Religion: U.S. Evangelicals: Moving Again

UNTIL the end of the 19th century, evangelistic Christianity nearly always meant a heroic dedication both to spreading the Gospel and to helping one's fellow man. In England, Philanthropist William Wilberforce typified that spirit when, after his conversion, he led the fight for abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire. In the U.S., too, evangelicals were involved in the abolitionist movement and in fights against civic corruption, poverty, prostitution and "demon rum." Only as the 19th century waned did the shock of the newly secular world and a creeping pessimism about man cause...