Religious Right leaders cultivated fear to sustain their own political success

Evidence

Why Trump, many wondered, including many evangelicals themselves. For decades, the Religious Right had been kindling fear in the hearts of American Christians. It was a tried-and-true recipe for their own success. Communism, secular humanism, feminism, multilateralism, Islamic terrorism, and the erosion of religious freedom—evangelical leaders had rallied support by mobilizing followers to fight battles on which the fate of the nation, and their own families, seemed to hinge. Leaders of the Religious Right had been amping up their rhetoric over the course of the Obama administration. The first African American president, the sea change in LGBTQ rights, the apparent erosion of religious freedom—coupled with looming demographic changes and the declining religious loyalty of their own children—heightened the sense of dread among white evangelicals. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 568

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the fear-driven mobilization literature in political communication (e.g., Altheide’s ‘Creating Fear’) and to the moral-panic framework in Cohen. — connects to: Religious Right leaders reframed racism as religious freedom to mask self-interest — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the…, 110; Religious leaders stoked fears of mass conversion to justify anti-Christian violence — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 243; Christian right leaders framed pandemic restrictions as unconstitutional fear-based tyranny. — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 147 (+3 more)