Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

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

41 reviews

chacepaulson's review against another edition

informative

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Rape, and Xenophobia

crocheteer34's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

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!

katyallred's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Rape, Islamophobia, and Gaslighting

Minor: Ableism, Abortion, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

spookyfaith's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

 

holy shit I don’t have the words to describe this book. I had been waiting for months for it to release and wow was it worth the wait. 

this is absolutely required reading for anyone who grew up evangelical, whether you’re deconstructing or not. it goes into the historical details of how American evangelicalism was shaped by toxic masculinity and white nationalism. it explains how politics, capitalism, and modern culture have created the version of Christianity we know today, in America. 

I knew so much of Christian theology stemmed from conservative politics, power, and abuse but I had no idea the horrific depths it went to. the people that have made evangelicalism what it is today did so out of the desire for power and selfish ambition, and as a result, thousands of individuals are now the victims of abuse of many kinds, (myself included.) 

bad things don’t just happen in churches; they are primed to happen. the abuse, racism, homophobia, and the “othering” of all non white, cishet men is the direct result of the culture and theology we have built. abuse is the natural consequence of a theology based on militantancy, toxic masculinity, and complementarianism. once we can recognize how much of our beliefs don’t actually stem from the Bible, but rather from relatively new interpretations of scripture and a lot of cultural baggage. 

If you read one book this year, make it this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Islamophobia, and Homophobia

Content about spiritual abuse

lovelybookshelf's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

How do I start? Where do I start? There is so much in this book, and it got more and more infuriating with every page.

In Jesus and John Wayne, Kristin Kobes Du Mez outlines exactly what brought white American evangelicalism to the profound state of corruption we see today, and why it's so easy for people to be carried along with it.

A heads up: This book may be intensely triggering if you have past church trauma or you've been on the receiving end of religious hate. 

Du Mez takes us through the past 75 years of American history, culture, and politics to help us understand what brought us to this point and why. Get ready for a nauseating look into Christian consumer culture, patriarchal gender traditionalism, militarism and fear-mongering, militant white masculinity, submissive femininity, Christian nationalism, and political power plays, all forged along the path of American imperialism.

What I found especially terrifying was how easy it was for evangelicals to take legitimate fears Americans had due to world events, and stoke that anxiety so that they could dive in and be the protector. James Dobson had an enormous influence on inserting evangelicalism into the American military, resulting in the dominionist ideals we see in many politicians today.

She covers the close ties between fundamentalism and evangelicalism, which explains why it's sometimes hard to tell the difference between the two. She helps us see how evangelicals played the long game through their branding, "replacing traditional denominational authorities with the authority of the market and the power of consumer choice." This helped them appeal to a wide audience, winning people over and gaining more followers. This is why you see members of mainline (or even progressive) denominations consuming, for example, books by evangelical authors.

So yeah,  Jesus and John Wayne is a difficult book to read, content-wise. I felt sick to my stomach most of the time. But it's an important read, and if you've ever wondered why there are people who are okay with all of this, you'll gain a whole lot of insight. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

Minor: Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual assault

theresablue's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Misogyny, Islamophobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Antisemitism, Child abuse, and Gun violence

sarahholliday's review against another edition

challenging informative

4.25

An impressive analysis of the insidious influence militant masculinity, patriarchy, and white supremacy have had on American evangelicalism and American culture more broadly. The evidence is abundant and the arguments convincing, though I wish de Mez would've drawn explicit connections between these systems and abuse earlier in the work, rather than leaving the bulk of that particular discussion for the final chapter. 

Overall, I loved this much-needed work and want to put it into the hands of everyone I know.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Transphobia

Minor: Rape

kaitlinlovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

It’s going to take me awhile to form a coherent review. This is an incredibly well-researched, eye-opening book like nothing I’ve read about Evangelicalism before. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

drusilla_reads's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia