Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity

by Bruce Bawer

Book Overview

From the author of the widely acclaimedA Place at the Table, this is a major work, passionately outspoken and cogently reasoned, that exposes the great danger posed to Christianity today by fundamentalism. The time is past, says Bruce Bawer, when denominational names and other traditional labels provided an accurate reflection of Christian America's religious beliefs and practices. The meaningful distinction today is not between Protestant and Catholic,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517706822
• ISBN13: 9780517706824
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 1.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Christianity at a Crossroads

As a person who fell away from faith partly in reaction to the fundamentalist teachings of several Christian sects this book resonated with me. The difficulties I had with uncritical, unthinking acceptance of scripture led me to question the whole business. Abject legalism, and in the case of some, totally wrong prophecy, slowly eroded my faith and I finally rejected all religion as narrow-minded bunk.However, as I got older I felt that perhaps I was myself oversimplifying religion by assuming that the televangalists and ranting vision-seeing fanatics who caught the headlines were the spokespeople for Christianity, or even that Christianity was the only religion to consider.This book thus comes as somewhat of a comfort. You don't have to believe that the world was literally created in six days, that all of the books of the Bible are exactly true in a historical sense, or even that Jesus was the Son of God to at least share in the grand mystery of this universe. As pointed out by Bawer, fundamentalism is not as old as they would like you to believe, nor are they "fundamental" to the faith.I have to be honest here - I am basically an agnostic, but I do believe that there is a remarkable mystery behind life and its long evolution that science may never discover. You can call that mystery God, the Tao, nature, or whatever, but it does seem to defy analysis. I am satisfied with that mystery and with the Bible as a worthwhile guide, but not as absolute word of God. The writings of men, however inspired, are always subject to corruption and change. To me worship of the book is not a substitute for rational thought nor is legalism a good substitute for compassion.Most religions have some form of the "love your neighbor as yourself" commandment. Christianity is no exception. In fact Jesus said on at least two occasions that if only two commandments were obeyed all else will follow- Love the lord and love your neighbor as yourself. If the various "Christian" sects that struggle with each other and with other religions would actually put those concepts into practice this would be a much different world.While I cannot share Bawer's exact beliefs, I do understand them. We all wish to make sense out of the universe and especially our lives. My quarrel is not with faith, but with fanatic fundamentalism and the seekers of power and wealth in Christ's name. I think that Bawer has certainly done us all a favor by exposing the hypocrisy and even hatred in these worshipers of doctrine over spirit.

Stealing G-d: How Fundamentalism Betrays Religion

As a Jewish girl raised in the southern Bible Belt, my religious experience began early and struck hard. Both my parents worked and the only day care they could afford was the local Christian daycare center, where I received my first introduction into the world of proselytization and religious betrayal. As a child, my only memories of Christians were hearty women towering over me, telling me I wasn't allowed lunch or snacks unless I prayed to Jesus in thanks. This left a legacy in my mind that caused me to feel a pervasive resentment and distrust of fundamentalist Christianity -- and indeed Christianity in general. As I grew older I questioned my prejudice . . . and Bawer's book was what I found.This book completely changed my perspective on not only Christianity, but all the major world religions. To think that this book is merely a criticism of Christianity is superficial and undeserved, for the actual message carried by this book is so much deeper. In a world torn by the violence of religious extremism, the psychological, economic, emotional, and social pressures that endorse the trend toward fundamentalism in Christianity can easily be expanded to give us a greater understand of fundamentalism in ANY religion.Victor Hugo's adage that the faults we see in others are those we see in ourselves comes to mind when I consider this criticism of Christianity from the inside out. As a predominantly Christian nation, we so easily criticize Muslim extremism, and yet extremism exists among our own ranks. If we can see faults in the rest of the world (religion-wise or otherwise), then we can easily find those same faults within our own ranks. Bawer exposes this hypocrisy with solid arguments and examples whose reality is striking. Props to Bawer for an open-minded book endorsing tolerance and self-reflection!

Winning Jesus Back

I was oohing and ah-ing in understanding and agreement through many parts of this book. Bruce Bawer describes the fundamental or legalistic Christianity that many Americans think we have to follow or we're not Christians at all. It is the Christianity that has stolen Jesus from the rest of us who, because we think that the only true requirement of God is to love God and humankind in thought as well as action, must give up on Jesus who is represented today as narrow and condemning. Bruce Bawyer makes us realize we can still call ourselves a Christian even if we don't go along with the harsh doctrines of the media-acknowledged Christian Coalition style of Christianity. There are times when Bawyer's bitterness towards legalistic Christianity is evident, yet his message is extremely important for making us think about what it really means to be a Christian, and for encouraging those of us who believe in a church of love to speak up and not be intimidated by aggressive and judgmental button-holers.

