Evangelical social concern in 1973 explicitly included women’s equality and anti-racism.

Evidence

The Chicago Declaration was a remarkable document in that it reaffirmed evangelicalism’s historical commitment to those Jesus called “the least of these.” The declaration decried the persistence of militarism, racism, and economic inequality in American life. It pointed out the scandal of hunger in such an affluent society; it condemned materialism and called for justice. And at the behest of Nancy Hardesty, professor of English at Trinity College, the Chicago Declaration reaffirmed evangelicalism’s historic commitment to women’s equality. — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 78

Categorization

• XREF: This connects to the book’s overall thesis about how the Religious Right later inverted these very commitments. — connects to: A viable evangelical Left existed in 1973 but lost to conservatives — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 120; Early evangelicals championed women’s rights until reactionary fundamentalism displaced egalitarianism — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 64; Racism was integral but rendered invisible in the Christian Right’s origins — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 533 (+2 more)

Related

• Evangelicals abandoned social reform for individual conversion as proto-liberals embraced it (similarity 0.85)
• A viable evangelical Left existed in 1973 but lost to conservatives (similarity 0.83)
• American evangelicalism was politically reformist long before it aligned with the right (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Early evangelicals championed women’s rights until reactionary fundamentalism displaced egalitarianism #exemplifies (0.80) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 64
• A viable evangelical Left existed in 1973 but lost to conservatives #expands (0.78) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 120
• American evangelicalism was politically reformist long before it aligned with the right #expands (0.75) — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 41
• Racism was integral but rendered invisible in the Christian Right’s origins #complicates (0.72) — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 533
• Racial stereotypes about welfare and affirmative action persisted through the late 1970s #qualifies (0.70) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1060