Fundamentalist Revival

Report Outline
Resurence of Evangelism in America
Trends in U.S. Religious Revivalism
Force of the Fundamentalist Appeal
Special Focus

Resurence of Evangelism in America

The Great religious revival that evangelist Billy Graham has been predicting for 20 years may be coming at last. Accompanied by a loud blast of rock music and attended by a throng of Jesus freaks, teeny-boppers, old-line fundamentalists, Jews for Jesus and establishment clergymen, Jesus Christ Superstar is making the American scene. His reappearance, for this is only the latest in a long series of American revivals, was prophesied by the Gallup Poll and is being amply documented by the news media.

Up to this point young people have garnered the most publicity in the new movement. The recently concluded Explo '72 sponsored by the Campus Crusade for Christ drew more than 75,000 youths to Dallas for a religious conference on how to evangelize America and the whole world. Polls taken within the last two years indicate that while the majority of American youth reject formalized religion, they are susceptible to the new Jesus movement. On the basis of its research, the Gallup organization wrote that “levels of religious belief among young adults today are extremely high, despite their disenchantment with the forms of religion.”

The movement has attracted not only the young but their elders. American Catholics have agreed to join with more than 100 Protestant denominations in 1973 to stage a massive evangelistic revival. The campaign, known as Key 73, will include a major crusade conducted by Billy Graham in the nation's capital. It is billed as one of the biggest evangelistic efforts ever undertaken by the Christian church. The decision of American Catholic bishops to affiliate with the campaign, while somewhat unexpected, was undoubtedly influenced by a decline in church attendance and the growing popularity of the Catholic charismatic renewal.