Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. I'm Ellie House and in this

episode of assignment we're talking about the divisions in the Evangelical Church in

modern America. And that's epitomized here in Grand Rapids, the heart of West

Michigan. It's a really buzzing, art market city, There's micro breweries, there's jazz playing, there's street murals, and it also feels pretty liberal.

But this place is also home to lots of churches. West Michigan is known for its strong conservative

evangelical movement. I just stumbled across a liberal protest organized by

churches and just a block away there was a conservative street preacher talking about

sin. My dear friends God has promised that he will dash us with a rod of iron.

And that doesn't feel out of place here. You might think of evangelicals in America as one group with shared beliefs and shared politics, but we're learning that it's much more complicated.

So, evangelical is a fussy word these days.

It's complicated.

Before we go any further,

what does Evangelical actually mean in America?

Historically, we'd use this word to talk about a church coming from an evangelical tradition.

It sees the Bible as the word of God, and seeks to spread the faith among non-believers, to evangelize.

All the Christians I meet come from evangelical denominations, but they say the religious term has taken on new political implications.

It's come to mean generally Republican-aligned conservative in politics. Last I knew it's like people who self-identify as evangelical in America,

30% will worship once a month.

So it's, I mean if you're not worshiping, if you're not a part of a church then really that

definition of evangelicalism has been co-opted by a political agenda rather than

the agenda of the church.

When you're talking about evangelicals and politics, you cannot avoid mentioning abortion.

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