第 1 章
When Faith and Politics Collide: America's Evangelical Crisis
The church was dying. Not just any church, but Cornerstone Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brighton, Michigan - a congregation that had thrived for decades under the leadership of Richard Alberta, a former Wall Street financier who had experienced a profound conversion to Christianity in 1977. After his death in July 2019, his hand-picked successor, Pastor Chris Winans, faced an exodus of members who viewed his compliance with COVID shutdown orders as capitulation to a Democratic governor's assault on Christianity. The situation worsened during the racial justice protests after George Floyd's murder and throughout Trump's 2020 campaign, with congregants demanding political statements from the pulpit. By early 2021, Winans had developed anxiety disorder and was contemplating leaving the church, confiding to Tim Alberta, Richard's son, that too many American evangelicals "worship America." This crisis in a single Michigan church would prove to be a microcosm of a much larger fracture running through American evangelicalism - one that would prompt Alberta, a respected political journalist, to spend four years embedded in the evangelical movement, visiting hundreds of churches across the country to understand how a faith centered on Jesus Christ had become so entangled with partisan politics and nationalism.
第 2 章
The Marriage of Faith and Political Power
The 2016 presidential election marked a pivotal moment for American evangelicalism. Faced with Donald Trump's moral failings, evangelical leaders crafted a novel strategy: they embraced them. At a meeting in New York, Christian leaders like Franklin Graham and Mike Huckabee presented Trump as the latest in a tradition of flawed men used by God, comparing him to biblical figures like David, Solomon, and King Cyrus. This clever framing allowed them to sidestep questions about Trump's character while positioning him as divinely ordained to fight for God's people in America.
The rhetoric played perfectly into existing evangelical narratives about America's decline and Christianity under threat. Trump surrounded himself with faith leaders from church pulpits and Fox News, catering to panicked Christians with promises of pro-life judges, overturning the Johnson Amendment, and moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. His selection of Mike Pence, who famously described himself as "a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican-in that order," further solidified his evangelical credentials.
This alliance revealed a fundamental confusion about Christian identity. As Pastor Winans explained, many evangelicals had conflated national and religious identity, making America an idol. This manifested in practices like staging standing ovations for military personnel during church services while giving polite "golf claps" for missionaries representing God's kingdom. Jesus repeatedly taught his disciples that "His kingdom is not of this world," emphasizing that faith requires transferring allegiance from earthly powers to Christ.
The perceived threats to Christianity had shifted from external geopolitical forces to internal cultural battles. Martin Sanders, a longtime evangelical leader, observed: "The enemies aren't those outside of the Church; it's people in your church who don't think exactly the way you do." This mentality led to absurd situations like church members leaving because pastors weren't "interpreting the Bible in light of the Constitution."
This conflation of Christian and American identity created a persecution complex among many believers. Despite Jesus explicitly telling His disciples to expect and even welcome persecution ("Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness"), many American Christians began claiming victimhood status for political disagreements rather than genuine religious persecution. When Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Dallas, hosted a "Freedom Sunday" featuring country musician Lee Greenwood and a speaker billed as "Former Atlanta Fire Chief Fired for Christian Beliefs," he was promoting a narrative of Christian persecution that bore little resemblance to the genuine suffering of believers worldwide.
第 3 章
The Corruption of Evangelical Leadership
The story of Liberty University serves as a stark illustration of how the pursuit of political power systematically corrupted evangelical institutions from within. Founded by Jerry Falwell Sr. in 1971 as a training ground for Christian leaders, the university under his son Jerry Falwell Jr.'s leadership transformed into a political operation that increasingly abandoned core Christian principles in exchange for proximity to power. This transformation manifested in everything from curriculum changes to public statements to institutional priorities.
The case of Mark DeMoss exemplifies this shift. As a Liberty board member and longtime Falwell family advisor who had served the institution for decades, DeMoss spoke out in the Washington Post, criticizing Trump's bullying tactics, crude behavior, and notable refusal to immediately disavow KKK leader David Duke. The response was swift and revealing - a terse email from Falwell Jr. stating simply: "Mark, I'm very disappointed in you." Within months, DeMoss was forced from the board, demonstrating how political loyalty had completely superseded Christian character as the institution's guiding value. This purge of dissenting voices became a pattern at Liberty and other evangelical institutions.
