- Christianity and Class ConsciousnessSearching the Pews for Labor’s Allies
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Imagine if the labor movement, inside and outside of unions, looked to theologically conservative Protestants to help rebuild the strength and revitalize the energy of working people throughout the United States. A glance back to the late 1970s is not encouraging. Consider Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority and its exuberant claim that it helped pave the way for Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980.
The pain from the crushing of the PATCO strike in the first year of his presidency still throbs. Employing replacement workers during strikes continues to hamstring union power.
A Proposal for the Labor Movement
With labor on the ropes in a troubled economy, it pays to know where allies can be found. Tens of millions of Protestants in the United States hold conservative views of theology and scripture. It is tempting to suppose that this side of the Protestant theological spectrum is monochromatic and that all born-again Christians readily align themselves with the goals of the Christian Right. Resistance to this temptation, however, enables one to make distinctions where they matter, as some of these Protestants are allies of labor. If there is to be a new forum for labor, some conservative Protestants will have to be part of the conversation.
A survey of theologically conservative Protestants gives us insight into the complex terrain of this dynamic aspect of American Protestantism and a context for venturing into one such church, New Covenant Christian Community, just minutes from the long [End Page 71] shadows of Bethlehem Steel’s blast furnaces in Pennsylvania. Interviews with parishioners there comprise one part of a larger project to investigate how working-class Protestants from theologically conservative churches or denominations think about work and work-related power. Most observers do not associate white, theologically conservative Protestant congregants in the United States with being at the forefront of the major social justice initiatives that began at the end of World War II. But theologically conservative Protestants—who treat the Bible as a guide to daily living—have no reason to sit out all social justice struggles and have perspectives worth pondering.
The Varieties of Protestant Experience
Organizations such as Focus on the Family—founded by James Dobson—or Tony Perkins’s Family Research Council do not represent the majority of theologically conservative Protestants who are only active churchgoers. If one separates these Protestants from the religious and political organizations that wish to claim them, another step remains. While many identify as born again, the churches and the denominations in which born-again Christians practice their faith will describe themselves variously as evangelical, fundamentalist, or Pentecostal. Some may even combine these labels. The differences within these broad camps make it exceedingly difficult to provide general accounts of their beliefs and practices—but the distinctions matter greatly to believers. They can also help outsiders make sense of the ways they think about their daily work and the labor movement.
It is useful to begin with evangelicalism because of all the terms used to describe theologically conservative Protestants, it is the oldest, the most inclusive, and the most readily acceptable to the other traditions. The Greek word from the New Testament, euangelion, means the gospel or the good news of the saving work of Jesus. Those who “accept Jesus as personal savior” are “saved” and those who do not need conversion. Even liberal Protestants—such as those who belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America—concur on the importance of this concept, while disagreeing on the need for a conversion experience to attain salvation.
Most evangelicals trace their history to the beginning of the Protestant Reformation and its emphasis on the encompassing sufficiency of grace, faith, and scripture. Evangelicals are found everywhere within theologically conservative Protestant communities in the United States, and their ranks include whites, African-Americans, Caribbean-born blacks, Asians and Asian-Americans, and Native Americans. Accounts of the vigorous emergence of evangelical Protestants in Hispanic communities will soon fill bookshelves. Evangelical and non-evangelical theologians and historians persist in attempts to make sense...