THE EXVANGELICALS

Through the lens of her personal and professional experiences, an American journalist describes the rapidly growing social movement abandoning fundamental evangelicalism.

McCammon, a national political correspondent for NPR and co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast, vividly describes her evangelical-based childhood and education in suburban Kansas City in the late 20th century. The author also explores the significant social and political influence of the evangelical movement in the U.S. that she witnessed as a correspondent during the 2016 presidential election and how she came to grips with the inherent contradictions and distortions preached by self-appointed arbiters of God's word. McCammon is at her best when describing the construction of the evangelical infrastructure via TV and radio by figures such as James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, and what she and many others raised in the evangelical culture gleaned from the lessons and warnings espoused in churches and schools concerning the afterlife, human sexuality, and the role of women in the family. The element of fear seems ever-present—fear of not being a fervent enough witness for Christ, fear of doubting the inerrancy of the Bible, and even fear that she would miss the Rapture because she wasn't truly a believer. Throughout the book, McCammon deftly weaves the story of her immediate family's marginalization of—yet urgent concern for—the soul of her kind, successful, and agnostic grandfather, a brain surgeon who happened to be gay, together with her own questioning of everything that had been drilled into her during childhood. She also discusses "religious trauma" among exvangelicals and how she and others have experienced it and treated it. This fascinating and enlightening aspect of the consequences of a fundamentalist upbringing is only now beginning to be thoroughly explored, and McCammon’s poignant book serves as a launchpad to learn more.

A bold, intriguing, intimate read.