14. Billy Graham Brought Evangelicals Into the Public Consciousness
The damage leveled by the Scopes Trial was mainly against fundamentalists, but evangelicals also need to be taken into consideration. Though there is much overlap between the two monikers, evangelicals and fundamentalists are not necessarily the same thing. Fundamentalists are Christians who, first and foremost, insist on a literal interpretation of the Bible; anything against a strict literalism is viewed as an assault on the Bible’s inerrancy. Evangelicals are Christians who take a slightly less conservative stance; they are often content to see the Bible as inerrant but not necessarily entirely literal. The distinction may seem small, but its implications are far-reaching.
In the mid-twentieth century, when Cold War realities began to seep in and the communist threat inspired fear across America, Billy Graham emerged as an evangelical preacher who promoted Christianity as the antidote to communism. He viewed the Soviet Union as an evil, heartless, godless empire, and communism as completely anathema to anything that the Bible teaches. His answer for communism was the same as his answer for individual sin: repent and trust Jesus. Religious devotion now had a political as well as personal implication, as religion was broadly purveyed to the American people as the cure for political threats.