You're listening to Rough Translation from NPR, I'm Gregory Warner.

Here at the show, like maybe many of you, we have been watching the confirmation hearings

of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. And one of the big issues being talked about is whether

Judge Barrett's religious beliefs, as a conservative Catholic, would influence the decisions she might make,

as justice. Is it possible to square one's faith with one's duties in public life?

Well, in this week's episode, we are going to speak with some evangelical Christians who are

trying to do just that. We're going to look at how religion has influenced American politics,

and maybe the far less known tale of how conservative politics has influenced religious teachings.

Our episode begins not very long ago, but before coronavirus, before we were all wearing masks.

High on a mountain top. Here we are above Logan Pass on a hidden lake trail. Rachel Amps'

family like to film home movies. Still under snow cover. Here they are at a park in Montana.

For a family video, it's funny how little Rachel's family actually appears.

There's Rachel at 15, she's wearing a ponytail and a high school volleyball sweatshirt, but

her dad pans the camera right past her, and then he takes these long shots of a snowy glacier,

a frozen lake, a mountain goat, so close you could pet it.

And Rachel says this reverence for nature was something her dad always instilled.

My dad emphasized that like God created, he's a creator, so he created the world and the beauty of it.

Her father was the pastor of their evangelical church, and he would talk in his sermons

about loving God's creation. Psalm 241, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it.

But were anyone to make the mistake of calling her father an environmentalist? He would say no.

Oh well, Democrats care about that, and I, as a Christian, I should be wary or skeptical about

liberal issues. I didn't even know you could study the environment until I was a senior in high

...