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30 reviews for:
The Immoral Majority: Why Evangelicals Chose Political Power Over Christian Values
Ben Howe
3.6 AVERAGE
30 reviews for:
The Immoral Majority: Why Evangelicals Chose Political Power Over Christian Values
Ben Howe
3.6 AVERAGE
Best summary for this book: "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?"
This is a must read for all who are trying to understand how we got here. Ben Howe points out the role that people on all ends of the political and religious spectrum played in the eventual Trump presidency. Howe is a conservative, still a conservative, and he points out his own role in the climate. While he became a "never Trumper" before the election, he acknowledges how he fueled the fire before 2015.
This book is for those asking why and how and for those who are finally starting to question what the Trump presidency is costing us.
This is a must read for all who are trying to understand how we got here. Ben Howe points out the role that people on all ends of the political and religious spectrum played in the eventual Trump presidency. Howe is a conservative, still a conservative, and he points out his own role in the climate. While he became a "never Trumper" before the election, he acknowledges how he fueled the fire before 2015.
This book is for those asking why and how and for those who are finally starting to question what the Trump presidency is costing us.
I think that Ben Howe does an excellent job explaining some of the many factors that have contributed to the current perception of evangelicals, as well as why Christians could consider voting for Trump in line with their values. I agree with some of his conclusions and disagree with others, but each chapter was well-researched and interesting to read.
Really great read up until the last 45pgs or so...the end was really difficult to get through- lots of repetition throughout the book, which I didn’t mind for the most part until that last section that seemed to stretch on for ages.
Overall though, I found this really helpful. Picked it up at random at a bookstore and I’m glad I did. I’ve had a lot of bitterness/frustration/rage towards the Right for a while, and even though I can recognize I’m in the wrong I’ve had a difficult time moving past it. This book was surprisingly helpful with that.
I really appreciated Howe’s transparency about his own missteps in the past- showing that just because someone says something crazy doesn’t mean they won’t eventually reach a place of self reflection and growth.
Overall though, I found this really helpful. Picked it up at random at a bookstore and I’m glad I did. I’ve had a lot of bitterness/frustration/rage towards the Right for a while, and even though I can recognize I’m in the wrong I’ve had a difficult time moving past it. This book was surprisingly helpful with that.
I really appreciated Howe’s transparency about his own missteps in the past- showing that just because someone says something crazy doesn’t mean they won’t eventually reach a place of self reflection and growth.
I wish I had read, "Unholy" instead. I had many conflicting emotions reading this book. He is an excellent writer, and knows the weaknesses of the Evangelical Trump supporter. I understood a lot about the community from his perspective.
However, he is by far the most conservative author I have ever read (I did this on purpose, to stretch my liberal bubble). This was a book written by a white Christian republican man for other white Christian republican men. The target audience felt like Evangelicals who may have voted for Trump the first time and were on the fence for voting Trump the second time-- important, sure, but missing a lot of key oversights. To name just a few that irritated me enough to put the book down, he blamed the rise of racism in the Republican party to leftists "who cried racist, fair or not" to Republicans that then leaned in and became racist-- not understanding that as the left is more diverse than the right, people of color have a more intimate and nuanced understanding of systemic and personal racism that goes far deeper than blatant Klan meetings. He wrote about a tweet he published during the 2014 Ferguson riots: "If I was Darren Wilson, I would have shot Michael Brown without a doubt." He claims to have done this in response to his frustration that the left would reject any "evidence" that Michael Brown's shooting was not a racist act (no shit, it was). In an entire book about Trump supporting Evangelicals, he discusses whiteness in no greater detail than a single paragraph. It goes on. Faith is also a huge part of this book, and his "reason- based, moral absolutism," implying bigoted views like against same-sex marriage.
He is a very talented and persuasive writer, but the lack of self-reflection on his positionally made me very frustrated. Don't really like that I gave my money to this guy.
