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Hardcover
Publisher: Tarcher
Format: Bargain Price
The bestselling author of Stranger at the Gate provides an inside exposé of the Christian Right's agenda-and a playbook in how to resist it.
This Fall's midterm elections will see much discussion about the enhanced power of the Christian fundamentalist Right, leaving many people to wonder: just who are these people and what exactly do they want? What are their ultimate goals? The Reverend Mel White, a deeply religious man who sees fundamentalism as "evangelical Christian orthodoxy gone cultic," believes that it is not a stretch to say that the true goal of today's fundamentalists is to break down the wall that separates church and state, superimpose their "moral values" on the U.S. Constitution, replace democracy with theocratic rule, and ultimately create a new "Christian America" in their image. White's new book, Religion Gone Bad, is a wake-up call to all of us to take heed.
White is singularly qualified to write this exposé of the Christian Right because he himself was a true believer who served the evangelical movement as pastor, professor, filmmaker, television producer, author, and ghostwriter for such fundamentalist leaders as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Billy Graham, all of whom he got to know well. As he writes, "These are not just Neocons dressed in religious drag. These men see themselves as gurus called by God to rescue America from unrighteousness. They believe this is a Christian nation that must be returned forcibly to its Christian roots."
He is also a gay man, who made news when he came out more than twelve years ago. White has gained a unique understanding of the fundamentalist agenda because, since the fall of "godless Communism," homosexuality and abortion have become the primary targets through which fundamentalists have created fear, raised money, and mobilized recruits. Religion Gone Bad documents the thirty-year war that fundamentalist Christians have waged against homosexuality and gays and lesbians and offers dramatic, heartbreaking evidence that fundamentalist leaders-Protestant and Catholic alike-are waging nothing less than a "holy war" (jihad) against sexual minorities. By focusing on the current plight of gay people in this country, White addresses the wider issue that fundamentalist Christianity-like fundamentalist Islam-has become a threat not just to gays, but to all Americans who disagree with fundamentalist Christian "values."
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| Riveting Exposé but Unbalanced |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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I was glued to Mel White's exposé of the inner sanctum of America's Christian Right. His writing is superb and his knowledge is expansive. However, his excessive discussion of fundamentalism's front against homosexuality make the book unbalanced. Moreover, it seems he sometimes exaggerates and states conjecture as fact in order to make his point. For example, he states that a chaplain (MeLinda Morton) at the center of a recent controversy at the Air Force Academy was the academy's "chief chaplain," when she was actually a junior chaplain there. He also states as fact that she was fired from her position, while the academy claims her position change was part of normal position rotations. Other likely occurances of hyperbole occur throughout the book. Still, even with my complaints, this book's unique depth and insight into fundamentalism's influence in American piety lead me to strongly recommend it.
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| GREAT STUFF |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This book is RIGHT ON! White nails the truth with facts to back him up. An absolute MUST READ for everyone prior to the 2008 election.
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| Scary info |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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Trying to learn some of the aspects of how the so-called "other" people think, I've read a number of books among this same genre. Things that would seem on the fringes for most of us. I've read The Turner Diaries and personally saw it as a novel, yet at the same time I could see how extremists might take it otherwise.
Religion Gone Bad however, was scarier than The Turner Diaries could ever be. While I've always disagreed with some of the basic concepts of fundamentalism, this was scarier than I could have thought. The power this group is gaining and really gaining pretty quietly, should make us all stop and think about where we want this country to go and how we can easily stop it from swirling out of control if we're more diligent about how we vote politically.
As Mel White says, he focuses on the homosexual aspects since it touches him personally, however he does make clear that anyone not of fundamentalist thinking is at risk. While I am not gay I have many gay friends and certainly disagree, as I said, with many fundamentalist areas of thinking. I was raised to believe in a forgiving God and it certainly doesn't seem the fundamentalists do. One of my pet peeves are the bumper stickers that read "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven". My God forgives everyone if you ask him to.
Very scary stuff.
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| Good book overall but.... |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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This book is a very telling tale of the so called Christian Right and its plans to control America and even the world. It is written from the perspective of one who has been among the leaders of the movement and once supported them whether he wanted to or not. The only problem I had with the book is that it dwells on the anti-homosexual agenda of the Christian right. Since it is written by a homosexual that might be understandable but I'm afraid that many readers might be lost about a third or half way through the book. The problems that homosexuals face in this country are tremendous but I'm afraid that Mr. White overdoes it. I'm a heterosexual but I sympathize with their plight but banging people over the head with that one subject tends to make one numb to the problem instead of more sensitive.
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| Know Thine Enemy |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This book should be required reading not just for every gay,lesbian,bi or transgendered individual, but for anyone who believes in equality, faith, and the basic principles of the Constitution our forefathers wrote.
At times while reading this, I had to put the book down because I was literally seething with anger. For anyone that doesn't believe that fundamentalist Christians like James Dobson, and Ralph Reed aren't dangerous to the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness to millions of fellow Americans, this is a wake up call.
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