Was it a little thing like an election-day exit poll that propelled the sidelined and caricatured American evangelical onto center stage? Evangelicals might still be caricatured, but they now have the undivided atten- tion of both media and liberals, who are scratching their heads about evangelicals and why they’ve become so influential.

Time magazine explored the influence of evangelicals in its Feb. 7 cover article, trying to defi ne this broad group of people, identify its most infl uential leaders, and anticipate what they will demand of a more conservative legislature. Evangelicals are showing up on all sorts of TV news and talk shows, like D. James Kennedy’s May 18 interview on National Public Radio. Even Business Week took notice, devoting its May 23 cover story to “Evangelical America: Big Business. Explosive Politics.” (See RPWitness.com for links.)

Evangelicals comprise 36 percent of the U.S. population, says Business Week, making them the largest voting block when one separates citizens into religious categories. That fact alone is enough to get people’s attention. Religious people who aren’t in the evangelical category are feeling defensive as well, saying things that sound like, “We’re moral too” or “We believe in Jesus at least as much as you do and actually try to live it out.”

Are the hearts of Reformed Presbyterians enthralled that their Bible-centered convictions are now embraced by so many? Are we encouraged that there might now be enough voters to actually acknowledge that Christ is indeed the true head of this nation? Or are we wary of this fl eeting fame, and wary of the broad-brushing that has painted evangelicals into the majority?

Francis Schaeffer, whose L’Abri project is commemorated in the Watchwords column in this issue, spoke and wrote of “The Great Evangelical Disaster.” And David Wells, author of No Place for Truth, 10 years ago wrote a Banner of Truth pamphlet titled, The Bleeding of the Evangelical Church. Some people who call themselves evangelicals, including a famous TV pastor, can’t even bring themselves to acknowledge the Trinity. If the sur- veys are right, many self-styled evangelicals aren’t just a little short on Bible knowledge. They don’t even know how to be saved from their sins. And some special-interest groups with “evangelical” in their name deconstruct and dilute the Scriptures in advancing their immoral agendas.

Amidst this great stir over evangelicals, it’s hard to know whether to feel elated, grieved, hopeful, or concerned. Reformed Presbyterians are evangelicals in one sense, and we’ve had a small but significant influence as such (being part of the National Association of Evangelicals, for one).

In another sense, we’re nothing like the evangelicals in the news features. Our identity and our agenda, while occurring in the context of culture, and while addressing that culture, do not stream from the culture, and they never will. I’d be happy to read your letters on this subject of very current interest.