Triumph in the Churches

Decades of denominational construction and consolidation transformed Texas religion. Churches grew, ambition flourished, money flowed, and religious colleges and newspapers abounded. Denominational leaders had assembled the raw materials of the Bible Belt, and, at the turn of the twentieth century, labored to awaken within their congregations and their clergy the spirit of political activism. The postwar spiritual crisis still plagued anxious evangelicals, but clerical leaders complained that too many clergymen and too many congregations refused to act. Flush with visions of clerical empowerment and preaching the power of a new prohibition gospel, a clerical insurgency set out to conquer pulpits, congregations, and communities all across Texas.