Passionate Population: The media discover America's religious.

National Review Online ^ | February 24, 2004 | Rich Lowry

[xsysmgr]

America is in the midst of a new Great Awakening. It's the mainstream media, prompted by excitement over the Mel Gibson film The Passion of the Christ, waking up to the fact that the country still has an enormous block of orthodox Christians. You can sense the bemused astonishment behind some of the press reports: "Didn't all of these people slink away in embarrassment forevermore after the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925?"

Sorry. They didn't. And it is impossible to understand what seems certain to be the commercial success of The Passion, or — more importantly — to understand American domestic politics and foreign policy without appreciating the number and vigor of America's Christians. They are President Bush's electoral lifeblood, and are driving an era of idealistic American assertion abroad that is literally changing the world.

According to John Green of Akron University, there are 50 million white evangelical Protestants in the United States. There are 20 million black Christians, many of whom are evangelical. There are 50 million Roman Catholics, roughly 30 million of whom are traditional in their beliefs. There are 30 million mainline Protestants, many of whom are theologically liberal, but not all. That makes for — give or take — more than 100 million orthodox Christians, quite an audience base for a film drawn directly from the Gospels.

And they have money to spend. Back in 1993, the Washington Post reported that conservative evangelicals were "largely poor, uneducated and easy to command." Laughable at the time, it is even more so now. Green reports that there has been considerable upward social mobility among evangelicals during the past 30 years. They spend on Christian books (roughly $4 billion a year) and albums ($850 million a year) and, as apparently only Gibson understood in Hollywood, will pay to see a movie that speaks to them.

The silver screen aside, orthodox Christians have an enormous influence on national life through the Bush administration. What trial lawyers are to John Edwards, the orthodox are to Bush — his indispensable political base. According to Green, roughly 75 percent of evangelicals voted for Bush. White evangelicals accounted for as much as 40 percent of his total vote. Another 20 percent came from traditional Catholics and serious mainline Protestants. The Bush presidency should be stamped: "Brought to you by orthodox Christian believers."

It shows. The reinvigorated Wilsonian foreign policy championed by Bush — and motivated less by Woodrow Wilson's secular values (international law, etc.) and more by religious beliefs (the God-given rights of all people) — is a reflection of Bush's Christian base.

As Walter Russell Mead writes in his brilliant forthcoming book, Power, Terror, Peace, and War: "The rise in the number of evangelical Protestants, combined with their increasing levels of affluence, political participation and education, suggests that for the next generation at least, we will be witnessing the rise and consolidation of an evangelical establishment that will view America's world role in a different way than the waning and dying mainstream Protestant establishment that once set the Wilsonian agenda."

This dynamic is already evident. The divide with Europe is partly driven by faith, as secular Europeans cringe at American religiosity. America's strong support for Israel is a product of a potent alliance between evangelicals and hawkish Jews. Evangelicals have supported an extraordinary amount of human-rights activism recently on issues from religious persecution to sex trafficking to AIDS. Bush has tapped into that idealism and made it an important aspect of his war on terror.

Domestically, the influence of Bush's orthodox base can be seen in his faith-based initiative, his signing of a partial-birth-abortion ban and his opposition to gay marriage, among other things. The rap against evangelicals used to be that they were intolerant, but they have lately demonstrated their ability to work with conservative Jews and Catholics in a new, powerful traditionalist ecumenism.

The fervor over The Passion has taken many observers by surprise. It shouldn't, and you ain't seen nothing yet.

— Rich Lowry is author of Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years.

[GulliverSwift]

Hollywood refuses to make such movies because they despise religious people. It's not that they don't know they exist. It's that they wish they didn't.

[texasflower]

The fervor over The Passion has taken many observers by surprise. It shouldn't, and you ain't seen nothing yet.

I believe he's right.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

The divide with Europe is partly driven by faith, as secular Europeans cringe at American religiosity.

Must be referring to the European media

[jimbo123]

The godless media elite are in a hate rage over The Passion and won't even contemplate that they are sinners and that Jesus died for their sins, too.

[Spok]

"America's strong support for Israel is a product of a potent alliance between evangelicals and hawkish Jews."

The left expresses concern over supposed Christian based animus against the Jews from The Passion, but what really drives them around the bend is Christian based support for Israel. American leftists expressing concern over anti-Semism is laughable.

[PaulaB]

"'No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,' declares the LORD."

Isaiah 54:17

[stylin_geek]

Hmm, what is arguably the most controversial film made in 50 years along with a very controversial President.

Yes, we have two Amerca's, however, they are not the "haves and have nots," they are secular and non-secular.

I think this is what really fuels the rage towards President Bush, he wears his Christian values on his sleeve. The Godless left hate him for his Christian values and would willingly see our President crucified, politically, for his beliefs.

[Wait4Truth]

The impact of this movie has not even begun to be seen. I think it will be amazing and not just here in the States.

[Wait4Truth]

If it was up to the left, I think they would like to see him crucified...literally. Remember the pretzel incident? Some there mourned the fact that he did not die. That's how sick some of these people are.

[mgist]

We live in very interesting times. It is also very interesting that some in the jewish community are still threatened, over 2000 years later, by Jesus. Especially given that they do have other very serious and real threats against their existence. Most of which are on the left.

[mgist]

We live in very interesting times. It is also very interesting that some in the jewish community are still threatened, over 2000 years later, by Jesus. Especially given that they do have other very serious and real threats against their existence. Most of which are on the left.

[TBall]

"The godless media elite are in a hate rage over The Passion and won't even contemplate that they are sinners and that Jesus died for their sins, too." Been a tough couple of months for the media elite. First the strong reaction against the trashy Super Bowl show and now this.

[Wait4Truth]

Most Jews seem to be socially liberal and that seems to blur their thinking about more important issues. Abortion rights are extremely important to them. They totally miss the fact that President Bush is on their side. They believe the lies of the Dems as much as the black community does. It's a very sad situation, really. If blacks and Jews knew the real President Bush, they would vote for him in large numbers.

[Integrityrocks]

A lot of very religious people have been praying for this for a good many years. The prayers are being answered. Slowly, but surely. God will not say no to his believers.

[tinamina]

I believe also that this is the key to Bush's re-election. People in the middle, if they see this movie, are going to be so convicted that they will see right through people like John Kerry.

[holdmuhbeer]

BUMP

[CharlieOK1]

I think it would be great if Mel would make even more movies that are inoffensive to Christians. I'm not talking about movies that are straight from the gospels, I'm talking about normal movies that happen to have an underlying Christian theme. Movies you wouldn't be embarassed to go to with your Mother, or your Pastor, but also that general audiences would want to go see too.

Kinda like how there are lots of very popular Christian rock bands, some who have crossed over like P.O.D. I believe these Christian-based movies would be huge, and maybe they could start making a dent in the traditional Hollywood studios' pocketbooks. It could all be a part of a great spiritual awakening in this country.

[GulliverSwift]

Yeah, that's one of the problems of a lot of Christian artists. They think that every song or movie has to be from the Bible or about Jesus. A lot of people like more variety than that. Hopefully, Mel will realize this and turn out some postive portrayals of Christians who aren't doing something miraculous.

[sneakers]

bump