Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

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

11 reviews

estragal's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.5

Jesus and John Wayne will be eerily familiar to you if you grew up in a Christian home of any sort. Kobes Du Mex brilliantly articulates the formation of Christian masculinity and the consumer market that grew to support it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, and Islamophobia

bcope84's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Islamophobia, Abortion, and Ableism

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

This book is full of triggers, so be forewarned before you read it. It filled me with shame for having voted for Reagan the first time I got to vote (I was only mimicking my parents’ votes, but still…). It also makes me wonder why the Islamic culture is the enemy when there are so many parallels in the White evangelical culture that run this country. The book also makes clear to me that everything wrong with the US is perpetuated by this same group.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, Biphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, War, Homophobia, Incest, Islamophobia, Pedophilia, Sexism, and Infidelity

effortlesslybookishbre_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

If you want an in depth analysis of how Evangelicalism doesn’t just affect those who have deconstructed from the faith, but every aspect of our lives from politics, pop culture, and even places we shop. This is a book you need to pick up  Kristin Kobes Du Mez dives deep into the world of Evangelicalism, and it’s leaders. Was this book difficult to read at times? Yes was it shocking the amount of power these people hold over so many aspects of main stream culture? Yes but it is well worth the read or listen to know just how Evangelicalism thrives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, War, Racism, Rape, and Sexual harassment

burdasnest's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Slavery, Sexism, War, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Sexual violence, and Physical abuse

Minor: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Fatphobia, Ableism, Genocide, Gaslighting, and Sexual content

mfrisk's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Ableism, War, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Sexism, Racism, Islamophobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Child abuse

Minor: Abortion, Transphobia, and Gun violence

aryn_back's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Xenophobia and Abortion

risten's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Racism, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Rape, Religious bigotry, War, Sexual violence, Abortion, Colonisation, Xenophobia, and Slavery

erica_palmisano's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Well researched, scrupulously end-noted, and full of insights I hadn't expected, this book is phenomenal. Absolutely a must-read for people in Evangelicalism or coming out of it. Also, important for folks seeking to understand Christian Nationalism and its impact on US Politics.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Domestic abuse, Torture, Transphobia, War, Ableism, Abortion, and Colonisation

elly29's review against another edition

challenging informative sad slow-paced

3.25

There was a deluge of information, and I'm unsure I processed or retained a lot of it. I listened, and had to go back again to catch a lot of what Du Mez said. Notably, there were a lot of players -- both individuals and organizations -- that contributed to the coalescence of white conservative evangelicalism and christian nationalism, and it was difficult sometimes to get a picture of how they all fit together. It starts with Billy Graham, and John Wayne, and moves to Oliver North and James Dobson and Jerry Falwell. I think Du Mez did the best she could to make a cohesive narrative out of it, but I'm still reeling and can't express the things I learned from it.

At times, I wanted to breathe fire. For example, with Marabel Morgan's "Total Woman," which set women back by a century, or the purity circles, or Chapters 16 which was on how Christian evangelical patriarchy self-justified abuse (major content warning on that, about victim-blaming). A lot of the tools that crystallized the cultural movement were the same through 1960, 1980, and 2010: a focus on a (fragile! They emphasized that the male ego was fragile and needed assuaging!!) male ego, with a docile/submissive femininity that needed protection (but who will protect women from self-aggrandizing, power-hungry patriarchs?).

Some of it hit close to home, as Du Mez mentioned Mormonism on occasion, and the same scandals in evangelicalism and Catholicism have occurred.

I... I have so much less sympathy for the culture of evangelicalism. It is divorced from any sense of religion. And, it drives home the point that Trump's election was a litmus test of our political and cultural climate: that a swathe of white males are frantic about losing their position in society. (It really is all about racism -- which Du Mez acknowledged briefly, but not enough). Very interesting to read this on the heels of Wilkerson's "Caste" and Haidt's "The Righteous Mind": definitely evangelicals/conservatism appeals to Authority/Order, Sacredness (ish?). 

Like, I still don't know what to do with this book, y'all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Racism, Violence, War, and Islamophobia

Minor: Homophobia and Abortion

It's a cultural-polticial-historical analysis, so it discusses and analyzes sexism, misogyny, homophobia, abortion, etc, not necessarily graphic detail. However, Chapter 16 was rough on the sheer volume of evidence of sexual abuse, and conservative christians' dismissal of sexual abuse. If you're sensitive to discussion like that, steer clear!