Liberty professor Nick Olson provided intimate insight into this transformation, describing how the campus's carefully maintained utopian appearance masked a deeply corrupted vision. The pristine lawns, state-of-the-art facilities, and outward displays of Christian devotion created an illusion of spiritual health that concealed serious ethical compromises. Despite his attempts to ignore the "ugliness that lurked in the subconscious of the school," Olson found himself unable to unsee the corruption once he recognized its pervasiveness. His comparison of Liberty to a mafia organization initially shocked even himself, but he came to understand that questioning inherited faith traditions was precisely what Jesus meant when saying a man should leave his father and mother - "to challenge the things you're taught in your upbringing with the things you're taught in your upbringing."
This pattern of institutional corruption extended far beyond Liberty's campus. The experience of Russell Moore, who served as head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, reveals how deeply these problems penetrated major denominational structures. Moore faced relentless scrutiny and investigations from the Executive Committee, particularly after he began investigating racial tensions within the denomination and exposing sexual abuse cover-ups. The campaign against him became so intense and personal that his fifteen-year-old son once approached him with a heartbreaking question, asking if his father was having an affair. In a pivotal moment, Moore brought his son to witness an Executive Committee meeting where members openly described Moore as divisive, spiteful, and un-Christlike. The rawness of this experience led his son to ask the penetrating question: "Why do we want to be a part of this?"
Moore's ultimate conclusion captured the crisis facing many evangelical leaders: "I believed, and still believe, what the Southern Baptist Convention claims about Jesus is true. But what the Southern Baptist Convention claims about itself? I couldn't no longer believe that." This forced him to confront whether the common assertion that "the SBC is the hope of the world" had become a form of idolatry, and whether denominational loyalty had eclipsed his higher loyalty to Christ. His journey reflected a broader pattern of institutional leaders being forced to choose between maintaining power and maintaining integrity.
第 4 章
The Rise of Christian Nationalism
The merging of Christian identity with American nationalism created a toxic brew that transformed many churches from places of worship into political rallies. At Greg Locke's Global Vision Bible Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, the campus resembled a fortified compound with armed guards, camouflage-clad security, and a sign declaring "THIS IS A MASK FREE CHURCH CAMPUS." Inside, hundreds gathered as Locke hailed them as "soldiers rising up in God's army," many literally carrying guns.
Once a small-time preacher, Locke rose to prominence after a 2016 viral video criticizing Target's gender identity policies garnered 18 million views. He aligned with Trump allies like Roger Stone and Charlie Kirk, transforming his ministry into a spectacle that drew visitors from across the country. During Alberta's visit, Locke hosted "Dukes of Hazzard" actor John Schneider, who suggested Christians should prepare for violent uprising: "We have a country to get back. And if that fails, we have a country-yes, I'll say it-to take back." This militant rhetoric directly contradicted Jesus's teachings of nonviolence.
The parallels between American Christian nationalism and authoritarian religious movements abroad became increasingly apparent. Cyril Hovorun, an Orthodox monk who had spent a decade in Moscow as theological aide to Patriarch Kirill, explained how Vladimir Putin had weaponized religion to define Russia's enemies, creating identitarian programming that enabled Ukraine's butchery with the Church's blessing. Hovorun smirked while describing how Putin manipulated Russians with a revisionist "founding myth" to "Make Russia Great Again" - the parallels to America were unmistakable.
Miroslav Volf, a renowned theologian heading Yale's Center for Faith and Culture, observed that while America wasn't waging holy war against another nation, a war for the essence of American Christianity was reverberating globally. Missionaries spanning multiple continents shared concerns about nationalism in the American evangelical Church. Christian nationalism had become "the predominant form of evangelical Christianity" in the United States, and Volf "frankly had no idea" what to do about it. The vision had become "powerfully insular" and "impenetrable," making theological discussions nearly impossible.
