A pandemic Billy Sunday could not shut down
By John Fea — April 16, 2020
(RNS) — Pastors holding religious services in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic recall evangelist Billy Sunday’s face-to-face encounter with 1918’s flu in Providence, Rhode Island.
The problem with the ‘reluctant Trump’ vote
By John Fea — February 18, 2020
(RNS) — The reluctant evangelical Trump voter and the enthusiastic evangelical Trump voter are guided by a political playbook forged in the late 1970s and 1980s by the Christian right.
Why a $45 Trump prayer coin is no joke
By John Fea — May 17, 2019
(RNS) — A charismatic preacher named Lance Wallnau appeared on the program of disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker to hawk a Donald Trump/King Cyrus gold coin. He claimed that the coin can be used as a 'point of contact' between Christians and God as they pray for the re-election of Trump in 2020. It is no joke — as some charismatic Christians see Trump as a divinely appointed figure.
Bruce Springsteen’s run for home
By John Fea — January 9, 2019
(RNS) — With a surprising resort to prayer, the Boss acknowledges that his relentless quest for the American dream can't be separated from tradition, roots, place, a longing for home, and faith.
Why won’t most of Trump’s ‘court evangelicals’ publicly condemn his border policy?
By John Fea — June 21, 2018
(RNS) — While a few conservative evangelical Trump supporters have openly criticized his administration's border policy separating children from their parents, most of the 'court evangelicals' have not. Their silence sheds light on how evangelicals have defined 'family values' for the past 40 years.
Evangelicals can no longer speak as one voice
By John Fea — February 21, 2017
(RNS) The fact that so many mainstream evangelical leaders opposed Trump's order, while 76 percent of their followers supported it, is further evidence of the way politics — particularly the Trump candidacy — divided American evangelicalism.