However, he is by far the most conservative author I have ever read (I did this on purpose, to stretch my liberal bubble). This was a book written by a white Christian republican man for other white Christian republican men. The target audience felt like Evangelicals who may have voted for Trump the first time and were on the fence for voting Trump the second time-- important, sure, but missing a lot of key oversights. To name just a few that irritated me enough to put the book down, he blamed the rise of racism in the Republican party to leftists "who cried racist, fair or not" to Republicans that then leaned in and became racist-- not understanding that as the left is more diverse than the right, people of color have a more intimate and nuanced understanding of systemic and personal racism that goes far deeper than blatant Klan meetings. He wrote about a tweet he published during the 2014 Ferguson riots: "If I was Darren Wilson, I would have shot Michael Brown without a doubt." He claims to have done this in response to his frustration that the left would reject any "evidence" that Michael Brown's shooting was not a racist act (no shit, it was). In an entire book about Trump supporting Evangelicals, he discusses whiteness in no greater detail than a single paragraph. It goes on. Faith is also a huge part of this book, and his "reason- based, moral absolutism," implying bigoted views like against same-sex marriage.
He is a very talented and persuasive writer, but the lack of self-reflection on his positionally made me very frustrated. Don't really like that I gave my money to this guy.
I think I gave up at 15-20% or so. It’s interesting that this is a book written “from the inside,” as it were. Unfortunately the author can’t let go of his disbelief that Christians are turning out to be the bad guy in order to get any insights on why or how. This book is better suited to a reader who’s in the same place.
Ben Howe said so many things that I want to say. For a conservative Christian like myself who wrestles with the idea of voting for a man like Donald Trump, The Immoral Majority describes in detail just how the slide happened for Christian conservatives from being staunch values voters to shrugging off those values in an effort to gain political power.
Love it or hate it, our current political scene is divided and in turmoil (no matter which side you’re on). Howe, a conservative Christian, tracks the key milestones that affected evangelical views on Trump. What I loved about this book is that instead of being partisan, Howe issues a bigger challenge to Christians - are we standing for truth or justifying the lesser evil? Do we trust God?
informative
medium-paced
A very political book, intentionally of course, I'm just not that into politics. The basic premise is that the "Moral Majority," which was named by and founded by evangelical Christian leaders has become an immoral majority and have abandoned moral principles to support the Trump administration.
Howe does a nice job of diagnosing some of the problems within white evangelicalism that led to the overwhelming support of Donald Trump in the 2016 election that continued with his presidency. Although the focus is on Trump supporters, he holds up a mirror that should give all Christians pause about whether their political support is more about self-interest or winning at any cost to get the "good guys" (whichever side you're on) into the positions of power, rather than a reflection of one's religious beliefs or commitment to the common good.
Where this book falls short is in the attempt to resolve these complex problems. Only the last chapter is at all devoted to wrestling with how one should engage politically as a Christian. Even then, it only really has a weak discussion of justifying doing the lesser of two evils and the calculus we might use in doing so. It would have been helpful to point to some good resources of books or examples of what it means to engage in the present political landscape in America, showing people across the partisan spectrum and even those who ignore the electoral politics, choosing to solely devote themselves to personal local investment into the people and places they live.
This book might be most helpful to induce discomfort with the way one views electoral politics and government roles, especially if one is a Trump supporter, but if one is looking for a broader discussion of how to engage politically as a Christian, one should look elsewhere.
Where this book falls short is in the attempt to resolve these complex problems. Only the last chapter is at all devoted to wrestling with how one should engage politically as a Christian. Even then, it only really has a weak discussion of justifying doing the lesser of two evils and the calculus we might use in doing so. It would have been helpful to point to some good resources of books or examples of what it means to engage in the present political landscape in America, showing people across the partisan spectrum and even those who ignore the electoral politics, choosing to solely devote themselves to personal local investment into the people and places they live.
This book might be most helpful to induce discomfort with the way one views electoral politics and government roles, especially if one is a Trump supporter, but if one is looking for a broader discussion of how to engage politically as a Christian, one should look elsewhere.