Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right

by Mel White

Book Overview

The bestselling author of Stranger at the Gate provides an inside expos of the Christian Right's agenda, and a playbook in how to resist it. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585425311
• ISBN13: 9781585425310
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Tarcher
• Length: 367 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Must read

Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Dangers of the Religious Right by Mel White. Mel White was a ghostwriter for many of the well-known fundamentalist ministers such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Some 25 years or so ago, not only did he became to realize he was gay, but also being gay is something to celebrate. Dr. White gives us some insight into the world of ghostwriting. One example was when he wrote one of Pat Robertson's books. Rev. Robertson never read the book he was supposed to have written. Never. Today Dr. White is in a 25-year plus relationship with another man, has children from a previous relationship and still considers himself an evangelical Christian. He regularly attends Jerry Falwell's church in silent protest. I read his first book, Stranger at the Gate: To be Gay and Christian in America, many years ago. He is co-founder of an organization called Soulforce, which is made up of gay and their supporters who are also religious. [...] His new book, Religion Gone Bad, I could hardly put down. Every page seems to speak exactly how I felt about issues regarding religion, spirituality, gay rights and the people who fight gay rights. The first section of the book is titled, "My Friends, The Enemy". Since he had been raised as a fundamentalist Christian (his father was a fundamentalist Christian minister), Dr. White knew many of these anti gay ministers on a personal basis. He considers them his friends, but also his enemies for the damage they are doing to gay folks. Dr. White believes many fundamentalists have perverted and dishonored the teachings of Jesus. They have "emasculated Jesus". "They have broken the covenant of love and grace and tacked up in its place the old covenant of law and order". Jesus hung out with the outcasts not the respected people of the community. Instead of trying to take the speck out of other's eyes, perhaps they should take the log out of theirs. What school has more suicides of more gay men than any other religious institution in the country? Brigham Young University (Mormon). What group is more likely to get divorced? Christian "born again" conservatives. They have a higher divorce rate than other faith groups, atheists or agnostics. However, these folks want to protect the "sanctity" of marriage as it has been for "hundreds of years". However, their concept of traditional marriage is a myth. Originally, marriage was not based on love, but on economic issues. Husbands traded cattle for wives. Marriage to a non-Jew was prohibited. Children of interfaith couple were considered illegitimate. Brides considered not being virgins were stoned to death. The Old Testament talks about polygamous marriage where a man marries and lives with as many women as he can afford. Many men in the Old Testament had many wives any where from two (Jacob and Ashur) to Solomon who had at least 700. Abraham had a wife, a concubine or other wives who either were slaves or purchased.

Jesus Would be Ashamed of the Religious Right

Mel White tells politically moderate Christians to reclaim the Bible from certain fundamentalist Christian leaders. They are using it to promote an unChristian agenda based on cherry-picked excerpts from the Bible. They have somehow gained strength in numbers - more poetically called gang mentality - and have become powerful enough to influence the White House and Congress. In 1994, a bunch of fundamentalist leaders got together in Colorado Springs and made long term plans to do something about the homosexual problem that was threatening American values. How ridiculous! The gay community is about as threatening to the usual marriage as an ant bed in the next county - and these guys are basing their paranoia on a very few selected sentences out of a book written during the Bronze Age. Although it's easy to write them off, White says not to underestimate their political power: "These are not just Neocons dressed in religious drag. These men see themselves as gurus called by God to rescue America from unrighteousness. They believe this is a Christian nation that must be returned forcibly to its Christian roots." White is a gay minister who has seen these guys up close. He served the evangelical movement as a pastor, professor, filmmaker, TV producer, author, and ghostwriter for Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham, and others. Now that he's out of the closet, the author documents that this plan has been and is being slowly carried out and is gathering momentum. He includes in his book about 100 hate-mongering quotes gleaned from our Christian friends live from their TV ministries. Moderate, reasonable, critical-thinking people have been out-numbered, out-financed, and out-organized by these fine gentlemen. The anti-gay crusade goes hand in hand with plans intended to derail ungodly aspects of science, influence foreign policy, and eventually demolish the separation of church and state. Tens of millions of dollars and millions of votes are being extracted for these political purposes. White is understandably and justifiably ticked off about their anti-gay stance, and his minority group should have our support in this conflict. Meanwhile, I have been disgusted by the treatment science has gotten since the fundamentalists have infiltrated every nook and cranny of the Bush administration. I agree with White that something needs to be done. Hopefully, the tide will turn and this era will be looked back on like McCarthyism is today.

