Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Hardcover – June 23, 2020

I feel seen.That's the summation after reading this masterful, wonderfully researched book about the peculiarities of white Evangelicalism and the Americanized Jesus who was once Brown and poor and despised, the victim of the oppressive empire, but who has been transformed into the muscular, gun-toting, migrant-hating, welfare-despising, violence-loving, manly man-centered white male gonzo who seeks to rule everyone by force for their own good and for the pleasure and power of white men.I was raised in the milieu that Du Mez talks about. I got adopted into the Beloved Community in the late 1960s in the "Jesus Movement" in Southern California, and many of the people mentioned in this book are familiar to me not only because I know their names but also because I was a recipient of their teaching and ministries. Now, the "Jesus Movement" was not the genesis of this state of white Evangelicalism; in fact, to my experience much of the JM was orthangonal to the beliefs and practices of the white Evangelical world. And yet, we from the JM gradually succumbed to the white Evangelical industrial complex so completely that some of the leaders of the free spirit of the JM are now fully on board with The Former Guy, serving as his loyal allies in church meetings as easily as in political events. (I'm looking at you, Greg Laurie, and it is hard to explain just how deeply you have disappointed me when I see you at ceremonies "honoring" The Former Guy in the very Rose Garden where he denied the existence of COVID-19 and denied the reality of the 2020 election. What happened to you and your free spirit, inquiring mind, and willingness to reach those who are on the margins? You've become a thoroughly compliant part of the Christian industrial complex.)I will confess I went along with the change, because the people who were my leaders were going along with it. Surely they must have deeper insight and understanding. Surely what God wanted in America was conservative politics and capitalistic economics. Surely God wanted the poor to suffer because suffering might make them work harder. Surely God wanted America to be both blessed and white-majority and white-ruled. Surely God wanted white Evangelicals to run America as if all of this nation was a church and the white male Evangelical pastors the only rulers divine appointed for said rule.But I grew more and more uneasy with this dissolution of my outside-the-camp religion that had become the state religion, and finally broke a decade ago. I couldn't figure out, though, what had happened to cause people to descend into madness. The very churches that told me continuously in the 70s, 80s, and 90s to avoid the antichrist and to avoid post-modernism and post-truth became . . . the churches that abandoned faith and reason, and descended into pure white nationalism.So it was <b>fascinating</b> to see Du Mez uncover the threads that connected these people, from Graham to Bright to Dobson to Graham and Falwell and the rest, along the way losing the holiness and moral behaviors that scripture teaches us about to embrace The Former Guy who exemplifies all that they warned about until the chance at power was finally at hand.I laughed that sad, rueful laugh as I read, discovering more and more how I'd been had, how I'd been reassured that all was well even as decisions leading to the irruption of The Former Guy were being made behind the scenes. (Lordy, how <I>loud</i> Dobson became about the "danger" to America of a Clinton--both times!--for their assumed "lack of moral behavior" and how quickly he bowed the knee to The Former Guy!)This is a great book for people like me, who went through a lot of this and did not know why it was happening. It is also a great book for those who were wounded by people like me and the churches that people like me built and evangelized for.There's no excuse for what happened. There were always the voices--often shouted down--saying that we were going off a cliff. We didn't listen, and the result is that we have stained our faith for several generations, watching our children see our own shallow Christian behaviors and responding with "I'll <I>never</i> believe in your faith." We have done this to ourselves, sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind, and Du Mez tells us why. It's too late to unwind all the damage that we have done to the name of Jesus in the lives of those who have heard us and watched us and been harmed by us, but perhaps we can unwind from continuing to repeat the damage, again and again, hoping that we smash all opposition and erase all memory.Our children are watching to see what we will do now, after watching us spend decades creating the most peculiar and unsatisfying version of Christianity. Let's hope that we listen and learn and repent.

Full disclosure: I was raised in the South, as a Southern Baptist/Evangelical, and by all obvious measurements, my middle-aged white male Protestant self should be leaning into and reaping the benefit of every political and social bounty this book espouses I should have. But I don’t. And I am SO, SO thankful that, quoting Monty Python, “I got better.”This book infuriates me, but for all the right reason: it lays out in explicit, methodical examination where and how as a culture and a faith movement Evangelical Christianity has gone from hellfire and brimstone “turn or burn” fears to becoming a political, faithless, misogynist, homophobic, racist fear stoker becasue so many white men in power fear losing just that.I can’t explain the low star ratings for this book, other than they are majorly written by people who are unwilling or unable to critically examine what their faith currently stands for. Personally, I consider this one of the most important historical and socially relevant books to have been published in the last decade.Please - if you identify with the Christian faith, read this with an open mind. If you find yourself on the opposite side of the Christian faith, read this to understand the long game that has been played and is still being played by so many in power. Learn and understand.Oh - and John Piper still sucks. Just saying.

I read this book as recommended by Susan Wittig Albert in her Substack called Guérilla Readers, an effort to understand what is happening in politics today in the USA. It is horrifying to me to learn how entrenched the Evangelical movement is and how powerfully steeped it is in patriarchy, submission of women, profit, the warrior fighting for Jesus and so much hatred of the “other”whether because of skin color or sexuality or immigration status. I knew these views existed but I naively thought they were “on the fringes”. This book enlightened me. I hung in till the last page. I suggest if you want to understand how our current president could be elected that you read it too.

I bought this book a few years ago and never got around to reading it. Too many books and not enough time! But, I found it on Spotify and listened while busy with life. Jesus and John Wayne is fantastic. It is well written and shares excellent detail of how evangelical beliefs have been worked into American politics and culture. This book is as relevant today as it was in 2020, maybe even more so. This current adaptation of Christianity and right-wing politics could easily offer a few more chapters! I would love to pass on my hard copy to some family and friends, but even if they cracked it open for a few pages it would probably get shelved, or worse. Maybe I will find one who is willing to challenge their beliefs.