Daniel K. Williams
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195340846
- eISBN:
- 9780199867141
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195340846.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
While most evangelicals supported Eisenhower’s centrist conservatism and moderate position on civil rights, self-identified fundamentalists, including Bob Jones, Jr., Billy James Hargis, Carl ...
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While most evangelicals supported Eisenhower’s centrist conservatism and moderate position on civil rights, self-identified fundamentalists, including Bob Jones, Jr., Billy James Hargis, Carl McIntire, John R. Rice, and Jerry Falwell, supported the more radical positions of the “far right.” Like Billy Graham, they were strongly anticommunist, but unlike Graham, they defended racial segregation and denounced the early civil rights movement. This chapter traces the emergence of a fundamentalist political program that operated alongside the more mainstream evangelical politics of the 1950s. The chapter argues that fundamentalists’ support for racial segregation, a position that was unpopular with many northern evangelicals, prevented them from attaining national political influence during the 1950s. Nevertheless, fundamentalists’ political activities during this decade shaped the political consciousness of many pastors, including Falwell, who would later become Religious Right leaders.Less
While most evangelicals supported Eisenhower’s centrist conservatism and moderate position on civil rights, self-identified fundamentalists, including Bob Jones, Jr., Billy James Hargis, Carl McIntire, John R. Rice, and Jerry Falwell, supported the more radical positions of the “far right.” Like Billy Graham, they were strongly anticommunist, but unlike Graham, they defended racial segregation and denounced the early civil rights movement. This chapter traces the emergence of a fundamentalist political program that operated alongside the more mainstream evangelical politics of the 1950s. The chapter argues that fundamentalists’ support for racial segregation, a position that was unpopular with many northern evangelicals, prevented them from attaining national political influence during the 1950s. Nevertheless, fundamentalists’ political activities during this decade shaped the political consciousness of many pastors, including Falwell, who would later become Religious Right leaders.
Adam Laats
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190665623
- eISBN:
- 9780190665654
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190665623.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Religious Studies
The civil rights movement helped all Americans reevaluate their ideas about racial equality and justice. On the campuses of evangelical and fundamentalist schools, that debate was fueled by a ...
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The civil rights movement helped all Americans reevaluate their ideas about racial equality and justice. On the campuses of evangelical and fundamentalist schools, that debate was fueled by a conflicted history of racism and anti-racism among white evangelicals. A few schools, led by Bob Jones University, insisted that racial segregation was an intrinsic part of true fundamentalist religion. Most other institutions, however, moved in fits and starts toward greater racial egalitarianism. By the 1970s, those debates also included a new and expanding network of evangelical and fundamentalist K-12 schools, schools dependent on colleges and universities for their teachers and textbooks as well as for their guiding philosophies.Less
The civil rights movement helped all Americans reevaluate their ideas about racial equality and justice. On the campuses of evangelical and fundamentalist schools, that debate was fueled by a conflicted history of racism and anti-racism among white evangelicals. A few schools, led by Bob Jones University, insisted that racial segregation was an intrinsic part of true fundamentalist religion. Most other institutions, however, moved in fits and starts toward greater racial egalitarianism. By the 1970s, those debates also included a new and expanding network of evangelical and fundamentalist K-12 schools, schools dependent on colleges and universities for their teachers and textbooks as well as for their guiding philosophies.
