NPR

2017 Has Been A Rough Year For Evangelicals

Self-described "evangelical" Christians helped elect President Trump in 2016. But this year, the label lost coherence. Some evangelicals reconsidered what it stood for, while others disowned the term.

As 2017 ends, evangelical Christians in the United States are suffering one of their periodic identity crises. Unlike other religious groups, the evangelical movement comprises a variety of perspectives and tendencies and is therefore especially prone to splintering and disagreement.

The latest challenge to evangelical unity arises from the extent to which a large majority of self-identified "evangelical" voters have aligned themselves with such politicians as Donald Trump and Judge Roy Moore, both of whom have a record of stoking cultural resentments rather than building community. To some evangelicals, a pattern of narcissism, lies, misogyny, and vilifying immigrants and refugees disgraces their religious tradition.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR2 min read
New Banksy Mural In North London Puts A Little Greenery In A Dense Neighborhood
Banksy posted before-and-after photos on Instagram of the artwork, which provides a burst of green foliage to a denuded, severely pruned tree in Islington North.
NPR2 min read
NASA Astronaut Tom Stafford, Famed For U.S.-Soviet Orbital Handshake, Has Died At 93
Tom Stafford commanded the first Apollo mission to dock with a Soviet craft in space. He also served as commander of Apollo 10 - the dress rehearsal before NASA's first landing on the moon in 1969.
NPR4 min read
Photographer David Johnson, Who Chronicled San Francisco's Black Culture, Dies At 97
Johnson studied with Ansel Adams in the 1940s and became known as one of the foremost photographers of San Francisco's Black urban culture.

Related Books & Audiobooks