Reform movements succeed by marrying their cause to prevailing religious currents

Evidence

Gurley had a vision: he believed that to win the minds and souls of Americans to the colonization cause, it had to be linked to the Protestant movement. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 409

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to how moral reform causes historically ride on religious revival waves — a pattern relevant to the reader’s interest in how racist ideas gain popular legitimacy. — connects to: Movements grounded in preexisting churches mobilize better than those without social infrastructure — Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone The Collapse and Revival…, 503; Religious claims adopted for instrumental legitimacy can come to genuinely saturate the adopting movement. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 512; Progressivism rested on an idealistic faith unmatched by other movements — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 250 (+1 more)