The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism

by Tim Alberta

“A LOT OF PEOPLE BELIEVE THERE WAS A RELIGIOUS CONCEPTION OF this country. A biblical conception of this country,” Pastor Winans told me. “And that’s the source of a lot of our problems.”

“If you start playing by the rules of another game, then suddenly you’re playing that other game. If you bring a football onto the baseball diamond and start throwing it around, are you still playing baseball?” Torres said. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

“Anytime you have a group that feels as though it’s headed toward generational demise, it lashes out,” Brooks told Moore. “It puts up a fight. It refuses to give up what’s theirs.”

We should think of ourselves as eager dinner guests at someone else’s banquet. We are happy to be there, happy to share our perspective. But we are always respectful, always humble, because this isn’t our home.”

Many evangelicals have come to view politics the way a suburban husband views Las Vegas—a self-contained escape, a place where the rules and expectations of his everyday life do not apply. The problem is, what happens in politics doesn’t stay in politics.

“Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally,” Orwell wrote. “Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power.”

Islam has designs on running the world; it’s a system of government. Christianity is nothing like that. The gospels and the epistles have no vision of Christianity being a dominant religion or culture.”

“You can take up the sword of Caesar or you can take up the cross of Jesus,” Zahnd told me. “You have to choose.”