Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

In the 1990s, a Christian men’s organization, the Promise Keepers, adopted many conservative evangelical views, including opposition to gay sexuality and abortion. A leading Promise Keeper and popular evangelical writer, Gary Cole, tried to find a “middle way” between hard, rugged masculinity and modern effeminacy. He argued that the model of masculinity from Jesus included traits like sensitivity, “urged men to get in touch with their emotions” (152), and endorsed more egalitarian approaches to marriage.

Evangelicals like Gary Cole promoted “servant leadership,” which “framed male authority as obligation, sacrifice, and service” (153). This attitude toward masculinity fit with the economic situation of the 1990s, which forced both women and men in many married households, even evangelical ones, to hold jobs. Even then, the Promise Keepers used harsh and militaristic rhetoric against feminists and other enemies.

In public rallies, the Promise Keepers and other conservative evangelicals used sports metaphors as a “more palatable alternative” (156) to militaristic language. However, this language still presents a patriarchal view of the world. In addition, the Promise Keepers softened conservative evangelical rhetoric through the concept of “racial reconciliation.” This approach was criticized for presenting racism as an individual moral failing rather than acknowledging “structural inequalities.