While this feels very different from soft-toned American evangelical Christianity, which emphasizes God\u2019s loving mercy rather than God\u2019s judgment, spiritual warfare is deeply embedded in the evangelical tradition. The post-1960s charismatic revival in the United States, sometimes called \u201cThird Wave\u201d\u009d Christianity (classical Pentecostalism was the first wave and charismatic Catholicism the second), introduced the idea that all Christians interact with supernatural forces daily. That included demons.<\/p>\n
In fact, I found American books on dealing with demons in all the bookstores of the African charismatic churches I visited. In one church where I stood looking at the shelf of demon manuals, a helpful clerk leaned over to fish one off for me. She chose an American one. \u201cHere,\u201d\u009d she said as she handed me Larry Huch\u2019s \u201cFree at Last,\u201d\u009d \u201cthis one is good.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
In many American evangelical churches, people will tell you that demons are real, but they do not treat them as particularly salient.<\/p>\n