I am immobile, having had surgery on my toe 6 hours ago. You didn't need to know that... however, being immobile, I've had an opportunity to browse DU threads, and as usual, there a bunch of them on religion. Since words like "fundamentalist," "evangelical," "Old-Time Religion," and "toilet paper" are currently in use on the board, I thought I'd write an oversimplified summary of North American religion. In doing so, I hope to foster "understanding" and "wisdom" and lots of other things that conservatives don't care about. Plus, it would make my history degree mean something.
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PART I" WHA???
(very) Basically, devoted Protestants in the US are coming from two different places. While they may differ demographically, and in theological nuances, there are primarily two different views on a Christian's purpose in life. There are the logical descendants of the Social Gospel Movement, and descendants of the Evangelical Movement.
1) The Social Gospel Movement came about as a result of the Industrial Revolution, and is the "What Would Jesus Do?" mentality. Social Gospel-ists? view our role in this life as a role of service...helping the poor, improving society, seeking justice for the oppressed, etc. This movement in Christianity is responsible for the Civil Rights Movement, The New Deal, perhaps the temporary suspension of the Death Penalty, and (to a certain extent) Prohibition as well, the assumption at the time being that much spousal and child abuse resulted from alcohol abuse.
2)The Evangelical Movement sees the primary role of Christians as the expansion of Christianity itself. They see Jesus' final command "Go into all the earth.." as important, but may ignore the rest of what Jesus said. This isn't intentional...they just see life on this earth as temporary, and therefore too much investment in it as inconsequential. A person may suffer poverty and injustice for a short time, but it is more important that they are free and happy for the rest of eternity...thus most evangelicals believe in a literal heaven and hell.
PART II: WHO GOES WHERE?
An example of an almost completely social gospel-inspired Protestant denomination is the Presbyterian Church, USA. An example of an almost entirely evangelical denomination is the Southern Baptist Convention. Examples of famous social gospel preachers include: Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Reinhold Niebuhr, Walter Rauschenbausch, and Jim Wallis (that guy who wrote "God's Politics.")
The most famous example of an evangelical preacher is Rev. Billy Graham. However, I think it's important to point out two subsets of Evangelical Christians:
1) The Combo!- Many people have been able to successfully incorporate BOTH systems of thought into their lives. Jimmy Carter is an example. He convinced Deng Xiaoping to allow Bibles and Christian meetings in China, and teaches Sunday School every week- evangelical. But he also builds homes for the poor, campaigns for free elections, and fosters peace treaties...social gospel (or the Catholic equivalent, Liberation Theology. Not going there.) Other examples of The Combo include Jim Wallis, CS Lewis, the members of U2, Millard Fuller and Clarence Jordan (founders of Habitat for Humanity) and Booth (founder of Salvation Army.) The Combo is nearly always progressive, i.e. on our side.
2) The Fundies! This subcategory of evangelicals sees "moral decay" as the primary public concern. They also like capitalism a lot. The Fundies are nearly always conservative, i.e. not on our side. But sometimes they can be convinced by the Combo people. Kerry couldn't convince fundies to vote for him, but Carter did a little. Jesse Jackson can't convince Jesse Helms to help Africans, but Bono did a little. Go figure.
Hope that clarified some things for some people. Yes, it's kind of oversimplified. Here is a Wikipedia article on the Social Gospel Movement:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_gospel