evangelicals

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation | Kristin Kobes Du Mez

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An important read for Americans. This is my last for #NFNovember (7 of 8) and my 3rd of 4 for #20in4
I learned a lot (Nixon was a Quaker? The meet your husband at the door in Saran wrap was an Evangelical idea b/c they think women are not doing enough to please their men?) a lot I knew but it was good to see in writing laid out (the fueled & imaginary idea/hatred towards Muslims)
I think this is an incredibly important read. 👇

ChaoticMissAdventures There is important information in here about the push and pull of racial relations and how due to the audience Evangelicals have gotten more and more radically racist, and about how Evangelical money and influence has pushed politics to be more and more extreme. @Bookwormjillk @Andrew65 3d

Andrew65 Well done 👏👏👏 3d

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BarbaraJean

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation | Kristin Kobes Du Mez

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I read Tim Alberta‘s The Power, the Kingdom, and the Glory earlier this year, and this was a great companion read—though tough to stomach. While Alberta explores Christian nationalism & its roots in evangelicalism, Kobes Du Mez approaches a similar topic from a different lens: focusing on the roots of the toxic masculinity & sexism that have become so pervasive in evangelical Christianity. This was a harder read because it hit closer to home. ⤵️

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) My religious background wasn‘t bound up with Christian nationalism, but I grew up surrounded by the influence of so many of the people and organizations Kobes Du Mez examines, from Billy Graham and Focus on the Family to Promise Keepers, True Love Waits, and Wild at Heart. And the sexism that became more and more apparent was the main reason I gradually distanced myself and eventually stepped away from the evangelical church as a whole.⤵️ 6d

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) Reading this was frustrating, infuriating, and heartbreaking—and yet it all resonated very deeply. I have struggled to understand the American evangelical embrace of Trump. Kobes Du Mez‘ research and analysis underlines the idea that Trump‘s misogyny, racism, and disregard for the rule of law are unfortunately “a feature and not a bug” for far too many Christians. 6d

Daisey I‘ve heard about this book and considered reading (or more likely listening) but I just haven‘t yet. Your review makes me think I should move it up the list because I think I will have a similar reaction to it. 6d

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CogsOfEncouragement I appreciated that Billy Graham decided to stay out of politics after Nixon and to concern himself with bringing people to Christ rather than a political party. 6d

TheBookHippie Just so you know she has a new book due out soon… 6d

TheBookHippie @BarbaraJean I think people should live in my town for a bit. It‘s ALWAYS been like this. Christian nationalism tied in Evangelical alt right misogyny …. So now the nation is like my town has always been. Madness. 6d

TheBookHippie And this On September 12, 2024, Du Mez announced the upcoming release of the film For Our Daughters, directed by Carl Byker, that draws from the last chapter of Jesus and John Wayne, documenting stories of abuse within evangelicalism. The film will be available for streaming on YouTube starting September 26, 2024 6d

Graywacke Wow. excellent, and intense review. 6d

TheBookHippie Should add I‘m so very sorry about the heartbreak… it‘s hard.. and a bit untethering I imagine. 5d

BarbaraJean @Daisey I‘d recommend it if you can endure it! I was just a few chapters from the end when the election happened. I wasn‘t sure I‘d be able to finish it, but ended up powering through so as to not have it hanging over my head. In the end I‘m glad I did finish it at this point in time—lots of timely “aha” moments. 5d

BarbaraJean @CogsOfEncouragement Yes, it was encouraging that he did step back from it, but some of the early stuff with him was so disappointing. I wish his son had followed his father‘s later approach, but he unfortunately has leaned hard(er) into his father‘s earlier approach. 5d

BarbaraJean @TheBookHippie I think I had heard that about a 2nd book—maybe it was from you! 😆 I hadn‘t heard about the film—I‘ll have to check that out. I think I‘m at the point where I could engage and watch it now. The heartbreak is real, but so much of it is over what could have been, if the hard right racist misogynists hadn‘t hijacked so much of the evangelical movement. There was a time things were different and it could have gone a different way. ⤵️ 5d

BarbaraJean @TheBookHippie The heartbreak is also over what I was oblivious to growing up. The stuff about the SBC was illuminating—I grew up Baptist/Southern Baptist, but in England & in Southern California, which had a MUCH different flavor than some of what was described here. But a lot of it was present, just under the surface or not noticeable to a kid/teen. Then I hit college, my latent feminist tendencies emerged, and I started noticing & questioning! 5d

TheBookHippie @BarbaraJean Education for the win. 😂💕✊🏼 5d

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BarbaraJean

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation | Kristin Kobes Du Mez

