Many evangelical groups are what are called pre millennialist. This means that they believe the second comin, and therefore the end of the world as we know it will occur. They have this kind of protestant orientation that leads them not to be in favor of social programmes financed by taxes that are not voluntary. So these groups tend to resist the idea of trying to improve the world. You mentio, and this is a long standing thing among american pre millennialists you mentioned before, for example, dwight moody. Moodi was absolutely opposed to any kind of social programmes to try to make the world better. His views were supposed to save souls and get people ready for the return
In episode 162 of The Michael Shermer Show, Michael speaks with one of the nation’s preeminent experts on economic policy, Benjamin Friedman, about his new book Religion and the Rise of Capitalism — a major reassessment of the foundations of modern economic thinking that explores the profound influence of an until-now unrecognized force — religion.
Critics of contemporary economics complain that belief in free markets — among economists as well as many ordinary citizens — is a form of religion. And, it turns out, that in a deeper, more historically grounded sense there is something to that idea. Contrary to the conventional historical view of economics as an entirely secular product of the Enlightenment, Benjamin Friedman demonstrates that religion exerted a powerful influence from the outset.