Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

this was equal parts cathartic and deeply infuriating. it’s like I grew up watching a show that I convinced myself was my favorite show ever and as I grew up I realized I don’t think I ever liked the show and then a book comes out about every actor who was in the show (the Grahams, the Falwells, TobyMac, Natalie Grant, the guy who wrote the Left Behind series, Ronald Reagan, Chip and Joanna Gaines briefly, the entirety of the Southern Baptist Convention—like it’s a deep cast you know) airing out all their dirty secrets except they’re not dirty secrets it’s just things they’ve literally said and stood for. also it’s like the show writers came out and stated for the record that I was never welcome to watch their show in the first place and also they hate me personally. even though I already decided I didn’t like the show and never really did and even though it’s information I suspected all along but never fully confirmed, it somehow still feels like it ruined my childhood?

basically, if you have any sort of religious trauma including but not limited to being in a religious community and at the same time being a woman, being gay, existing outside of the gender binary, having a super toxically masculine dad/father figure, being a kid who got spanked, being someone interested in science, being someone who cared more about helping people than proselytizing them, being a pacifist—it hits a little (a lot) close to home and it will piss you off but it’s a really good read

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burdasnest's review

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challenging informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

At times nauseating, I ultimately think this is a must-read for understanding the United States today. This treatise establishes facts and presents a comprehensive explanation of how masculinity has been especially twisted over the past century to the point of electing Donald Trump. It's tough to swallow, but it feels like a large chunk of the population are living in a completely different established reality, even in my own backyard.

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xfallenxnightx's review

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

4.75

Eye opening look into far right Christian Nationalist politics. Terrifying stuff, as this book lays out the history of this group and their rise to power in the US.

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sorry_imbooked's review

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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caseythereader's review

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

5.0

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mfrisk's review against another edition

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informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

I can’t even begin to express how much I want everyone I know to read this book. It maps out with care, critique, and precision the rise of the religious right over time and where the cultural met the religious aspects of evangelism to bring us to the state of fear and anger which has stoked bubbling hatred and concealed abuse. I think this book is extremely important for those in politics or involved in civic engagement in any way to read as well as those who practice religion in a way which goes against the harmful ideals detailed in this book. It is not a guidebook to the other side of the harm which has been created but to better understand this movement is to know how to deconstruct it and I feel more informed having read this book.

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