The EXVangelicals
The EXVangelicals
Today I finished reading an early copy of The
EXVangelicals Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church by
Sarah McCammon which is coming out on March 19th. I am also excited
to be doing a Q&A with her soon as well. It is part memoir and part
journalistic research about why many would leave the evangelical churches in
The United States. Sarah recounts her upbringing growing up in the Midwest in
the 1980s & 1990s and then in 2016 she covered Trump’s campaign and saw how
popular Trump was with the evangelical right.
Writing & Personal story
The book was a mixture of interviews and bits of pieces of
Sarah’s own life. I was kind of hoping for more of an autobiography of Sarah’s
life. I like reading the parts about how she felt the pressure of converting
her Muslim friend to Christianity or the parts about praying for her
grandfather who her family thought needed saving. It also made me sad that her
family didn’t approve of certain shows like Step By Step because it’s about a
blended family and the male character is divorced. I never watched it, but I’m
sure it had a lot of good lessons to teach. I do like the fact that while Sarah
explained her reasons for leaving the evangelical church, she didn’t spend the
entire book bashing the religion & briefly mentioned that some evangelicals
who became exvangelicals left the faith and became parts of other faiths
whether its Protestant or Catholic. I’m a Catholic and I know SOME (not all)
Evangelicals online or in the real world, like to spread lies &
misunderstandings about Catholicism & about how we worship saints
especially The Virgin Mary Jesus’s mother. I could write a whole rant about the
Catholic topic alone but that’s another topic for another time.
Overall
Overall I enjoyed the book. I can’t wait to do this Q&A
with you Sarah and I hope to read more books from you in the future!