Twin to Reverend Lynn's "Piety & Politics"

I like to read in twos or threes, and in this case the two books I read on the religious right were Reverend Barry Lynn's "Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freeedom," and this one. Lynn's comes in first by a nose, but they are both excellent primers on everything going wrong both within the extreme right, and between the church and the state. The author is a gay Christian minister who was uniquely privileged as a ghost writer for the heavy hitters on the extreme right from Jerry Falwell to Pat Robertson, work done prior to his realizing he was gay. The author provides a useful distinction, one I often forget, between fundamentalists who are driven by fear and focused on imposing their strict version of faith on others, and evangelicals who are more reasonable and tolerant. This book is richer in historical content than Lynns, and for that reason alone should be considered a "must read" along with Lynns' book. In addition to history the author describes a broad concern over two Americas emergent, one fundamentalist and one normal. The author takes care to discuss how Bible-based fear and loathing come from the fundamentalists, themselves, not from the Bible. The author ends the book compassionately and intelligently. I am beginning to see a convergence between the literature on Collective Intelligence, and the literature on non-violent resistance as well as secession from the Union. I see a real possibility of the USA breaking up into at least four pieces (see my review of Joel Garreau's The Nine Nations of North America; Tom Atlee's The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All; and Thomas Naylor's The Vermont Manifesto. See also (with reviews): American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It (Plus) Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom Thank God for Evolution!: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury

An Insider Takes Us Deeper Into the Danger of the Christian Right-wing

Mel White's brand new book, Religion Gone Bad is his latest intimate analysis of the intentions of the extreme religious right-wing of Christianity that's been setting the national agenda for over a decade. Most well-known for his "coming out" story, Stranger at the Gate (1998), White has the deep insider knowledge of the Christian right-wing that makes his own stories insightful, even crucial, reads for the rest of us. As a former ghostwriter for some of the biggest names in Christian bigotry today, and as someone who remains in touch with the thinking and feeling of the usual culprits behind Republican Party Christianity, his warnings and analyses provide a sobering look into the totalitarian goals of the radical right-wing. Close followers of the right-wing won't be surprised by his sense of alarm. They'll find new evidence to back up their concern here. Those who still think that these authoritarians should be valued for their sincerity, made objects of laughter on Comedy Central, pitied for how persecuted they feel, or enabled by the usual liberal attempts to "understand" them better, will need this wake-up slap. The only danger is that these people won't want to face Mel White's sobering analysis head on. Though the book has broader implications for all progressive Americans, White intends to persuade his readers that "the struggle for `gay rights' is the next stage in the broader struggle for civil rights" as well as other progressive struggles in this country. "Consciously or unconsciously, fundamentalist Christians are using their anti-homosexual campaign," he writes, "to test how much intolerance the American people will tolerate. . . . It is a struggle against fundamentalist Christianity (to use their words) `for the heart and soul of the nation.' It is a struggle we dare not lose." White sees the struggle as a war. He documents, again with much inside information since he knew most of the protagonists personally, their call to war, its warriors (Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson), its enforcer (Focus on the Family's James Dobson) and its extremist (Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church's D. James Kennedy). Part Two discusses how fundamentalists fight and win their battles beginning with an analysis of the May 1994 summit of 55 fundamentalist leaders at the Glen Eyrie conference center outside of Colorado Springs. His chapters on the meeting that set the tone and agenda for the right-wing takeover document the setting of the "fascist" strategies and authoritarian goals we've since seen put in place. In the final section, White fights back with his recommendations for resisting the looming fundamentalist take-over of the country. Taking back progressive constitutional political values and reclaiming the progressive moral values of Jesus and the Bible are central to his argument. At this point some may be tempted to leave White, but this may be the most important time to continue reading. White still sees himself as an "evangelic

Reverend White is a pioneer for telling the truth

This is a fascinating book. The Reverend gives an honest portrayal of religious fundamentalism in America. He details how these fanatics preach their hate towards decent and hardworking homosexual people and try to use the pulpit to preach politics. Anyone that preaches bigotry in the name of religion should read "Religion Gone Bad" with an open mind and open heart.