White Evangelical Racism

The 2016 United States presidential election yielded a whirlwind of thoughts, emotions, and questions. One thing that has puzzled political, religious, and social science pundits since this monumental election is the widespread support for Donald Trump by evangelical Christian voters. Namely, how could a group with such staunch conservative views support a presidential candidate whose words and actions blatantly contradict Christian tenets and conservative values? Anthea Butler joins the discourse with her enlightening work, White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America. Using a critical historical lens, the author traces the lineage of evangelical politics to its racist roots, demonstrating that white evangelicals’ support of Donald Trump is not at all surprising.The introductory chapter lays out the author's main argument: “Evangelicalism is synonymous with whiteness,” in that the evangelical movement has always supported policies that benefit the interests of whites and eventuate the suffering of non-whites (p. 11). Racism is not a fortuitous byproduct of evangelicalism; rather, it has been embedded into the fabric of the religious movement since its inception. These racist roots grew into near unilateral evangelical alignment with the conservative politics and white supremacist ideologies of the Republican Party. Thus, the book examines “evangelical history, especially its racist history, in order to truly understand the movement's political, social, and moral stances in the twenty-first century” (p. 12).The remainder of the book traces the history of evangelicalism from slavery to the 2016 presidential election. Although the author notes that some nineteenth-century evangelicals were instrumental in abolitionist efforts, this was not the case for all of them. Evangelicals used biblical hermeneutics and appeals to morality as a means to justify African enslavement. Even though some evangelical slaveholders ceded that slavery was a sin, they argued it was not sinful for a Christian to hold slaves because the Bible allows (or at the very least, does not condemn) slavery. In fact, their belief that slavery was key to maintaining a Christian social order became a central justification for the violence enacted by the Ku Klux Klan and the White League. The Civil Rights Movement brought about a “new evangelicalism” where evangelical preachers decried communism as both anti-American and anti-Christian and labeled civil rights efforts and activists as communist. Like their views on slavery, some evangelicals acknowledged the possible sinfulness of racism but maintained it was up to God (not civil rights activism) to end racism in God's own time.Around the 1970s, evangelicals began to explicitly align themselves with the Republican Party as evangelicalism morphed into its next phase: the religious right. Evangelical leaders established organizations that lobbied on behalf of evangelical interests concerning education, abortion, and marriage. At the same time, televangelists performatively embraced racial integration in their church services to conceal their ulterior racist motives. This covert evangelical racism continued until about 2000, at which point evangelicals employed more overtly racist strategies to ensure the election of conservative Republican politicians—such as the birtherism movement challenging Barack Obama's citizenship or Islamophobic campaigns labeling Obama a Muslim terrorist. Obama's election in 2008 exacerbated evangelical racism, in that it “signaled the failure of the evangelical political machine” and led evangelicals to align with more outwardly racist actors like Donald Trump to advance their political interests (p. 121). Butler concludes by appealing directly to white evangelicals, challenging them to contend with their racist past and the morality of their present political alignment.The book is manifold in its contributions, offering a careful analysis of history, a critical examination of religious culture, and a heartfelt call for change. I do, however, note a couple of limitations. First, the book does not offer a clear definition of racism. Although the introductory chapter takes great care to define “white” and “evangelical,” the reader is left to wonder how the author conceptualizes racism. Clearly defining this term could only strengthen the book's key arguments and clarify the author's call for evangelicals to acknowledge and abandon their racist ideologies. Another place where the work falls short is in its reliance upon the actions of historic evangelical pastors and leaders as a proxy for the history of evangelicalism writ large. That is, although these individuals were certainly influential in setting the tone for the evangelical movement, it must be acknowledged that pastors and leaders may act and believe in ways that diverge from their congregants. Nevertheless, by recalling specific historical events and evangelical figures, the book pointedly illustrates how evangelicalism in particular (not simply Christianity in general) has advanced racist ideals.Butler's White Evangelical Racism is a valuable contribution to scholarship on religion, race, nationalism, and their intersections by providing a detailed explanation to the intriguing quandary of evangelicals claiming moral superiority while supporting politicians who shamelessly disregard Christian morals. This book teaches us that evangelical racism is a present reality, not a distant memory. Even though evangelicals have become a more racially integrated group, the movement still primarily serves the interests of the white supremacist system. Notwithstanding the book's direct address to evangelicals, the book is appropriate for scholars of religion, race, and politics yet approachable enough for general readership

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