16 December 2022
The United States’ inception is strongly predicated on the trends of Europe around the 16th and 17th centuries when the Mayflower set sail[i]. Carrying over 100 passengers, the ship departed from England to the new land of America, seeking opportunity and religious freedom. At the time, the dominant Church of England, an Anglican sect of Christianity with practices derived from Roman Catholicism, had not been fully reformed by the Calvinist movement of the 16th century[ii]. These people, the Puritans — reformed Protestants, carried this religion into the foundation of this nation. The religion influenced what would become one of many bastions of Christianity in the 21st century — The United States of America.
The effects of Puritanism and Calvinism on America continue to this day. With a large portion of Americans still identifying as Protestant Christians, this religious sect has upheld itself over the course of many centuries. Not only has it survived, but it has shaped social, economic, and political discourse since the nation’s inception. One new social trend, anti-genderism, a quasi-Catholic denial of gender discourse and transgender rights, has taken root in parts of the Protestant-Evangelical religious base and voter bloc. Though much of the West and many majority-Muslim nations have seen this trend rise, the American anti-genderist base has a direct link to its Puritan and Calvinist roots.
The loosely unified “anti-gender” movement encompasses a wide range of issues, most often targeting gender-nondiscrimination and gender-affirming medical care. Many characteristically anti-gender laws have been proliferated by the right-wing in America. Such politicians declare these issues as highly important, protecting society from the evils of “genderism.” And in America, the movement is as much a socioeconomic one as it is a religious one. Culminating in the modern Evangelical voter, the anti-gender movement of America pulls from the economic foundations of 16th century Calvinism and the religious ideology of 18th century Protestantism.
Calvinism to Capitalism – Puritans & Calvin’s “work ethic”
The U.S. is a nation fundamentally built upon the tenants of Calvinism, which the Puritans brought with them. Founder John Calvin, theologian, and French Protestant Reformer, lived in the first half of the 16th century in France and throughout Europe, charting a new direction for Christianity. Calvinism declared separation from contemporary Christians, claiming that their teachings “relied too much on human reason rather than the Bible.”[iii] Calvin’s contributions spread widely, but among his greatest was his view on utilitarianism. Though early utilitarianism is traceable to many theists, many more atheists began to pick it up for its potential to be “godless,” a moral philosophy built upon the will and direction of people without the need for a god-driven moral code[iv].
For Calvin, humans could only act on their utility through practical knowledge. God knew all absolutely, while humans knew only what was required of them to meet their utility. The truths that God chose to reveal to humanity were already laid out in the Bible; nothing more was necessary.
Thus, the notion of work ethic became one of Calvin’s lasting tenants to American capitalism and Protestantism. Calvin’s work on predestination, laid out in Institutes of the Christian Religion, came to be known as “Calvinist work ethic.” In society, some lucky few were predestined “elects,” who were guaranteed a spot in heaven no matter what, and the rest were “reprobates,” damned to hell no matter what.[v] There was no way to tell for sure to which group you belonged. Calvin later had to respond to the anxiety he induced among followers; to get closer to the truth of your predestination, you must work. Calvin “[built] on Luther’s notion of the calling… you could develop self-assurance in your status as elect by working faithfully in your calling… tirelessly.” [vi]
To work tirelessly devoted to God was an effort to attain grace. For Protestants of the time, grace was essentially a cloak over the human soul (which they believed was tainted), one that God would look favorably on if He saw. Meanwhile, Catholics receive grace from God as a purifier; it removes the sinful nature of our souls and “saves [believers].”[vii] Protestants began adopting incredibly rigid routines, systematically focused on grace alone. Thus, “Protestants had no room in their lives for anything superfluous.”[viii] Superfluity can be seen as any such thing that detracts from the goal of work: personal pleasure or hobbies. These ideas became the buds of the future American capitalist system.
At the time of the American Revolution, “about two-thirds of the colonial population had been trained in the school of Calvin.”[ix] The war required a “moral sanction” and the religious freedom of the American people in opposition to British religious rule was just that[x]. Thus, the tenants of Calvinism became the fuel for war, fuel for the foundation of the new United States of America.
