'Negative world': How an evangelical theory became Christian fundamentalism’s 'dominant framework'

07 March

When Donald Trump declared, "I am your retribution" during his 2024 campaign, his far-right white evangelicals supporters were quite receptive to that message. Many white Christian nationalists view themselves as a persecuted minority, and Trump is promising to defend them.

Trump's predecessor in the White House, former President Joe Biden, is known for being a devout Catholic — and Biden isn't shy about discussing his faith. But Trump and his Christian nationalist allies often claimed that Biden's presidency was hostile to Christianity.

The New York Times' Ruth Graham, in an article published on March 7, explains how a term by evangelical activist Aaron Renn is giving a voice to the sense of persecution that many right-wing evangelicals have.

Renn's term is "negative world," which, in his view, means a country that is hostile to Christianity. And that messaging, Graham emphasizes, has really caught on among fundamentalist Protestant evangelicals.

"On the Christian Right…. a thesis is emerging: If conservative Christians are no longer a 'moral majority,' but a moral minority, they must shift tactics," Graham explains. "They ought to be less concerned with persuading the rest of the country they are relevant and can fit perfectly well in secular spaces. They don't."

Graham continues, "Instead, they must consider abandoning mainstream institutions like public schools and build their own alternatives. They must pursue ownership of businesses and real estate. And they must stop triangulating away from difficult teachings on matters like sexuality and gender differences. Resilience over relevance."

Renn's "negative world" theory, according to Graham, "is now the dominant framework for many people trying to understand their place in contemporary America."

"The idea has inspired conferences, sermons, and countless response essays and blog posts," Graham observes. "A reviewer in Christianity Today called it 'among the most thought-provoking ideas pertaining to American evangelicalism this century.'"

Graham adds, "'Negative world' has turned Mr. Renn into a kind of Malcolm Gladwell of conservative Christianity, a skilled taxonomist known for distilling and naming a phenomenon that many were feeling but none had articulated."

Read Ruth Graham's full article for the New York Times at this link (subscription required).

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