Evangelicalism’s inherent individualism pre-adapted it for the cowboy myth

Evidence

The myth of the American cowboy resonated powerfully with Sunbelt evangelicals. A model of rugged individualism that dovetailed with the individualism inherent within evangelicalism itself, the cowboy embodied a quintessentially American notion of frontier freedom coupled with an aura of righteous authority. Signifying an earlier era of American manhood, a time when heroic (white) men enforced order, protected the vulnerable, and wielded their power without apology, the myth of the American cowboy had been tinged with nostalgia from its inception. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 68

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: The cowboy myth as righteous authority resonates with the trees-as-infrastructure piece’s interest in grafting mythic archetypes onto practical infrastructure — here the myth is grafted onto religious identity.