Skip to main content

Excerpts:

Myth No. 1: Evangelical beliefs come strictly from the Bible

But evangelicals’ beliefs are often molded by political and cultural allegiances, not just biblical texts. Political scientist Michele Margolis has demonstrated that politics can shape religious choices, just as religious belief influences political convictions. That explains why critics of the English Standard Version, a popular evangelical Bible translation, allege that accurate translations were sacrificed to promote conservative views on gender.


screencapture of washington post story with person holding up a bible during an evangelicals for trump rally

Myth No. 2: Evangelicalism is traditional Christianity.

Myth No. 3: All evangelicals are conservative Republicans.

Myth No. 4: Opposition to abortion drives evangelical politics.

Today, many evangelicals identify as pro-life, yet abortion appears to be less salient than many claim. Political scientist Ryan Burge observed that White evangelicals rank abortion surprisingly low on their list of priorities, behind such concerns as jobs, national security and taxes. (Abortion ranked ninth among younger evangelicals and 11th among older age groups.)


Myth No. 5: Evangelicals betrayed their values for Trump.

The Washington Post. Perspective. January 22, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-evangelicals/2021/01/22/9ff5cc44-5c29-11eb-8bcf-3877871c819d_story.html

Leave a Reply