Two Paths, One Choice

Photo by Beth Macdonald on Unsplash

For more than two decades I have observed that an increasing number of evangelicals are identifying more with their political party than with their faith or their church. I essayed into this when I wrote Kingdom Conspiracy. I observed a shift in identification among both Democrats and Republicans. In the circles where I was traveling and speaking “kingdom” increasingly meant “social justice along Democrat lines” while “kingdom” was not the language of choice by Republicans. Too bad for Jesus. His language was not working for evangelical Republicans. At the time some thought I cut with too sharp of an edge. The rise of Christian nationalism, documented in writings of Andrew Whitehead, Samuel Perry, Philip Gorski, Richard Hughes, and Christina Littlefield more than prove the point. The edge needs to be sharpened.

Ryan Burge’s social scientific studies of the last five years or so has sharpened the edge for all of his readers. His new book discusses what I was observing: The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us (Baker Academic, 2026). Religious professions and church-going correlate with one’s political party. I do want to remind us that mainline Christianity in the USA is more balanced in political party than evangelicalism. That’s been discussed on this Substack before.

Now to Burge.

“For an increasing number of Americans, religion seems to operate as little more than a tribal identity. When they say that they are Christians, they are not necessarily expressing commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead, it’s a way to say what kind of values they stand for, what causes they support, and what candidates they vote for on Election Day.”

Religion justifies one’s political worldview, increasingly. That is, “Religion now exists downstream of politics. Instead of using a theological framework to justify a voting decision, individuals use their partisanship to determine who will receive their support and then find a biblical justification for making such a choice.” If this is the case, it is idolatrous.

An oddity has arisen in Christianity in the USA. Democrats score lower on both religious importance and attendance than do Republicans. But another trend reveals: “An emerging trend that a significant number of Republicans believe that religion is very important but don’t attend religious services on a regular basis.” And here is what is remarkable: “Even as the share of Republicans who never attend religious services has increased from 10 percent in 2008 to 22 percent in 2022, their belief that religion is important has increased.” There is, as has been observed many times, a “God gap” between Dems and GOPers. But Republicans are increasingly walking away from normal religious observances while increasing in the belief that religion is important. Here we see an increasing valuing of the “cultural aspects of religion.” Are Republicans becoming Europeans in their embrace of a cultural religion?

An observation from numerous studies is rising in importance. The term “evangelical” used to mean “Someone who took the Bible seriously and tried to lead other people into a salvific understanding of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” This one has been easy to study since so many studies ask people if they are “born-again or an evangelical Christian.” It’s not hard then to study the behaviors of those who say Yes to that question. What Burge stunned me with in this section of his book was this:

60% of Prots say they are evangelical
27% of Orthodox say they are evangelical
24% of Latter Day Saints say they are evangelical
16% of Catholics say they are evangelical
15% of Muslims say they are evangelical
11% of Hindus say they are evangelical
9% of Buddhists say they are evangelical
5% of Jews say they are evangelical

If you read that carefully … just wow. The word “evangelical” has lost its theological moorings. “The word ‘evangelical’ has become a shorthand for people of all faith groups to say, ‘I’m a political conservative.’ It’s no longer primarily a theological belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. For a growing number of Americans, to be an evangelical is to vote for Republicans on Election Day.”

The word “evangelical” is nearly vacuous. It used to mean “I like Billy Graham.” (I heard this from both George Marsden and Roger Olson.) Today it means “I like Ronald Reagan or Donald J. Trump.”

Don’t color me surprised. Evangelicalism in the 80s and 90s lost its way because it failed to teach an authentic theology of political discipleship. Pastors were afraid to preach about the intersections of gospel and politics. The result was a sliding into partisanship, and now evangelical pastors who strike blows to the GOP lose their jobs. Silence is complicity. I still believe following Jesus matters politically, that Jesus calls into existence the church and not a political party, but something has happened in the last decade that has made the walls of the evangelical church seepingly and creepingly porous into the Republican party. I still believe that kingdom and church need to be put into an integrated whole, and I still believe that kingdom is not political party or constitutional law. But I also believe kingdom people ought not to toss their faith into the partisan bucket. And I believe kingdom people must strike when the faith is polluted by politics. There is a way to do this that transcends party and strikes blows at the moral, cultural, and social levels.

In Bonhoeffer’s world, the Confessing Christians faced two challenges: the German Christians (Deutsche Christen), who were a Nazi-fied version of cultural Christianity, and Protestant “moderates”, who wanted to stay out of politics and keep to the church. Niemöller thought the bigger problem was the moderates. Both failed and Germany’s churches were corrupted. We face something similar today in the USA.

The term “evangelical” is increasingly useless as an identifying category. Following Jesus is not.