-----Original Message----- From: DeborahSRogers <debburz at yahoo.com> Sent: Jun 15, 2004 1:48 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Biblical Literalism
<<SNIP>>
Jeff's comments and the comments re what these people are practicing as more a form of a pop version of the religion are on target, and it makes me wonder, can a rise in this "pop" form be attributed to or coincide with the "born again" movement we saw take off like gangbusters beginning in the late 70's? I mean, it's been around for a bit, but it really grew legs in the mid to late 70's.
- D
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There are several parallel tracks.
The number of Americans claiming to be either evangelical or "born again" has risen from 35% to 45% since the 1970s.
More Christians are getting their "theology" from pop sources such as TV televangelism of the Left Behind apocalyptic book series, or the book The DaVinci Code (the author of the latter had a prior book about the Illuminati conspiracy).
The Christian Right developed a way to mobilize voters into the Republican Party by framing conservative political ideas in the context of "Biblical" mandates and traditional family values.
Within mainstream denominations, there are ultraconservative factions pushing an ideological restructuring of the normative theology.
Within the Southern Baptist Convention, the ultraconservatives continue to enforce narrower and narrower theological demands to conform to their ideology. (see for example this page: http://www.baptistpillar.com/bd0146.htm )
...and for more on Christian demographics and voting trends:
http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v17n2/evangelical-demographics.html
-Chip Berlet