The notions of tireless work to God and the removal of distractions from God’s will were carried through the war and beyond. Where noted anti-capitalist philosopher Karl Marx argued that religion was “the opiate of the masses,”[xi] a type of medicine to the suffering of capitalism, sociologist Max Weber argued oppositely: religions [such as Protestantism] “made the modern capitalist world possible.”[xii] Calvin himself is noted to be both in support and opposed to capitalism directly, though, “his acolytes used his teachings to support unbridled capitalism”[xiii]
Reforming Protestants in America – Beyond the “Puritan,” toward the “Evangelical”
Classic Puritanism did not stick around forever, however. Protestantism went through several waves of further reform in America and beyond, and Protestants became separated into conservative and liberal sects. During the First Great Awakening (1730s-1770s), scholars like George Whitefield introduced the concept of evangelicalism — simply spreading the Gospel. Out of the First Great Awakening also came Methodism, a prominent religion of the American South.
As liberal Protestantism rose in Germany and began to influence America during the Second Great Awakening (1790-1840), “Calvinism declined.”[xiv] The Second & Third Great Awakenings (late 1850s-1920) were key in transcending influence into American social life: abolition, prohibition, and other social causes. Causes such as prohibition reflect a Protestant disapproval of “secularist” trends, such as the consumption of alcohol. Legislation of this era in America reflected Protestant Christian doctrine more closely than any other moral standard.
Evangelicals rose to prominence as the American Protestant unit split in the 19th and 20th centuries. The split reflected a conflict between conservative and liberal ideology, with Evangelicals dominating the conservative sphere in social teaching and reflection of biblical tenants. This split, alongside the belief that evangelicalism is as much a social movement as it is a religion, gave way to the numerous political and social causes that Evangelicals rallied behind. While Puritans’ religiosity may not be the key link to current Evangelicals, the Protestants of Germany and Belgium are. In Modern America, Evangelical Protestants make up almost a majority of Americans – 46%.
The influence of the modern evangelical is dual-sided: one-part economic Calvinism, and one-part religious Protestant, coming together to create the fire of anti-genderism.
Still, modern America is seeing a Calvinist revival, particularly among Evangelicals. As “attendance at Calvin-influenced worship conferences and churches is up, particularly among worshipers in their 20s and 30s,” [xv] the ideology is returning to the notion of obedience to the Bible’s teachings. New Calvinists have invaded both conservative and liberal branches of the clergy; conservative members are already likely to “take conservative positions on Scripture and on social issues,”[xvi] while liberal members may not subscribe to every tenant. The conservative Evangelicals and new Calvinists are those who align closely with anti-genderism.
Anti-Gender Movement
The Catholic Church has been particularly influential in the anti-gender movement in terms of the Vatican’s retaliation to UN policy on gender. The term “anti-genderism” attempts to define a large sect of anti-trans, pro-gender binary, anti-LGBT, etc., ideology and legislation. Though the movement is largely un-unified (there is no membership like a political party), it likely began in the late 20th century, when the Holy See – the ruling name over the Vatican – noted that gender, as a term itself, threatened to “attack and destabilize the natural family.”[xvii] Pope John Paul II wrote that the male sex and the female sex were meant to be kept as separate and distinct. Gender and sex were largely seen as one in the same during this era, but as gender studies began to rise in popularity, the notion that gender and sex were separate and distinguishable ideas became more popular.
Pope Benedict XVI connected transgender-affirmative policy to the feminist gender-as-construct critique. The gender-as-construct critique theorized that gender was a distinct category apart from sex. Masculinity and femininity were not biological — they were social, constructed by society to keep the sexes in line. However, the new anti-gender movement is distinctive from past understandings of anti-feminism. It reflects new targets: transgender people, gender as a concept (i.e., pronoun usage), and policies promoting the recognition of gender in everyday lives.
Though the movement itself is new, anti-gender protests and right-wing adoption thereof are even newer – emerging as recently as within the past 10 years. Anti-gender policy, most attentively about gender-affirming care in children, and transgenderism in sports, is on the rise.[xviii]
It is important to note that though Catholics are credited with the “creation” of this ideology and movement, many Protestant denominations, including Evangelicals, wholeheartedly subscribe to it. For example, the Christian Reformed Church recently voted to include anti-LGBT sentiment as part of its faith statement.[xix] To dissuade generalizations, it is worth mentioning too that some proud “Calvinists,” such as Presbyterians, are welcoming and supportive of LGBTQ+ people and their rights. A fundamentalist interpretation of Calvinism, however, is fundamentally incompatible with this tolerance.
Anti-Genderism, a Two-Fold Critique
Calvinism and Protestantism have predisposed the American Evangelical to subscribe to anti-genderism for two key reasons – as a tenant of the Christianity of the right and as an anti-Communist response in the authoritarian undertones of the new American right.
