Conservative evangelicals achieved dominance partly through control of Christian consumer culture

Evidence

At any given time, numerous creeds have coexisted and competed for influence within evangelicalism. Even today, the evangelical tent includes Calvinists and Pentecostals, “social justice warriors” and prosperity gospel gurus. However, over the past several decades conservatives have consolidated their power within the broader movement. Offering certainty in times of social change, promising security in the face of global threats, and, perhaps most critically, affirming the righteousness of a white Christian America and, by extension, of white Christian Americans, conservative evangelicals succeeded in winning the hearts and minds of large numbers of American Christians. They achieved this dominance not only by crafting a compelling ideology but also by advancing their agenda through strategic organizations and political alliances, on occasion by way of ruthless displays of power, and, critically, by dominating the production and distribution of Christian consumer culture. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 21

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes ‘dominant strand’ vs ‘competing creeds’ framing central to the reader’s analytical task.
• XREF: Connects to Sharon’s moral panic literature and to media/communication studies on cultural power. — connects to: Evangelicals built a self-contained subculture after ridicule at the Scopes trial — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 68; Organic food brands are owned by far-right political Christians — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 153