How did the fight against communism during the Cold War strengthen the political power of Christian evangelicals?
Evangelicals had been speaking out against communism even before it became a central cause for the American government. But what happened during the early years of the Cold War was that they became convinced that the federal government was acting in the interests of God by fighting against communism internationally and by rooting out communist subversives within the country. Are we seeing that same sentiment play out against Islam? In many ways, the war on terror became the new Cold War for evangelicals. Throughout the peak years of [the Iraq War], from 2003 and all the way up until 2008 and possibly even beyond, white evangelicals shared a much greater degree of support for that war than people who were outside of evangelicalism. In 2010, social and moral issues were pushed aside to focus on the economy. Is the party moving away from the Christian right? The problem with the Christian-right issues is that all those tend to be minority issues. It was pretty clear between 2004 and 2008