As Anti-Communist
The Calvinist mindset of work has transpired into the anti-gender movement by way of demonizing gender as something that distracts from the task of work itself. Anti-genderism survives in countries that are susceptible to authoritarian tendencies, including that of the modern United States. The policies themselves are not only reactionary but deeply authoritarian, stating exact limits on what certain people may do with their bodies and where they may and may not participate in society. In some Republican-leaning states, these authoritarian policies may range from limits on where LGBTQ+ people can be protected, limits on children and adults in their endeavors for gender-affirmation, and inclusion of transgender individuals in protected events like sports.
The authoritarian mindset is where anti-gender operates: as a directly anti-Communist proposal. Some semi-fascist idealogues of the right imbue gender as a tool of the “Communist” progressives, who have won legislative victories that aim to deconstruct the heteronormative family and the patriarchy. Countries that rely on the capitalist, heteronormative family and the productivity of such a unit, gender becomes an “invasion.”[xx] In Calvinist thought, the “genderism” of today would be seen as something that distracts from the goal of capitalist work. In the same way women face a pushback of entering the workforce as distracting (patriarchy destruction)[xxi], “genderism” entering the workforce is fueled by the same fire. This is why so many policies targeting gender, LGBTQ+ rights, and specifically trans protections end up based in places of work, places where capitalism itself gets done: schools, jobs, government, and more.
As Religion
The conservative Republican party is dominated by Christianity – both in membership and in party platform. The most obvious target of much recent legislation, and in the media’s discussion of such, has been against trans people. States where Republicans have had the most influence “have seen a blitz of anti-LGTBQ+ legislation since 2020, particularly anti-transgender bills.”[xxii] Though Republicans as a group of individuals are not unified against trans people as a forefront cause, the party may make it seem that way. This is because of the recent rise of Evangelical voters. Evangelicals have become “the single most important interest group for any Republican candidate [beginning in] the 1980s.”[xxiii] Beyond numbers, this sect of Republican voters tend to be financially supportive and loud. The Second and Third Great Awakening belief that Evangelical Protestants ought to be engaged in civic and social change is still true today.
The “Fourth Great Awakening,” a term[1] used to represent the rise of Billy Graham and new tenants of Evangelicalism, presupposed the rise of Evangelical voting. To combat the rise of “secularism” i.e., Roe v. Wade in 1973, feminism, etc., Protestant Reformists sought to increase Evangelical support of traditionalist politics. They needed a candidate who would urge Evangelicals to utilize their social action on voting.
When Ronald Reagan sided with an anti-segregation University touting Christianity during his first bid for president, he swayed the Evangelical voting base away from the second term hunting Jimmy Carter by a factor of two-thirds. Recently, we’ve seen that Donald Trump commanded almost 80% of evangelicals to his cause,[xxiv] who actively rolled back transgender protections and appointed many anti-trans cabinet and staff members during his term[xxv]. The role of Evangelicals as a voting bloc is clear and present. The anti-gender movement in America does not survive without Evangelicals, and Republicans must cater to that group to keep their party in power. The Evangelicals drive policy of anti-gender while the rest of the Republicans go along with it for other policy reasons.
The Evangelicals are clearly linked to Calvinist influence on American religious beliefs and society – the bloc takes from the Protestant Reform and has been seen a resurgence very recently for this new cause. It is also worth mentioning that vocal and voting Catholics, many of whom tend to be more concerned about abortion, also subscribe to the Evangelicals ideals of gender. The Vatican has “proclaimed ‘gender ideology’ ‘diabolical’, calling it a form of ‘colonizing imperialism.’”[xxvi]
In conclusion, the efforts of Evangelical voters in America to undermine the way of life of many LGBTQ+ people deserve attention and scrutiny. It has been shown that through history, the effects of both Calvinism and Protestantism have uniquely affected the American Evangelical today. On one hand, the Evangelicals draw their anti-communist, pro-capitalist critique of gender from Calvin, while they draw their religious ideals from later Protestantism. Both of these different pathways lead to the same effect: the foundation of anti-genderism in America. When searching for solutions to these issues, consider the principles on which they are founded. American anti-genderism is a result of centuries of influence from Calvinism and Protestantism, and as such, any potential solutions must reflect these truths.
[1] This term is not well-agreed-upon by historians as accurately depicting a new era of Great Awakening for Protestants, more clearly just defining a new wave of Evangelicals in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
[i] “The Mayflower Story.” Mayflower400. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/the-mayflower-story/.
