“Prior to Roe v. Wade, the term evangelical was exclusively a spiritual term.

The American political landscape is littered with abuses of words: terms specifically commandeered to evoke emotional or visceral responses to trigger electoral action. None has had as significant an impact as the hijacking of the term ‘evangelical.’

“Prior to Roe v. Wade, the term evangelical was exclusively a spiritual term. Today, sadly, it is used primarily as a political term,” said author and Oxford historian Christopher Catherwood.

Using the widely accepted doctrinal guidelines of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and the 1974 Lausanne Covenant, Catherwood has publically identified some surprising traits and controversial political positions of evangelicals in his new book, The Evangelicals: What They Believe, Where They Are and Their Politics that could help us understand the November 2010 elections.

Evangelicals are EMBARASSED to be associated with the term evangelical:

“Many evangelicals in the two-thirds world (Asia, Africa, Latin America) found the description of evangelical a highly embarrassing one during the presidency of George W. Bush, who was, perhaps, the highest profile evangelical.” (, Page 126)

Evangelicals are NOT—as political pundits suggest—middle-aged, white males who vote Republican:

“[Americans] were embarrassed as Republicans, as evangelicals [under the Bush administration].” (Page 127)

“…the link [for evangelicals to vote Republican] may no longer be automatic, or knee-jerk.” (Page 142)

“….for the first time since Carter, [Obama] was a Democratic candidate for whom evangelical votes actually mattered.” (Page 142)

While evangelicals are perceived as an influential voting bloc, Catherwood argues that Republicans—and media—no longer know who “the evangelicals” really are:

“What matters are the evangelical core beliefs that [Christians] hold … rather than those differences that denominations tend to highlight.” (Page 33)

In fact, Catherwood points out that one CAN be an evangelical and an ecologically-minded, liberal, democrat. As a result, “Politicians on both sides of the political divide will have to work for their votes, as has been the case in Britain and similar countries for a long time….Republicans will have to woo evangelicals properly rather than simply seeing them as a bloc vote to be taken totally for granted.” (Page 143)

Published by Crossway and scheduled for release Aug. 31, The Evangelicals: What They Believe, Where They Are and Their Politics is a bold first step in helping the faithful take back the true label of evangelical and, in doing so, serves as a foundation that could radically change the political landscape.

About the Author:
A former Rockefeller Fellow and current Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow, Christopher Catherwood teaches Balkan and Middle Eastern history at Cambridge University, with a special emphasis on the conflicts between Christianity and Islam. Educated at Westminster School, Balliol College, Oxford, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and the University of East Anglia, Catherwood combines his “insider” Christian perspective with his “outsider” educational background to create his many historical best-sellers. A Grandson of the well-known British preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Catherwood is author of several books—university-level history textbooks and Christian commentary—including Churchill’s Folly: Winston Churchill and the Creation of Iraq and Church History: A Crash Course for the Curious.