American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism

"He ventures an argument that I tried to rebut in my book, but is very well presented. He argues that pre-millenarian, catastrophic apocalypticism became the dominant expression of eschatology in America after World War I . He points to World War I as being the experience that not only produced the Lost Generation, but also darkened American Protestantism and moved it in an increasingly pessimistic and fatalistic evangelical direction. I take some issue with that, arguing that it accelerates during this period, but that its origins are earlier. But what Sutton’s book does very well is point out the degrees to which this movement is influential. I think the latest, most recent polls showed that just over one third of all American Christians consider themselves to be evangelicals. There are almost no evangelicals left who are post-millenarian or a-millenarian. They are exclusively pre-millenarian believers. Sutton is trying to sound a little bit of an alarm, because he points out that, starting in the 1970s, and accelerating through the 1980s and 1990s, evangelical Christianity has become increasingly interwoven with the Republican Party and even elements of the Democratic Party. It has become so intertwined in our American political culture that it contributes to a political Manicheanism, where somebody who is of a different political persuasion or holds a different political opinion is not just somebody that you have to argue with, or someone who you think is simply wrong. No—they’ve got to be evil. That’s exactly what has been happening. That’s exactly it. About 35%-36% of American Christians consider themselves to be evangelical. But if you take that group, they are the most heavily politically motivated and involved. 81% of evangelicals voted for Trump and that number went up in 2020, I think to 84% or 85%. He was viewed as a King Cyrus kind of figure. They know he’s a philanderer, they know he’s probably not really a believer, but it doesn’t matter, because he’s an instrument of God to do these things, like King Cyrus or King David. And, of course, some will say, ‘Who’s to say that something didn’t happen when he put his hand on that Bible on inauguration day that triggered his conversion.’ There are some who argue that. A lot of people were a little bit baffled when the Capitol riot/attempted coup happened, that a bunch of these people built this big cross, were bowing before it and draped it with Trump flags. But then at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conference , there was a golden Trump statue. It shows Trump wearing his trademark blue blazer and red tie, with white shirt, but for some reason, American flag boxer shorts and flip-flops. He was carrying a magic wand in one hand and an American flag in the other. It was not meant as an ironic thing. People kept posing with it. Other people were literally on their knees in front of it. Trumpism is a cult. Sutton’s book explains how evangelicalism has become so hardwired into our American politics that you can’t get elected president if you aren’t a known regular churchgoer. People voted for Biden, and some people held their noses because he’s Catholic. I jokingly tell my students, ‘if any of you are aspiring to public office, start going to church now and make sure everybody knows you go.’ I’m an atheist. And here in Texas, if I were standing for office and were to say I’m a secular humanist, there’s no way I would ever get elected. That’s an odd thing, because in other developed countries religion is not particularly important in forming people’s political opinions. Here it’s deeply important. Sutton is great for highlighting that. “In other developed countries religion is not particularly important in forming people’s political opinions. Here it’s deeply important.” I often point out that most of the leaders of the American Revolution were probably sceptical of a lot of things that are claimed in the Bible; they didn’t think there would literally be giant flying locusts at the end of the world. But they knew that the rhetoric of millennialism was powerful and helped motivate people to support the Revolution. There’s a story that Washington, after the Revolution, but before he was president, would go to his parish church, but both he and his wife, Martha, would leave before communion. The parson caught him one day and just said, ‘General Washington, I don’t think it sets a good example for the rest of the congregation to see a man of your stature getting up and walking out of the church. So I would prefer that you not do that.’ So what Washington did to address the issue was to stop going to church at all! There is some cynical political calculation in political church going, but not always. Jimmy Carter was a person of great faith and someone who probably embodies evangelical values better than anybody else that we’ve seen for some time. Trump doesn’t embody them, but he generally knows the kinds of things that the evangelicals want to hear—that he will appoint judges who will overturn Roe v Wade , or that they are an oppressed minority and others are trying to keep them from saying the word ‘Christmas’ in public and he’s going to fix that."