Caution Christian soldiers: The mainline Protestant churches and the Cold War

World War II forced the United States to the forefront of the world stage. Only two nations, the United States and the Soviet Union; and two rival economic systems, capitalism and communism, emerged from WWII with the potential to dominate world politics and trade. Many liberals hoped that the two countries would remain allies following the war. Many conservatives believed, however, that the Soviet Union could not be trusted and urged a quarantine of communism.;Between 1945 and 1955 religion in America experienced a renaissance. The churches were the spiritual arm of the baby boom; Americans were having children, moving to the suburbs, and going back to worship. Religious revivals drew huge crowds, and the country seemed obsessed with anything religious. The churches recognized their new importance and, hesitatingly, they began to assert their influence in the social, political, as well as spiritual life of the country.;Following World War II it was good politics to take a hard line against international and domestic communism. The mainline Protestant churches, which had long opposed communism and communism's home base, the Soviet Union, should have been a certain and powerful ally of the fervent anti-communists, but they were not; in fact they were usually in strong opposition to the rigid communist-bashers.;The churches opposed any emotional overreaction towards and/or persecution of perceived domestic communists; the establishment of diplomatic relations with Vatican City, the city-state of the Pope--a staunch anti-communist; the militarization of America through programs like universal military training, peacetime military conscription, and a massive build-up of arms; and supported most measures that would reduce conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union and would move those two countries away from war. The mainline churches did not like or trust the communists, but at the same time they never stopped working for peace and good relations.