Remember that post from earlier this month about Patrick Henry College? Well, today the author of “God’s Harvard” debates on Slate whether American’s should be scared of “Evangelical Elites” with “a real, live evangelical who worked at the White House and lived to write about it.”
I certainly met some Patrick Henry students who would be happy to establish a theocracy. But they tend not to be chosen for White House jobs. As you well know, there is usually an inverse relationship between vocalized extremism and political success, which is why the impending theocracy thesis is not all that convincing. That said, the Bush administration accomplished something unique in American history. It provided formal training for hundreds of what I call the evangelical elites, the first generation of conservative Christians who take political power for granted and feel entitledâin fact, compelledâby their faith to hold public office.
Patrick Henry kids were usually transformed by their White House internships. They went out drinking with Republican staffers or argued with them about Iraq. Theologically, the first thing to go was the six-day creationism. But they didn’t change their views about homosexuality or the environment or taxes, or the overall view that a Christian could feel at home only among Republicans.
I’m waiting for David Kuo’s response.
