Religion and Politics in America
by Hannah Beth
1. Billy Graham, an evangelist, worked with Protestant churches, Catholics, and other groups that weren't approved by the fundamentalists, in order to spread the gospel and share the message of Christ.
1.1. If it required him to work with different types of people to produce the result of people coming to Christ then so be it.
1.2. He didn't limit himself only to working with fundamentalists and evangelical assemblies.
1.2.1. The fundamentalist questioned whether or not the Protestants even were Christians and called then "fake churches."
1.3. As a result many came to faith in Christ because Billy Graham didn't allow himself to be held so tightly by the fundamentalist's belief set. He was an evangelist, not a fundamentalist.
1.4. He believed that the transformation society needed was through individual hearts and by that a society would be affected this way.
2. The Civil Rights Movement had an objective of ending segregation in the South and all throughout America as a whole.
2.1. This political movement was spread through religious ways such as those in the churches and those of authority such as pastors.
3. With immigration has come a sense of tolerance for us as a nation.
3.1. Tolerance with new religions and backgrounds.
4. Martin Luther dealt with politicians when it came to the involvement of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Act, but he did he did not allow faith to become corrupted in the process.
4.1. Luther was a result of the social gospel where society as a whole and not only individuals had the opportunity to be transformed as a whole.
5. The 1957 Madison Square Garden Crusade led by Billy Graham came after immigration had caused Protestant movement to move out of the cities and into the more rural places in America. With their leaving then there came a negative effect on the cities because they had no one to help them or teach them.
5.1. Birthed out of the need that Billy Graham saw he decided to hold this crusade and worked with theological liberals (which is still negatively looked down upon by some) to put it on.
6. After the Second World War came the proposition from American politicians to embrace more than one religion for America.
6.1. Religious diversity was agreed upon by many believers to have a respect for those with different faiths.
7. The government wanted to ensure that no one was having a religion they didn't want in their face while receiving their education.
7.1. The government did not want to be the one to hand out religion.
7.2. Religious history was allowed to be taught but prayer was out of the picture.
7.3. There was to be no "religious life" in the school environment. They were focused on giving a "secular education."
7.4. Many continued in prayer despite being told not to and it resulted in the School Prayer Decision by the Supreme Court.
7.5. This brought controversy because if the whole idea was for government not to become involved in religion and if there was a religious freedom then why did they get to choose whether or not prayer was allowed in schools?
8. Over the years there has been this tension/pull between using religion and politics to endorse personal agendas.
9. After World War II there was the belief that Communist were the enemies of God.
9.1. What sets you apart from being a Communist was to be on the "right" side and that was to be on the side of God.
9.1.1. As a result there came about this idea that the nation needed as many as possible against Communists and with that came the birth of Christianity and Judaism coming together.
9.1.1.1. The problem was that while there was a new spiritual invitation to different religions in regards to religious freedom, there wasn't really carried over into the scope race.