The Biggest Loser: the Concept of Evangelical Leadership

The unrepentant Trumpzilla continues to destroy Tokyo while his surrogates assure the faithful that the city was condemned already and that it is only minor remodeling. Meanwhile, Ben Carson, (Bless his heart!) is doing his best to defend Donald Trump's behavior. Ralph Reed put up a spirited defense of Trump on NPR after the Access Hollywood revelations. Jerry Falwell Jr. is actually stumping for Trump - parroting trumps talking points that his accusers are lying. Across the board Men (always men!) thought of as leaders of the Evangelical movement are sticking with Trump. Even "Focus on the Family's" James Dobson is sticking with Trump (come on Jim - you know better). 

As an Evangelical in the center who thinks Trump is an megalomaniac dictator wannabe, you might think I'm discouraged by this apparent Faustian bargain. Let me reassure you that Chicken Little is not in the Muse nature. Instead I say "meh". Let me explain:

Evangelical Leadership is a Misnomer

We do not think of Anderson Cooper or Megan Kelly as "main stream media leadership", but we do make that mistake with these Evangelical leaders. Instead of casting James Dobson as a popular radio host, we sometimes think of him as the head of something - a person with legions of loyal followers. But Evangelicals are not particularly loyal. They are a fuzzy mass of (often contradictory) doctrines, beliefs, and cultural preferences described with a jargony lexicon of tired phrases. Indeed, they are simply not what the media thinks they are. 

I attend a church of 3000 in Omaha NE. I would wager that about 20% of the people in my church know they are "Evangelical". It's not stated from the pulpit and it's not in our literature. Attending an Evangelical church does not make you subject to the whims of some guy with a TV ministry. In most cases you can disagree with the church you attend on many points and still be an accepted participant in service activities. If you attend a modern mega-church and you are a low information voter, you may not be equipped to answer the questions on a survey that would put you on the Evangelical tab. More to the point, just like the political parties in this country, only an small sample of parishioners are so heavily engaged in church culture that they can list "Evangelical leaders." Average attenders are more likely to list their favorite Pop-theology author or their own preaching pastor.  

Badges? We Don' Need no Stinkin' Badges!

Leadership implies a certain base loyalty. Jame's Dobson is a good example. He has been around long enough to acrue a large base of listeners and readers. He has influence with them and some of them are doubtless swayed to vote for Trump. But the majority of Evangelicals will feel free to simply ignore him if he strays beyond the pale. For Muse readers who want to cite polls to me, take note that this is a process that happens slowly among Evangelicals -- more slowly than an election cycle. If enough people ignore him, his celebrity dissipates and he goes away as an influencer. Dobson's "leadership" is dependent upon his popularity and ability to draw a crowd. 

This flexibility is the beauty and the curse of evangelicalism. It's the part that puzzles those from traditions with popes and bishops. With no large hierarchy and no "general will" you choose the church that suits you. The dizzying array of stylistic choices of church rivals a gay pride parade. Of course this ability to shop your faith leads to all kinds of sorting and false consensus - but it also means that Evangelicals are pretty innovative and flexible with regard to who they think of as "leaders". Meanwhile, leaders currently going down with the Trumptanic have an opportunity in a year or so for a redemption narrative and a book on how terribly deceived they were. 

So if you are an Evangelical take heart! Jim and Tammy Baker didn't "destroy" the movement in 1987/88. Droves of Pentecostals didn't say to themselves, "Now that Jimmy Swaggart is a lech I'm going to worship Cthulhu." It turns out that their influence and leadership in both cases was simply a chimera. Instead, like choosing not to watch season 8 of "24" they simply put down the DVD and listened to new voices. 

If you lived through those days in the late 80s as I did -- being both an Assembly of God pastor and a pastor's son at the time (I'm still a pastor's son) -- you would have heard all sorts of yammering about the demise of the church. Yes Muse readers, Evangelicals call the "Evangelical church"  simply "the church" - just like to Chinese people, Chinese food is just "food". But the church survived and even thrived. So take heart my Evangelical friend. Jesus still loves you and loves the world. He even loves Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.