocritical, “it only was a betrayal of some of their values,” Dumez said.
When it comes to militant Christianity, “Christ has been remade into that image.”
Since her book was published about three months ago, she said she was astonished to receive messages and letters from hundreds of Evangelicals thanking her “for seeing this.”
“There has been a positive reception across the Evangelical world,” she said, noting that not everyone of course, agrees.
The more tender aspects of Christ’s teachings - turn the other cheek, love they neighbor — did not disappear but it was gender based and expected of mothers, for example.
The leaders are masculine, she added.
For most Evangelicals race is invisible. Dumez said. They don’t see any racism and haven’t experienced it.
But when you look at the last 50 years - their heroes are always white for example — “it only makes sense if you’re white.”
Another surprise for Dumez is the international interest in her book.
“The whole world is watching,” she said. “And (America’s political Evangelism) is not making sense to them.”
On the other hand, some countries are experiencing the very same thing.
With international outreach programs, churches in other countries are getting the same message directly from America. And there are reports of some of theworst side effects that have occurred in America- sexual abuse and blaming the women who are abused - showing up in countries like Kenya.
Dumez, with her focus on history, doesn’t know what can be done. She is aware that pastors have told her that they can’t say what they really feel and believe or they would lose their members.
“I don’t think there’s a quick fix,” she said. “It’s really hard to break out of this ideology.”