Is the Term 'Evangelical' Getting a Political Connotation?

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The term evangelical has meant something to us and our self identity. What do we do with this reality that increasingly the term is getting hihjacked by political and racial terms? This became an issue for me in my work on leading christians in the vaccine. So i led this national effort on trying to reach vaccine resistant, vaccine hesitant populations which are heavily dominated by white evangelicals.

David French and his theological wingman Curtis Chang dive into the term “evangelical”, defining it historically and discussing how it fits in the current American context. Is it really a set of religious beliefs, a set of cultural beliefs, or a set of political beliefs? How does evangelicalism compare with fundamentalism? Is evangelical a term worth salvaging for Christians, or has it become too closely tied to a political movement to retain any spiritual relevance?

Show Notes:

-The French Press: “Did Donald Trump Make the Church Great Again?”

-Pew Research Center: “More White Americans adopted than shed evangelical label during Trump presidency, especially his supporters”

-National Association of Evangelicals: “What is an Evangelical?” (including the Bebbington Quadrilateral)

-Barna: “Survey Explores Who Qualifies As an Evangelical” (including the 9-point Evangelical)

-Ryan Burge: “For White Evangelical Republicans, Approval of Trump is About Immigration more than Abortion”

-Ryan Burge: “Why ‘Evangelical’ is becoming another word for ‘Republican’”

-The French Press: “The American Crisis of Selective Empathy”