Piety and Public Funding

Evangelicals and the State in Modern America

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Government, Social Policy, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century, Religion & Spirituality
Cover of the book Piety and Public Funding by Axel R. Schäfer, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Axel R. Schäfer ISBN: 9780812206593
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: June 28, 2012
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Axel R. Schäfer
ISBN: 9780812206593
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: June 28, 2012
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

How is it that some conservative groups are viscerally antigovernment even while enjoying the benefits of government funding? In Piety and Public Funding historian Axel R. Schäfer offers a compelling answer to this question by chronicling how, in the first half century since World War II, conservative evangelical groups became increasingly adept at accommodating their hostility to the state with federal support.

Though holding to the ideals of church-state separation, evangelicals gradually took advantage of expanded public funding opportunities for religious foreign aid, health care, education, and social welfare. This was especially the case during the Cold War, when groups such as the National Association of Evangelicals were at the forefront of battling communism at home and abroad. It was evident, too, in the Sunbelt, where the military-industrial complex grew exponentially after World War II and where the postwar right would achieve its earliest success. Contrary to evangelicals' own claims, liberal public policies were a boon for, not a threat to, their own institutions and values. The welfare state, forged during the New Deal and renewed by the Great Society, hastened—not hindered—the ascendancy of a conservative political movement that would, in turn, use its resurgence as leverage against the very system that helped create it.

By showing that the liberal state's dependence on private and nonprofit social services made it vulnerable to assaults from the right, Piety and Public Funding brings a much needed historical perspective to a hotly debated contemporary issue: the efforts of both Republican and Democratic administrations to channel federal money to "faith-based" organizations. It suggests a major reevaluation of the religious right, which grew to dominate evangelicalism by exploiting institutional ties to the state while simultaneously brandishing a message of free enterprise and moral awakening.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

How is it that some conservative groups are viscerally antigovernment even while enjoying the benefits of government funding? In Piety and Public Funding historian Axel R. Schäfer offers a compelling answer to this question by chronicling how, in the first half century since World War II, conservative evangelical groups became increasingly adept at accommodating their hostility to the state with federal support.

Though holding to the ideals of church-state separation, evangelicals gradually took advantage of expanded public funding opportunities for religious foreign aid, health care, education, and social welfare. This was especially the case during the Cold War, when groups such as the National Association of Evangelicals were at the forefront of battling communism at home and abroad. It was evident, too, in the Sunbelt, where the military-industrial complex grew exponentially after World War II and where the postwar right would achieve its earliest success. Contrary to evangelicals' own claims, liberal public policies were a boon for, not a threat to, their own institutions and values. The welfare state, forged during the New Deal and renewed by the Great Society, hastened—not hindered—the ascendancy of a conservative political movement that would, in turn, use its resurgence as leverage against the very system that helped create it.

By showing that the liberal state's dependence on private and nonprofit social services made it vulnerable to assaults from the right, Piety and Public Funding brings a much needed historical perspective to a hotly debated contemporary issue: the efforts of both Republican and Democratic administrations to channel federal money to "faith-based" organizations. It suggests a major reevaluation of the religious right, which grew to dominate evangelicalism by exploiting institutional ties to the state while simultaneously brandishing a message of free enterprise and moral awakening.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book Confronting Suburban School Resegregation in California by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book Between Cultures by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book Wild Frenchmen and Frenchified Indians by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book Frontier Country by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book The Markets for Force by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book Tragicomic Redemptions by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book The Varieties of Political Experience in Eighteenth-Century America by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book Nightclub City by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book Sister Carrie by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book Florence and Its Church in the Age of Dante by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book The People's Network by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book God's Country by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book Lost Letters of Medieval Life by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book Wordsworth's Poetry, 1815-1845 by Axel R. Schäfer
Cover of the book Mayor by Axel R. Schäfer
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy