Image – The Fall

Chapter 29

The Fall

Total rates of church membership did not change between 1979 and 2005, but evangelical denominations grew while others lost adherents.  By 1980, 80% of evangelicals voted Republican, a sharp contrast to previous voting patterns.  Televangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker captivated larger numbers of viewers in the 1980s before their fall from grace and conviction for fraud in 1988.    Here Bakker and Faye are seen during a broadcast of their “Jim and Tammy Show” in 1986, at the height of their popularity.