The Road to Theocracy?

Beginning August 17, the New York Times published a four-part analysis of what its headline called “Ultraconservative Evangelicals: A Surging New Force in Politics.” Other major news organs, both print and electronic, have preceded and followed the Times with major stories of their own. Christians in public life, and particularly Christian preachers seeking to influence public life, are now front-page news.

Much coverage—such as, egregiously, the 1978 CBS television special, Born Again—has indulged in oversimplification and ridicule. By contrast, the Times series is sober, accurate, and relatively evenhanded. Nevertheless, it does perpetuate a number of misunderstandings about this “surging new force.”

HB

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Harold O. J. Brown

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Beginning August 17, the New York Times published a four-part analysis of what its headline called “Ultraconservative Evangelicals: A Surging New Force in Politics.” Other major news organs, both print and electronic, have preceded and followed the Times with major stories of their own. Christians in public life, and particularly Christian preachers seeking to influence public life, are now front-page news.

Much coverage—such as, egregiously, the 1978 CBS television special, Born Again—has indulged in oversimplification and ridicule. By contrast, the Times series is sober, accurate, and relatively evenhanded. Nevertheless, it does perpetuate a number of misunderstandings about this “surging new force.”