I had finished 12 out of 16 chapters as of a couple days ago, on track to finish before it‘s due back to the library this weekend. But I just don‘t know if I can stomach the rest right now, after the election results yesterday. This may need to go back on hold for me until I have a little more bandwidth 😔

TheBookHippie She‘s putting out a new book… and yes, take care of you. 4w

kspenmoll Taje your break.❤️ 4w

staci.reads Oof, I would probably put it aside right now. Self care is important right now. This one is on my shelf too, but it's probably going to stay there a good long while now 😔 4w

BarbaraJean @TheBookHippie Well, I‘d better finish this one if she has a new one coming 😆 @kspenmoll @staci.reads I ended up getting a second wind today and forged ahead to finish it. I decided it would be better to have the closure of finishing it than to have it hanging out in my “in progress” reads for another however many weeks. And, I‘ve apparently moved into the anger phase of grief and that helped 😬 4w

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BarbaraJean

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation | Kristin Kobes Du Mez

I didn‘t intend to be reading horror tonight on Halloween, but here we are.

I knew this book would be infuriating, but didn‘t realize just how infuriating. Even more so because I grew up in a family of big James Dobson fans. My mom listened to Focus on the Family every morning on the drive to school. As an adult, my view of the man has changed drastically as glimpses of the toxicity in his work trickled into my awareness, but this? 😳🤬🤢

CogsOfEncouragement I read this a year ago. I did not experience the pipeline of information coming from those revealed in this book, so it explained a lot to me of why certain people in my life see things the way they do. I have not been taking in the same teachings they have all these years. Explains so much about how we got here. 1mo

marleed You are a stronger woman than I! As much as I want to read this, I‘m not ready for how frustrated I‘ll be. Maybe by next week some after Tuesday, winds will be in a place I can prioritize this one. 1mo

dabbe #horrorindeed 😱 1mo

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MommyWantsToReadHerBook 😱😱😱😱😱 1mo

DogMomIrene 🤢 Just gross! May need to read this one. Will see how 2024 wraps up… see if I can stomach it. 1mo

BarbaraJean @CogsOfEncouragement While so much of the context is SO familiar to me, I was young enough that a lot of it didn‘t register or at least root itself deeply! But I‘m having a similar experience as you—it‘s connecting the dots for me as to where certain positions came from, and why my (8.5-years-older) sister has SUCH different views from mine. I moved away from strongly evangelical contexts in my mid-20s and she was/is far more firmly entrenched. (edited) 1mo

BarbaraJean @marleed Totally affirm that decision on your part!! I decided (naively) I wanted to read several election-adjacent books leading up to this election. This is only the 2nd one I‘ve gotten to (perhaps fortunately?!). The other (tagged) is more practical & hopeful. With this one, when she started discussing movements I lived through, it got more personal. I have a week before it‘s due back and am hoping I can stomach the rest before then.

Now What?: How to Move Forward When We're Divided (about Basically Everything)

1mo

BarbaraJean @DogMomIrene I understand waiting a bit before you can engage with this one!! 1mo

25 likes8 comments

GingerAntics

The House in the Cerulean Sea | Travis Klune

This is amazingly poignant to modern America. I mean, I don‘t want paper-mâché human heads anywhere, but the evangelicals in megachurches is fairly accurate!
#TJKlune #TheHouseInTheCeruleanSea #HouseInTheCeruleanSea #readtheceruleansea #audiobook #Lucy #evangelicals #megachurches #normalpeople

16 likes

Ericalambbrown

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation | Kristin Kobes Du Mez

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This is a really great book if you are baffled by the weird turn some evangelical churches have taken toward hard-right politics and against women‘s rights in recent years. I was raised in the Southern Baptist church so a lot of this rings true to me. I saw this turn towards Christian Nationalism decades ago so I got out. Anyway, this book has a lot of good historical context for what we are seeing now.

Scochrane26 I learned a lot from this one—think I read it last year. The tagged is a great one, too.

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism

5mo

Ericalambbrown @Scochrane26 that one is in my audiobook queue right now! I added it after listen to the author on Rick Wilson‘s The Enemies List podcast. I need to listen to it. 5mo

Scochrane26 @Ericalambbrown I‘ll have to check out the podcast. 5mo

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melissajayne

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism | Tim Alberta

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4.5⭐️ It was a very fascinating read, which was very in-depth about how American evangelicals are becoming more and more extreme and not in a good way. What‘s really important is that the author travels to the various places around the US that are highlighted. Highly recommended. #2024 #nonfiction #bookreview #christianity #evangelicals

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