Bawer Pulls No Punches

This is an important book that should be read by all Americans--whether of a religious persuasion or not. The agenda of American Fundamentalists (and their close cousins, conservative Evangelcals) is a true threat, not only to freedom of religion in particular, but to freedom of thought in general. It is not surprising that so many Fundamentalists are offended by this book--the truth sometimes hurts. But as many of the reviews on this post indicate, it doesn't always open eyes. I do agree with some of the criticisms aimed at this book--I disliked Bawer's choice of a general bibliography rather than more specific documentation; and he does, at times, sound a bit bitter. As to the former, I was raised in the Southern Baptist Church and graduated from a conservative evangelical college. I have followed the careers of many of the people Bawer discusses in this book and the activities of many of the organizations he mentions. Allow me to be a witness: he is right on the money. As to the latter, Bawer's experiences as a homosexual in a bigoted "church" have certainly earned him the right to a little bitterness.Comments made by admitted fundamentalists on this post only underscore Bawer's point. Consider such comments as "What you are not free to do is claim to be OF US WHILE DENYING WHAT WE BELIEVE" and "...why continue the pretense of naming oneself Christian?" These are people who claim the authority to define what Christianity is. The rest of us either fit their definition or we are out of the picture. How sad and how devisive. This cannot be the church that Jesus intended. It has taken me a lifetime to free myself from the indoctrination I received as a child and young adult and to discover the true essence of Christianity--an inclusive Christianity that has room for those who take the Bible literally and those who do not. (I always have to wonder about those people who cannot conceive of finding value in the Bible without a literalist interpretation--people who seem to live in an either/or universe.) I didn't learn much new by reading Bawer's book, but it did my heart good to know that someone at last is getting the message out there.

Required Reading

A Review of Stealing Jesus by Neil Wilkinson If the government could mandate reading any one book, Bruce Bawer's Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity would be a suitable candidate. It is a must read for any American who takes seriously such basic Constitutional tenets as freedom of speech, expression, and religion. The Right Reverend John Shelby Spong writes: "Bawer emerges as one of this nation's premier religious commentators. One by one he parades the leaders of America's Religious Right--Falwell, Robertson, Reed, Dobson--before our eyes, and without rancor or hostility makes his readers listen to their own words... Bawer's background as a practicing Christian gives this volume a disarming brilliance." What does Bawer mean by "stealing Jesus?" "In recent years, legalistic Christians have organized into a political movement so successful that when many Americans today hear the word Christianity they think only of the legalistic variety. The mainstream media, in covering the so- called culture wars, generally imply that there are only two sides to choose from: the God-of- wrath Christian Right and the godless secular left." It is "a dangerously misguided notion" to take the Christian Right lightly, as simply a holdover from traditional Christianity that will eventually fade away. By distinguishing between nonlegalistic and legalistic Protestantism, that which concerns itself with doctrine, authority, and law, at the expense of love as Christ preached it, Bawer observes, "Born out of anger, modern legalistic Christianity has, over the long arc of the twentieth century, become steadily angrier in reaction to spreading secularism." Tracing fundamentalism from its earliest roots to the present day, Bawer explores the origins of such nonscriptural precepts as "the rapture" that emanated from a book known as the "Scofield Reference Bible," a 1909 document written by Texas preacher C. I. Scofield and ! upon which much of modern fundamentalism relies. An overriding theme in Stealing Jesus is the question of love. It is Bawer's assertion that fundamentalism does all it can to convert the spirit of Christianity into vengeance, a mainstay of legalistic fundamentalist thought. The views of Robertson, Reed, Dobson, and others are devoid of love, but heavy on buzz words and arcane inconsistent rules-bound pseudo-theology, one of the major reasons that devout people become defensive when asked the question, "Are you Christian?" The fundamentalist intrusion into the American political process by wealthy, powerful zealots is of particular concern to Bawer. He pays close attention to the "esoteric theology," of "God's Generalissimo," Pat Robertson, It is through flagrant historical, scriptural, and factual distortions to a constituency upon whom such alterations of reality are lost, that fundamentalists have parlayed themselves into a position of incredible political power. They have infiltrated the Republican Party to such