During the second half of the 20th century, there were a lot of political movements going through religious movements, political controversially, and social movements including civil rights gay rights, and women’s rights movements. Carl McIntire was a pastor and broadcaster that used his platform to push his political beliefs to his viewers. McIntire was a Right-wing figure that had a “his way or no way” ideal way of life. When his church was falling to a left-wing side of politics he left the congregation. Every time he created a new church, the congregation formed a too-liberal or too-left-wing side of the political spectrum, and he broke the congregation. He lost many court cases, some involving keeping the buildings where he was forming his congregations.
When he started to broadcast to the public, he was accused of not following the Fairness Doctrine on his channel. The Fairness Doctrine stated that if you were pushing on belief on the radio then you would also need to have the other aspect represented on your channel as well. The constant refusal to follow the fairness doctrine resulted in McIntire being taken off the air. He was yet still determined to be on the air, so he found a way around him essentially being blacklisted from being on the air.
McIntire was a determined man that tended to not back down, he didn’t let his failures stop him from trying to succeed. He battled with the supreme court many times yet failed with every one of them. Every time he started a congregation, the tended to lean away from his beliefs, so he kept trying to get followers that truly believed in what he was teaching. His determination helped him become and instrumental piece in the formation of the Christian Right. I think that neo-evangelicalism was important for US politics during this time because it made up a lot of people who were fighting for the nation to stay the same. Many of these neo-evangelicalism movements rose after the civil rights movement became a fighting aspect in America, the resistance against using prayer and reading from the bible in schools and the introduction to sex education within the school. Many of these neo-evangelicals wanted the nation to not change and keep what they already know. Hence them helping with the rise of the conservative consensus as conservatives weren’t keen on change. Although many right-leaning people are considered conservatives, McIntire was strongly opposed to neo-evangelicalism.
Will Wright 