ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the political positions that have progressed through the twentieth century as white evangelicals have faced economic, way of life, and status loss duresses in an increasingly secular and multicultural America, turning to sharper us-them binaries in response. It investigates evangelical voting; hostility to “big government” and support for “small government” tax cuts and industry deregulation; anti-communism; and in some quarters, a bellicose culture featuring a militarized Jesus and “biblical” gender roles of male dominance and female submission that has provided cover for sexual abuses in the church. Each iteration over the last half-century has built on earlier us-them frameworks, both drawing from and honing animus against the traditional “them” of government/elites and “outsiders.” The chapter closes with a look at Trump's appeal in the context of this culture and at the role of white evangelicals in the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol building.