This nationalist theology manifested in increasingly extreme political rhetoric. Politicians purposefully misappropriated scripture, with Ron DeSantis substituting "the left" for "the devil" when quoting Ephesians. His campaign advertisement even portrayed him as divinely appointed: "On the eighth day, God looked down on His planned paradise and said: 'I need a protector.' So God made a fighter." This messaging resonated with many evangelicals - 78% of whom supported declaring America a "Christian Nation."
第 5 章
The Weaponization of Religion for Political Gain
The religious right's embrace of Trump revealed how thoroughly political considerations had overtaken spiritual ones. Ralph Reed, the mastermind behind mobilizing American Christians politically for thirty years, exemplified this approach. At his Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority conference, speakers framed politics in apocalyptic terms while merchandise merged Christianity, patriotism and violence - flags reading "God, Guns & Trump" and T-shirts with slogans like "Faith Over Fear" and "This Means War."
When Trump arrived, he energized the crowd by attacking Mike Pence for lacking "courage" to help overturn the 2020 election. The crowd enthusiastically booed Pence despite his decades as an evangelical darling. This revealed how evangelicals compartmentalize their standards, treating politics like "a place where the rules and expectations of everyday life do not apply." This compartmentalization has led to increasing moral compromise - from excusing the Access Hollywood tape in 2016 to Christians wearing "Fuck Joe Biden" shirts by 2022.
Reed's handling of Senate candidate Herschel Walker exemplified this approach. Despite Walker's history of lying, threatening his ex-wife, and fathering multiple unacknowledged children, Reed portrayed him as a Christian martyr persecuted by the liberal media. When directly asked if Christians should hold themselves to higher standards, Reed deflected: "Individual Christians have to make that decision about their own conduct," effectively embracing moral relativism.
The "ReAwaken America Tour" showcased the bizarre intersection of far-right politics and evangelical Christianity. Attendees paid $250-500 to hear from an eclectic lineup of speakers promising Republican victory as divine intervention. The event featured an assortment of conservative clerics, Trump loyalists, and culture warriors addressing thousands of anxious believers. Organizers Michael Flynn and Clay Clark explained that globalists had weaponized COVID-19 to push lockdowns for population control, claiming Klaus Schwab was using the World Economic Forum to pursue a "Great Reset" leading to a secular, tyrannical one-world government.
The event was a scam artist's Super Bowl. Traveling between booths, Alberta encountered miracle cures for autism, prophecy decoders predicting war with China, nuclear winter survival kits, "Kingdom Fuel" shake mix to "defy the malevolent medical regime," and children's books like "The Plot Against the King" depicting a deep-state coup against a fearless monarch.
Stephen E. Strang, a prolific Christian author and publisher, exemplified how evangelical leaders had compromised their principles for political gain. Once leading a 200-person staff in a 67,000-square-foot headquarters, Strang had made Time magazine's "25 most influential evangelicals" list in 2005. His profile rose dramatically in 2017 with "God and Donald Trump," portraying Trump as a bighearted family man ordained by God to defeat secularism. When Alberta questioned how Christians could justify coarsening their own values in response to cultural decay, Strang seemed confused. He insisted Trump had "changed" and become born-again during his presidency. "He's our hero," Strang declared. "He stands up for the values that we have."
第 6 章
The Cost of Speaking Truth to Power
Those who challenged the marriage of evangelical Christianity with right-wing politics paid a steep price. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican congressman from Illinois who had become persona non grata for serving on the January 6 investigation committee, experienced this firsthand. Though consistently conservative on issues like abortion and taxes, he was a pragmatist who valued incremental gains over grandstanding. In 2016, he became one of the first Republicans to announce he wouldn't vote for Trump, declaring "I'm an American before I'm a Republican."
Despite voting with Trump 90% of the time and even supporting his reelection in 2020, Kinzinger became a pariah for his occasional criticisms. After January 6th, which he anticipated would be dangerous (even bringing his .380-caliber Ruger to work that day), he was disgusted to see 147 Republican colleagues vote against certifying the election results. He became one of just ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.
