Evangelical leaders adopted offensive, pack-mentality tactics modeled on Soviets and Nazis

Evidence

In his opening address of the first meeting of the NAE in 1942, the Reverend Harold John Ockenga warned his fellow “lone wolves” of the ominous clouds looming on the horizon that “spell[ed] annihilation” unless they decided to “run in a pack.” For decades, evangelicalism had “suffered nothing but a series of defeats,” but the time had come to usher in “a new era in evangelical Christianity.” As “children of the light,” they could learn a thing or two from “the children of this world,” from the Soviets and the Nazis. In matters of both church and state, defensive tactics had proven disastrous. Evangelicals must unite and take the offensive, before it was too late. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 51

Categorization

• SEED: The frank admission that evangelicals learned organizational tactics from Soviets and Nazis is a striking angle for an essay — invasion-of-the-body-snatchers framing from within the movement itself.
• CANDY: ‘Run in a pack,’ learn from the Nazis — a startlingly direct quote to drop in conversation.