[ii] Joseph, Daniel Isaiah. “Protestant vs Anglican: What’s the Difference?” Christianity FAQ. Christianity FAQ, July 20, 2022. https://christianityfaq.com/protestant-anglican-comparison/.
[iii] “John Calvin.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, inc. Accessed November 28, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Calvin.
[iv] Driver, Julia. “The History of Utilitarianism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, September 22, 2014. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/.
[v] Whitworth, Elizabeth. “How the Calvinist Work Ethic Changed the World.” Shortform Books, September 9, 2022. https://www.shortform.com/blog/calvinist-work-ethic/.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Lee, Teresa. “Why Is the Fundamental Difference of the Conception of Grace between Catholics and Protestants…” Medium. Medium, June 12, 2018. https://medium.com/@teresalee_94155/why-is-the-fundamental-difference-of-the-conception-of-grace-between-catholics-and-protestants-648267196bb0.
[viii] Whitworth, Elizabeth. “How the Calvinist Work Ethic Changed the World.” Shortform Books
[ix] Loraine Boettner, “Calvinism in History” (Grace Online Library, n.d.), accessed Nov 2, 2022.
[x] Galloway, Joseph, Giovanni Cipriani, Jonathan Mayhew, Faith Robinson Trumbull, Abraham Keteltas, Henry Alexander Ogden, Edward W. Richardson, et al. “Religion and the Founding of the American Republic Religion and the American Revolution.” Library of Congress, June 4, 1998. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel03.html.
[xi] Papke, David R. “Karl Marx on Religion.” Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog, January 20, 2015. https://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2015/01/karl-marx-on-religion/comment-page-1/.
[xii] Fukuyama, Francis. “The Calvinist Manifesto.” The New York Times. The New York Times, March 13, 2005. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/books/review/the-calvinist-manifesto.html.
[xiii] “John Calvin: The Religious Reformer Who Influenced Capitalism.” Accessed November 29, 2022. https://daily.jstor.org/john-calvin-religious-reformer-influenced-capitalism/.
[xiv] “The Rise of Protestant Liberalism.” Tabletalk, April 18, 2019. https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2019/05/rise-protestant-liberalism/.
[xv] Oppenheimer, Mark. “Evangelicals Find Themselves in the Midst of a Calvinist Revival.” The New York Times. The New York Times, January 3, 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/04/us/a-calvinist-revival-for-evangelicals.html.
[xvi] Ibid.
[xvii] Kuhar, Roman; Paternotte, David (2017). “Introduction”. Anti-Gender Campaigns in Europe: Mobilizing against Equality. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-78660-001-1.
[xviii] Nakajima, Koko, and Connie Hanzhang Jin. “Bills Targeting Trans Youth Are Growing More Common – and Radically Reshaping Lives.” NPR. NPR, November 28, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/28/1138396067/transgender-youth-bills-trans-sports.
[xix] Yonat Shimron – Religion News Service. “Christian Reformed Church Brings LGBT Stance into Faith Statement.” News & Reporting. Christianity Today, June 15, 2022. https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2022/june/christian-reformed-church-crc-lgbt-stance-calvin.html.
[xx] Ibid.
[xxi] Guerra, Julia. “New Study Says Managers Frequently Deem Women a ‘Distraction’ in the Workplace.” Elite Daily. Elite Daily, July 26, 2017. https://www.elitedaily.com/life/culture/new-study-says-managers-frequently-deem-women-distraction-workplace/2028063.
[xxii] Sosin, Kate. “How Did Trans People Become a GOP Target? Experts Say It’s All about Keeping Evangelicals Voting.” The 19th, May 17, 2022. https://19thnews.org/2022/05/white-evangelical-voters-gop-anti-trans-bills/.
[xxiii] Ibid.
[xxiv] Haberman, Clyde. “Religion and Right-Wing Politics: How Evangelicals Reshaped Elections.” The New York Times. The New York Times, October 28, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/28/us/religion-politics-evangelicals.html.
[xxv] Green, Erica L., Katie Benner, and Robert Pear. “’Transgender’ Could Be Defined out of Existence under Trump Administration.” The New York Times. The New York Times, October 21, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-definition.html.
[xxvi] Butler, Judith. “Why Is the Idea of ‘Gender’ Provoking Backlash the World over?” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, October 23, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2021/oct/23/judith-butler-gender-ideology-backlash.
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