Reagan’s aggressive Cold War posture vindicated evangelical crusade warfare in their eyes.

Evidence

By promoting preemptive war, Walton contributed to a “crusade theory of warfare.” In wars of Christian conquest, “righteous states” were justified in taking the offensive against their enemies. Crusade warfare made sense in the context of Cold War politics, where neutrality was not an option. But in the summer of 1987, in the midst of the Iran-Contra hearings, President Reagan had stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, ordering Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” Two years later, the wall came down. Although conservative evangelicals had been discomfited by Reagan’s pursuit of disarmament during his second term in office, in the end, it was his aggressive posture on the world stage, his penchant to “talk tough and carry a big stick,” that seemed to have produced indisputable results. The dominoes would soon begin to fall, but not in the direction conservative evangelicals had long feared. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 311

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: The Reagan vindication dynamic parallels the militarism and sacrifice themes in the published article on sacrifice — the wall falling as perceived proof that righteous militancy works.