Are we all evangelicals now? How the term has grown to blur theology and ideology

(ANALYSIS) It’s the question that has launched thousands of tweets, hundreds of blog posts and even a handful of books - what’s an evangelical? Obviously, this query is central to a lot of the work being done in the area of religion and politics. It’s no secret that evangelicalism has become deeply intertwined with a certain strain of conservative politics over the last several decades, further blurring the lines between theology and ideology. But despite that ever-growing linkage, it seems that most observers of American religion still see the term as primarily denoting spiritual matters.

However, the data is beginning to coalesce around an entirely different conclusion: that the term “evangelical” has broken away from its roots as a sub-genre of Protestant theology and has now morphed into a social, cultural and political term that stretches far beyond the boundaries of Christianity. In fact, the term “evangelical” is now being embraced by religious groups that do not believe in any of the tenets of an orthodox evangelicalism.

Most surveys that tap into American religion ask two different types of questions about tradition. One is, “What is your current religion, if any?” and they are presented about a dozen response options such as Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, Muslim or Atheist. We typically call this an affiliation measurement. However, in addition to this question, polls also ask, “Would you describe yourself as a ‘born again’ or evangelical Christian, or not?” That question is asked to every respondent, even if they didn’t indicate a Christian attachment in the prior query and is labeled as “self-identification.”

Thus, the combination of these two questions can illuminate a seemingly incongruent fact: there are evangelical Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus in the United States. It’s best to begin broadly: Have these groups increased in size over the last decade?  

For the groups that should be the most likely to self-identify as evangelical, there’s actually been a small decline. While 78% of White evangelicals chose to identify as evangelical/born-again in 2008, it dropped to 75% in 2019. That same decline is evident among non-White evangelicals, as well.

But there are other groups that are gravitating toward the evangelical identity. For instance, the share of White Catholic evangelicals has risen five points in 11 years, but it was a nine-point increase for non-White Catholics. The share of Mormons who identify as evangelical has nearly doubled (18% to 34%) during the same time period, as well as the share of Orthodox Christians (14% to 29%).

The groups that are much further away from traditional Christianity have seen increases, as well. For instance, 7% of Jews say they are evangelical - that’s up five percentage points. For Muslims the increase is 10% to 20% from 2008 to 2019.  Hindus have also seen a slight increase, as well.

But, why is this happening? Why would those from religious traditions that are in no way connected to a belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ take on the moniker of evangelical? One potential reason is that the term “evangelical” has become a catch-all for saying, “I am a devout believer.” Thus, people who engage in a lot of religious activity may self-identify as evangelical as a way to say that their faith is more than just based on heredity or culture, but something real to them. To investigate that I separated the sample into those who attended religious gatherings weekly or more and those who did not.

There does seem to be some evidence here to support the claim that the more religiously active one is, the more likely they were to identify as evangelical. That’s especially evident among Catholics. For instance, among White Catholics who don’t go to church frequently, there’s been no change. But among those who attend weekly or more, evangelical identification has nearly doubled in 11 years. While all Orthodox Christians were more likely to take on the evangelical label in 2019, that increase is much larger among the highest attendance group (a 12-point increase versus a 25-point jump for higher attenders). That same general pattern repeats for Jews, Muslims and Buddhists, as well. “Evangelical” has become largely generic in its description of someone who goes to religious services a lot and does not consider if those services are being held in a church, chapel, mosque or synagogue.

But, as is the case with most things in the social world now, it's necessary to explore how politics plays a role in an evangelical identity. I limited the sample to just those who attend at least once a month and then tracked how Republicans, Democrats and Independents took on the evangelical label over the last 11 years.

There are some religious traditions where Republicans were much more likely to identify as evangelical in 2018 compared to 2008. Mainline Protestant Republicans are 5% more Republican over a ten-year time period and White Catholics had a four-point jump. LDS Republican evangelicals were up four points as well.

There are not a lot of Republicans in the other smaller traditions like Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus, but the general trend is all in the same direction: those who identify with the GOP are more apt to also be evangelical today than they were just ten years ago. Thus, there’s some fairly compelling evidence here that the fusion of the Republican party and evangelicalism knows no theological bounds.

There’s an argument to be made here that evangelicalism is not just influencing all of American Christianity, it’s seeping into all aspects of American religion. More Catholics are evangelical today than ever before, the same is true for mainline Protestants. Many Muslims, Jews and Buddhists now take on the moniker. It’s no secret that many Americans have antipathy toward evangelicals, in no small due to their embrace of Donald Trump. But it’s surprising that all that political baggage has not made the term radioactive. In fact, that linkage between Trump, the GOP and evangelicals has actually opened up the “born-again” identity to a larger segment of American religion. If that’s a positive or negative development is something that social scientists and theologians will be working out for decades.

Ryan Burge is an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, a pastor in the American Baptist Church and the co-founder and frequent contributor to Religion in Public, a forum for scholars of religion and politics to make their work accessible to a more general audience. His research focuses on the intersection of religiosity and political behavior, especially in the U.S. Follow him on Twitter at @ryanburge.