| Fundamentalist preacher Carl McIntire played an important role in the politicization of fundamentalism. His political beliefs and activism complicate the standard accountings for the rise of modern conservatism and the New Christian Right. Hispolitics were inherited from Gresham Machen and were rooted in the nineteenth century tension between evangelical Whigs and confessional Democrats. McIntire's libertarian political philosophy coalesced during the denominational politics of the fundamentalist -- modernist controversy of the 1920s and '30s.He criticized theological modernists for supporting an expansion of federal government authority and being "soft" on communism. He gained national attention for his campaigns to purchases airtime on radio stations. McIntire influenced a number of prominent fundamentalist leaders, like Billy Hargis, Fred Schwarz, and Francis Schaeffer. McIntire's political consciousness can be used to describe the concepts of "ideological creep" and "mainstreaming."... |
