Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

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

12 reviews

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

madscientistcat's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.75

Incredibly informative and impeccably researched. If you want to understand what evangelicals really are and how the community got to where they are now and why they’ve had their outsized impact on the US government, this is it. You will leave this book understanding that and also probably depressed and anxious. The definition of “thanks, I hate it.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Racism, Xenophobia, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Misogyny, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Rape, Slavery, War, Infidelity, Incest, Hate crime, and Deportation

elnelson's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Islamophobia, and Sexism

Moderate: Xenophobia, Transphobia, Infidelity, Rape, Homophobia, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Outing, Sexual harassment, War, Physical abuse, Incest, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Deportation

sorry_imbooked's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Child abuse

caseythereader's review

challenging dark informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence

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

tamara_joy's review against another edition

informative sad tense

4.0

This explains so much. Sometimes hard to read, especially with the most recent stuff, but so well laid out.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Homophobia, Islamophobia, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Colonisation, War, Classism, Incest, Rape, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Pedophilia

abutler's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, War, 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

lovelybookshelf's review

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