The evangelical voting bloc that he had united was starting to turn on itself. Green: This part was not exactly in RalphвЂ™s plan, though. Kirk: And if every church was as involved as this church-especially in this last election-uh, things would have looked a lot differently. Green: People in the evangelical world were trying to figure out what went wrong, and who was to blame. Green: This congregation is exactly the kind that the political operative Ralph Reed dreamed of all those years ago: a powerful church community that took its role in politics seriously. Kirk: My goodness, it was hard to watch yesterday. Green: The pastor at Calvary had invited the conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk to speak to the congregation after Trump left office. ItвЂ™s amazing what happens when you keep your church open, right? (Cheers.) ( A sort of drumroll, like that of a timpani, plays up and brings the cheering back.)Д®mma Green: The day after Joe Biden was inaugurated, thousands of people gathered for an event at Calvary Chapel, an evangelical megachurch in southern California.Д¬harlie Kirk: ItвЂ™s a good group check. Now, for Part 2, Atlantic staff writer Emma Green is gonna take it from here. ItвЂ™s the story of how one man, political operative Ralph Reed, built the evangelical voting bloc over decades, and how he helped Donald Trump get elected. If you havenвЂ™t listened to Part 1, stop right there! Go back to last weekвЂ™s episode, and listen to that first. This weekвЂ™s episode is Part 2 of a two-part series. ( The sounds of a crowd cheering play up for a moment, then are whisked away.) Martin.ДЄ transcript of this episode is presented below: Additional audio from Real Life With Jack Hibbs, Matthew Phan, C-SPAN, ABC News, and Roland S. Additional music performed by Lecrae, courtesy of Reach Records, arranged by The Orchard (вЂњ Dirty WaterвЂќ and вЂњ Take Me as I AmвЂќ). Music by Ob (вЂњ MogвЂќ and вЂњ WoldвЂќ), water feature (вЂњ richard iii (duke of gloucesterвЂќ), Keyboard (вЂњ My AtelierвЂќ), Laundry (вЂњ Lawn FeelingвЂќ), Norvis Junior (вЂњ Overworld 7636вЂќ and (вЂњ Grim Reapers Groove 94вЂќ), and Nelson Bandela (вЂњ 311 Howard Ave 25 5740вЂќ and вЂњ Auddi Sun 09 Lop Lop 722вЂќ), provided by Tasty Morsels and Nelson Nance. Editing by Julia Longoria and Emily Botein. Use the hashtag #TheExperimentPodcast, or write to us at episode was produced by Katherine Wells and Alvin Melathe, with reporting by Emma Green. This week on The Experiment: the story of an evangelical artist who found his voice and lost his church.ДЇurther reading: The Unofficial Racism Consultants to the White Evangelical World, How Trump Lost an Evangelical Stalwart, The Tiny Blond Bible Teacher Taking On the Evangelical Political MachineД«e part of The Experiment. Among Christians, the Trump eraвЂ™s legacy might be fracture, not unity. People of all kinds of backgrounds have felt gutted by Christian support for Trump. White evangelicals have arguably never been more powerful as a political force in America than they are now, but political victory has a human cost. He lost money and fans, friends and mentors. When he saw how strongly the evangelical world was going to champion Donald Trump, he decided to speak out. He started writing lyrics about race and the hypocrisy he saw among Christians, who he felt paid lip service to diversity but didnвЂ™t form substantive relationships with other communities. He was disturbed by the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, but faced backlash on social media for saying so. He was inspired by Barack ObamaвЂ™s election, but felt unable to share that with his evangelical audiences. Over time, though, he began to notice how much politics influenced his church culture. He found success as an artist and built a career in the white evangelical world. His mentors and community were predominantly white and very conservative, but that didnвЂ™t really bother him. As a Black college student, he found a sense of belonging in Bible study. Lecrae Moore came up in a Christian culture deeply entwined with politics: Evangelicals were Republicans, and Republicans were evangelicals.

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