It's no secret that religion, politics, and faith are deeply intertwined and influence many facets of culture, for better or for worse. This mix of religion and politics has informed public policy, social norms, our health and well-being, and even the way we perceive others around us. If you're intrigued by in-depth reporting of the way religion and politics intersect in the lives of real people, look no further than this collection of nonfiction books.
Ordinarily, women are more religious than men. But these are no ordinary times. In America, where Christianity is still the most common religion, women are vacating churches. In the past decade, 16 million women have left the church. Younger women are disaffiliating from religion faster than men. In this landmark account of American women leaving the church, award-winning journalist Sarah Stankorb, author of Disobedient Women, asks why they leave—and where they land.
Americans love political demons. Demons populate the spaces of American daily life in ways we might be inclined to dismiss, and they exert a power and a hold over our political imaginations that is, arguably, downright diabolical. While we may be tempted to turn our attention away from the discomfort of demons, author Michael E. Heyes challenges us to a clear-eyed reckoning that requires us to do the opposite. From the founding fathers to the rise of Christian nationalism, Devils of Democracy reveals how America's centuries-long obsession with evil has shaped—and endangered—our democracy.
Praise and worship music often fits hand-in-glove with Christian Trumpism, and in this unsettling and sweeping investigation of the music of megachurches and political rallies, journalist Rick Pidcock asks: How did songs beloved by white evangelicals become the soundtrack of Christian supremacy's war on democracy? Weapons of Worship uncovers a worship culture increasingly controlled by a set of powerbrokers and looks at how algorithms define the worship repertoire. As praise and worship music sands down the edges between Christianity and politics, Pidcock asks: Where are songs of conquest and spiritual warfare taking us?
Our nation is awash in more guns than citizens. In the pages of In Guns We Trust, former evangelical and veteran journalist William J. Kole looks at the unholy alliance between white evangelicals, guns, and politics. Writing in the tradition of Tim Alberta and Kristin Kobes du Mez, he takes us into sanctuaries where worshippers raise hands and pack heat. With meticulous research, humanizing interviews, and immersive narrative, Kole pulls back the curtain on the locked-and-loaded Christianity that got us here.
White boys and men are dangerous.
White boys and men are struggling.
Both of these statements are staggeringly true in America today. Disciples of White Jesus is a sensitive, searing, and unsparing look at American boyhood by journalist, mother, and pastor Angela Denker that offers a comprehensive look at the rise in radicalization among young white men in America, especially focused on the role of right-wing Christianity in the increase of religious-based hatred and violence.
Leafing through photos from the January 6 insurrection, extremist researcher Noelle Cook was struck by how many women looked like her: middle-aged white women in puffy coats. With arresting detail, The Conspiracists draws us into the lives of conspiratorial women to explore how and why women are becoming radicalized. As misinformation spreads and extremism intensifies, The Conspiracists helps us understand women's conspiracism to give us hope of countering its force.
What do we learn about white evangelicalism from those raised by its heroes? As sidekicks to their parents' and churches' ambitions, missionary kids (MKs) face questions many white Christians eventually ask: about God's calling, sacrifice, faith, privilege, racism, abuse, and what belonging means. From historian Holly Berkley Fletcher, herself an MK, comes The Missionary Kids, a first-of-its-kind examination of how the experiences of missionary kids illuminate broader currents in American Christianity.
Life at the US border is both hectic and harrowing. Families arrive. Families leave. Families get through to the US. Families are returned from the US. Women weep, children squabble, and grown men sob over photographs of their murdered sons' mutilated bodies. From award-winning journalist and priest Cristina Rathbone comes The Asylum Seekers, a remarkable, devastating work of reporting about these asylum seekers trapped at a port of entry to the US: the trauma they carry, the community they create, and the faith they maintain.
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