This chapter recreates the freewheeling religious world of the late nineteenth century by exploring the institutional weaknesses, theological wrangling, and lack of numerical strength that plagued evangelical denominations in Texas in the years after Reconstruction. Spiritualists and other heterodox faiths attracted numerous followers, denominations such as the Southern Baptists lacked robust organizational authority, and theological controversies embroiled churches across the state. Rather than building up united denominations, religious leaders such as Benajah Harvey Carroll busied themselves expelling heretics and suppressing spiritual dissent. And while freethinkers such as William Cowper Brann and James Dickson Shaw established themselves as a presence in the state, evangelical churches still struggled to fill pews.