The backlash was severe. His own family members wrote that he was fighting for "the devil's army" and had "embarrassed the Kinzinger family name!" Death threats became relentless. At dinner with Russell Moore, the combat veteran looked broken: "Some days I think about retiring and never running again. Some days I think about quitting the Republican Party and running again. But I'm not gonna run as a Republican again. I just-I can't do it."
Cal Thomas, once among America's most widely-read columnists appearing in over 500 newspapers, had spent five years as Jerry Falwell Sr.'s spokesman at the Moral Majority. However, in 1999, Thomas co-authored "Blinded by Might" with Pastor Ed Dobson, a contrition-laden confessional about their disillusionment with the religious right. The book acknowledged their failed dream that Ronald Reagan's presidency would usher in "the greatest moment of opportunity for conservative Christians" to transform America. Instead, Thomas and Dobson concluded the country had grown "angrier, more antagonistic, more fearful, more divided-less Christlike-because of the Moral Majority."
Thomas and Dobson called for "unilateral disarmament" by the religious right, arguing that winning campaigns had become more important than winning converts, and scolding culture more important than sanctifying the Church. They warned evangelical leaders to stop confusing "spiritual authority for political authority." Thomas's guiding principle was simple: "I want to be like Jesus... He hung out with tax collectors and prostitutes. I want them to see Him in me, so that they will be attracted to Him. That is the purpose of my life."
第 7 章
The Sexual Abuse Crisis and Institutional Failure
The sexual abuse crisis within evangelical churches revealed the profound moral bankruptcy of institutions that claimed to represent Christ. When the Southern Baptist Convention finally commissioned an independent investigation by Guidepost Solutions, the report exposed widespread abuse cover-ups that had been systematically hidden for decades.
Rachael Denhollander, who had gained prominence as the first woman to publicly accuse USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar of sexual abuse, became a key figure in exposing abuse within churches. Despite her initial celebration as an "evangelical darling," she soon discovered that advocating for abuse survivors made her unwelcome at her Louisville church due to its association with Sovereign Grace, a network accused of covering up abuse cases.
Denhollander turned her legal expertise toward exposing abuse within churches, particularly the Southern Baptist Convention, transforming from "Esther to Jezebel" in the eyes of evangelical leaders. Despite her impact, Denhollander realized the limits of legal action alone, concluding that journalism was the key to driving meaningful change.
Julie Roys, who unexpectedly returned to journalism in 2007 after thirteen years as a stay-at-home mom, joined Moody Radio where she quickly rose to host her own national program. Though initially seeming a natural fit for the conservative Christian broadcaster, Roys soon discovered troubling patterns within the organization. While encouraged to criticize Christianity's cultural adversaries, Roys faced censorship whenever she turned her critical eye toward fellow Christian institutions.
As employees began bringing her tips about institutional misconduct, Roys launched a proper investigation, uncovering financial mismanagement, theological drift, and self-dealing - including a half-million-dollar interest-free loan to Moody's president and a private residential suite for board chairman Jerry Jenkins. After the board dismissed her concerns, Roys published her findings in January 2018 on her blog, The Roys Report, knowing it would destroy her evangelical career prospects. Though fired immediately, her reporting forced Moody to remove three top officials within 48 hours.
The pattern of evangelical pastors being exposed for victimizing church members became so common that Christianity grew institutionally desensitized to it, with many followers defending fallen leaders rather than holding them accountable. When Ravi Zacharias, an international superstar in Christian apologetics, was exposed as a "prolific sexual predator" a year after his death, many evangelicals initially refused to believe the allegations, demonstrating how Christians often place dangerous faith in religious leaders despite being taught never to place faith in man.
