Aaron M. Renn is the author of “Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture.”
Evangelicals are 23 percent of U.S. adults and one of the most loyal Republican voting blocs, with 81 percent backing Donald Trump in 2024. Yet despite six of the nine Supreme Court justices being appointed by Republican presidents, there are no evangelicals on the Supreme Court.
This is just one of the many elite institutions in which evangelicals are absent or underrepresented. Evangelicals have excelled in politics, producing figures such as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana). They are also prominent in well-run and profitable businesses with relatively low cultural impact, such as food processing (Tyson Foods) and retail (Hobby Lobby). But they are all but absent from the leadership of prestigious universities, major foundations, Big Tech companies, leading financial firms and large media companies.
One response to this situation might be: Who cares?
If American institutions were functioning well, that attitude might be justified. But public trust in everything from higher education and large technology companies to science and newspapers has declined in recent years. And this erosion has begun to endanger the status of those institutions, as reflected in Trump’s campaign against universities.
A stronger evangelical presence in elite institutions could strengthen them while addressing polarization and public mistrust. The lack of evangelicals in the halls of power contributes to anti-institutional public sentiment. It also deprives those institutions of an important pool of talent.
As a minority in a country that has become post-Christian in many respects, evangelicals can’t and shouldn’t seek to dominate national leadership roles. A diverse society will draw its talent from all quarters. But for that very reason, it can’t be healthy when nearly one-quarter of the national population is failing to contribute its fair share.
Even if they weren’t such a large share of the population, evangelicals would have something important to offer. America was historically a Protestant country, and much of its culture and institutional structure has Protestant roots. Also, as a traditionally middle-class movement, evangelicalism has thrived by being in touch with the culture and concerns of middle- and working-class America.
Given these facts, evangelicals are well-positioned to understand what resonates with the broad middle in America. By bringing this knowledge to c-suites and lecture halls, they can help bridge the divide that separates the elite from the rest of the country. Indeed, one reason evangelical politicians have done so well at winning elections is their ability to respond to the concerns of non-college-educated Americans.
Evangelicals bear a measure of responsibility for their absence from leading institutions. Too often they turn away from career paths that would allow them to take leadership in society. More evangelicals need to acquire the credentials, experiences and networks necessary to reach the pinnacle of society-shaping industries. There are simply too few evangelicals presently qualified for or even interested in those positions today. Also, evangelicals need to do better at productively collaborating with people who have different beliefs — a necessity in a pluralistic country.
Evangelicals can also help address a broader issue American institutions face. The political analyst Yuval Levin has observed that Americans too often see the organizations to which they belong as mere platforms by which they can raise their profile, build their brand and advance their career. Or they channel their energy into political grievance and culture wars. For this reason, institutions atrophy and critical problems such as civic cohesion, economic dynamism and family formation go unaddressed. It is toward these fundamental issues that American elites should be directing their attention and efforts.
Evangelicals have some advantages they can use to address these problems — most notably, their long history of ministering to people facing some of the most serious problems in life. Though evangelicals value above all the saving of souls, they also believe in seeing lives transformed through the power of the Gospel. There are long-standing and effective evangelical ministries to the incarcerated, the homeless, addicts and the poor. Examples include the Prison Fellowship, founded by Chuck Colson, and Samaritan’s Purse, the humanitarian-aid organization run by Franklin Graham. These and other evangelical nonprofits have earned the trust of a mass donor constituency, not just wealthy benefactors. Their focus on real-world problems and ability to gain widespread buy-in are things mainstream American institutions are sorely lacking.
Given their connection to America’s religious history, their attentiveness to the concerns of non-college-educated Americans and their sheer demographic weight, evangelicals have a great deal to contribute to American society. Increasing the evangelical presence in boardrooms, elite universities and high courts would not only give those institutions access to a large pool of talent. It would also help restore trust in American institutions and ensure that they really do represent America in all its diversity.
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