41 years ago today, 200K [mostly white] evangelicals gathered in the National Mall for the Washington for Jesus rally.

I've talked about this before, but there are a few aspects worth highlighting.

Important to note: 1980 was a critical year for solidifying the political power of the Christian Right, marked by 3 key events
The first was Washington for Jesus, held on April 29, a date chosen because its historic significance (more on that whitewashed moment in a minute)

In a nutshell, Washington for Jesus was 13-hours of evangelical hand-wringing and fearmongering rhetoric, disguised as a happy fun time Jesus worship service.

Rally organizers insisted that this wasn't a political event, just a bunch of Christians who wanted to gather and "pray"

Key leaders consistently quoted in the news on the non-political nature of the rally:
John Gimenez, VA Beach pastor and brainchild of WFJ
his buddy, Pat Robertson, who was overseeing a growing Christian media empire
Pat's buddy, Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ

John Gimenez, quoted in the Washington Post 2 days before the rally:

"We're not coming to denounce anyone, we're coming to pray."

Gimenez, several months earlier, to a group of Christian leaders:

Here's Bill Bright, making a totally non-political statement about the US "losing our freedom to a foreign power"

Demos Shakarian, founder of the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship, recounting his completely non-political visits with members of Congress:

And in case the purpose of the rally wasn't crystal clear, here is Ben Kinchlow, co-host of the 700 Club, encouraging the crowd to stretch out their hands toward the Capitol building (in prayer, of course), so that they "return to the principles of God"

This particular moment was actually described years later by Carol Owen, a WFJ volunteer, in a PBS documentary

transcript of the entire interview: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/peoplescentury/episodes/godfightsback/owentranscript.html

The most telling part comes from the rally attendees quoted in this article the day after the WFJ rally:

"Nobody's coming here to pressure a congressman. We're here to say, 'Do what God tells you to do.'"


https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/04/30/vast-and-joyous-crowd/0962a94c-863b-46da-9a9c-93c10721affe/

The contradictory nature of the Washington for Jesus narrative is worth noting as an example of the Christian Right's history of gaslighting "I'm not doing the thing" while blatantly DOING THE THING nonsense

This is the kind of performative 'aw shucks I'm just a humble Christian' schtick while using political clout to screw over everyone except wealthy white dudes that I grew up hearing

Although the Washington for Jesus rally received little media attention, it aired on all 3 Christian media channels and is credited for getting the attention of members of Congress and painting the Christian Right as a political force that shouldn't be ignored

Also important context around April 1980:
-Iran hostage crisis
-Pres Carter lost white xtian support once it was clear he wasn't *their* type of Christian
-conservative takeover of Southern Baptists 1 year before (Ardrian Rogers, the new SBC president, was a speaker at WFJ)

So much more to say on historical impact of Washington for Jesus, but I'll end for now w/quote from evangelist James Robison:
“We’re not here to Christianize the government. Jesus left us here to Christianize the world-all of it, including the government.”

Later today I'll post links to all the sources for this thread

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