第 8 章
Signs of Hope and Renewal
Despite the dark picture painted throughout the book, Alberta found signs of hope and renewal within American evangelicalism. At Broadmoor Baptist Church, a prominent SBC member, leaders demonstrated how to handle abuse allegations properly. When a woman approached the church claiming a former youth pastor had groomed and abused her as a preteen, the church immediately contacted Rachael Denhollander. After confirming the allegations were credible, Broadmoor commissioned an outside investigation and published a detailed public statement acknowledging the victim, offering resources for survivors, and providing reporting instructions. This transparency earned media praise as "a model" for churches handling abuse cases. Though they initially lost members, Broadmoor ultimately grew in both membership and finances, with other SBC pastors seeking their guidance on handling similar situations properly.
Brian Zahnd, pastor of Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri, offered a different model of evangelical leadership. After building a megachurch sensation, Zahnd realized around 2000 that they'd become "a bunch of Republicans with Jesus fishes on our SUVs" rather than radical disciples. After praying at a Dick Cheney rally in 2004, he felt Jesus asking "why are you politicizing me?" and committed to a new direction, critiquing the "American empire as not a kind of biblical Israel, but a kind of biblical Babylon." This cost his church 1,500 members.
Zahnd explained that Christianity thrives as a countercultural force, not as dominant culture. His church deliberately avoids American patriotic holidays, focusing instead on the liturgical calendar. Despite losing much of his congregation years ago, Word of Life now grows through YouTube as Christians seek "normal churches" untainted by political idolatry. "You can take up the sword of Caesar or you can take up the cross of Jesus," Zahnd concluded. "You have to choose."
Curtis Chang, a Harvard-educated pastor's son who left ministry after suffering debilitating anxiety and panic attacks, recognized the same undertones of anxiety gripping evangelicalism during Trump's presidency. After building a successful Silicon Valley consulting career, Chang launched Redeeming Babel in 2019 to reimagine how evangelicals engage society. Together with Russell Moore and David French, they launched "The After Party," aiming for a post-partisan Christianity. By spring 2023, they were piloting their curriculum in Ohio churches, hoping to scale up for the 2024 election season to help pastors who had been "white-knuckling their way through politics for six years."
第 9 章
Rediscovering the Church's True Purpose
Returning to Cornerstone Church for the first time since his father's funeral, Alberta found Pastor Chris Winans had evolved from a timid, anxious leader into a confident, assertive one. After weathering an exodus of members during political turmoil, Winans had initially adopted a subtle "pull, don't push" approach to guide the congregation away from toxic politics without confrontation. Now, with the church thriving again, Winans boldly announced "Shine," a new initiative emphasizing witnessing through reflecting God's love into the community.
In a transformative sermon, Winans distinguished between finite and infinite approaches to church. Using James Carse's game theory, he explained that finite games have known players, fixed rules, and zero-sum objectives, while infinite games welcome unknown players, adapt rules, and focus on continuous improvement rather than winning. He challenged his wealthy, conservative congregation to see the church as infinite - welcoming all people rather than building walls, adapting methods while maintaining the message, and focusing on spiritual transformation rather than cultural victory.
This vision contrasted sharply with the Christian nationalist approach that had captured white evangelical America, with roughly two-thirds either explicitly supporting or sympathizing with it. These adherents believe God intended America as a "new promised land" for European Christians, with nearly 90% agreeing to this statement. The author condemns Christian nationalism as theologically contradictory to Paul's teaching that in Christ "there is neither Jew nor Gentile" and that Christians' "citizenship is in heaven."
The evangelical embrace of Trump has accelerated Christianity's institutional collapse in America, with belief in God reaching historic lows, church attendance plummeting, and the religiously unaffiliated growing rapidly. Denominations are fracturing, with the United Methodist Church splitting, Southern Baptist churches departing their convention, and even the Evangelical Presbyterian Church considering removing "Evangelical" from its name due to the term's tarnished reputation.
Yet the message of Jesus remains as countercultural and revolutionary as ever. As Pastor Winans concluded his sermon with Paul's words: "We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." The true purpose of the Church is not political victory but spiritual transformation - making disciples through sharing the gospel, baptizing unbelievers, and training followers to become more like Christ. This self-perpetuating mission grows God's family both quantitatively and qualitatively, focusing not on earthly kingdoms but on the eternal Kingdom of God.
