While ‘evil’ has long played a role in American civil-religious political discourse, there is a unique quality in the Bush administration’s framing of both its foreign and domestic policy in terms of a struggle between good and evil. This article examines the political and religious foundations underlying this framing. Three arguments shape the discussion. First, the Bush administration, following a political strategy influenced by neoconservatives and the religious right, has attempted to revive culture-war nationalism to define and defend American values. Second, when this strategy is coupled with an economic policy of free market capitalism, as is the case in the 2002 National Security Strategy, a paradox emerges between the conservative values of culture-war nationalism and the values associated with global capitalism. And, third, the Bush administration has at times been able to exploit the unease caused by this paradox to garner domestic political support. Such a strategy draws links between the domestic culture war and the global war on terror, revealing the influence of a political alliance between neoconservatives and the religious right in shaping the Bush administration’s understanding of evil in the twentyfirst century.