This is a very different book from the one I was expecting from the title and subtitle. I expected a rant about the Trump-supporting Republican evangelical Church from an agnostic or an atheist. But the Michigan author is a very pious devoted Christian journalist and the son of an evangelical preacher. Just reading the Prologue felt like I was reading a conservative sermon, and there is sermonizing in all of the twenty-one chapters. But it still is a sort of a rant, from the inside. And perhaps as an insider, he had access to sources that would be denied to a nonbeliever.
It seems that his interviews are almost exclusively with people who like me, answered an altar call in their early teens or even as young as five, but unlike me attended seminaries that I had never heard of and became right wing clergy, usually just like their fore-bearers. Richard Dawkins has described this indoctrination of young children into a restricted world view before they have developed the capacity to think logically for themselves or develop and experience a wider worldview, as a form of child abuse. Those who are brainwashed at an early age to believe that Jonah survived days in the belly of a whale and numerous other miracles are often set up for the rest of their lives to believe the scientifically impossible.
The shenanigans and devious actions of many true believers as they fight for power belie their true motives, even if it involves cognitive dissonance. There is an extremely pervasive paranoia about the diverse moment; that greatly facilitates the ready acceptance of all manner of unquestioned conspiracy theories, especially to those who have never known the wider world.
Apart from a chapter discussing how Putin and the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church have used religion to justify the invasion of Ukraine, the book is entirely focused on the American Church.
“Religion and politics are natural enemies: both provide a sense of self-actualization and belonging. Tension between the two is healthy and necessary. When one appropriates the other, history shows that oppression-leading to death and human suffering on a woeful scale is the inevitable result.”
There are many verifiably false conspiracy theories discussed. Perhaps the most ludicrous of them all is that the former First Lady, Michelle Obama, is actually a man. It is hard for me to believe that anyone would seriously believe this but apparently thousands of people do. Nor should anyone believe that the three sons of Noah were the forerunners of the European, Asiatic, and African peoples, respectively. And then the second son brought the Corona virus and the third son brought Black Lives Matter protests.
The rot at the top, the pervasive sexual abuse and cover-ups and the self-dealing financial scams detailed, particularly in the Southern Baptist Convention and in several prestigious Bible Colleges, make Al Capone seem virtuous by comparison. And the sexual scandals surrounding the Catholic priesthood begin to seem dwarfed. The rigid tightly controlled atmosphere of Liberty University with Jerry Falwell Jr. as supreme leader are particularly appalling given the fact that he has now been disgraced as a longterm sexual predator.
The blinkered world view of the author, seemingly caused by his upbringing, appears to prevent him from considering larger issues. To me, the threat of the climate crisis, never even mentioned, is far more important than disputes over homosexuality, abortion, immigration and even the management of the Covid pandemic. But if you believe that “loving the lord” whatever that means, is all that matters to get you to heaven, the earth is of no importance.
There is a slight holier-than-thou tone to the whole book, for all the author’s claims of humility. Although I found the book well-written, informative and frightening, it would have benefitted from a broader perspective if he had enlisted someone from the left to collaborate with.
6/10
Thanks, The Economist, The Atlantic.
The Passionate Reader 