A Catholic, not an evangelical, catalyzed evangelical women’s political identity.

Evidence

THE PERSON WHO WOULD most clearly turn the personal political for evangelical women wasn’t an evangelical at all. Phyllis Schlafly was Catholic, but her popularity among evangelical women reflected new alliances forming among conservative women, alliances she herself helped cement. A petite woman who never failed to exhibit remarkable poise, Schlafly established herself as “the sweetheart of the Silent Majority.” Her very appearance evoked a nostalgic past; her upswept hair, feminine suits, and string of pearls remained virtually unchanged over her half century in the public eye. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 155

Categorization

• XREF: The Catholic-inside-evangelical-movement crossover parallels the reader’s existing interest in cross-tradition conservative alliances.