Liberal Protestants and the Polarization of the U.S.

Early in the twentieth century, a subset of American Protestants began to tour the globe. They also built international NGOs and created new connections with their fellow believers in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In the process, these ecumenical Protestants—sometimes called “liberal” or “mainline” Protestants—transformed American domestic politics from the 1920s to the 1960s.