COMMENTARY
American evangelicalism has been the most potent force for the Christian faith in contemporary American culture. Historian Martin Marty once noted that to look at American religion and overlook Evangelicalism "would be comparable to scanning the American physical landscape and missing the Rocky Mountains."
This past week New York Times reporter David Kirkpatrick penned a cover story for the New York Times Magazine with the provocative question, “End Times for Evangelicals?” emblazoned on its front, followed by the following: “They don’t have a natural presidential candidate. They don’t have a unified leadership. They no longer seem to share even the same political beliefs.” The actual title of the article is “The Evangelical Crackup.”
Though some, such as Charles Colson, have taken the article to task in its portrayal of older evangelicals as distanced from core social issues (Colson was right in noting his work in prisons, Dobson’s work with families, and Falwell’s work with unwed mothers), along with it’s contention that evangelicalism as a whole is becoming more liberal in regard to key social values. We’re not. The evangelical mosaic is still united in its efforts to uphold traditional values, defend life, and pursue justice and care for the poor.