Stockholm Syndrome Christianity: Why America’s Christian Leaders Are Failing — and What We Can Do About It

by John West

What if American culture isn’t collapsing because of crusading secularists? What if it’s failing because leading Christians identify more with secular elites than with their fellow believers? Those are the provocative questions posed by Stockholm Syndrome Christianity, which exposes how influential Christian leaders are siding with their anti-Christian cultural captors on everything from biblical authority and science to sex, race, and religious liberty. Going beyond critique, the book identifies root causes and—most crucially—offers practical tips and strategies you can use to help your family, church, and community stand for truth. Read this book to become part of the solution.

Genres: Politics, Theology, Christianity, Christian, Religion

360 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 3, 2025

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Reviews

[Desert Swede · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great companion book to Meg Basham's "Shepherds for sale " An important read for any church leader or parent.

[Dave Lester · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dr. John G West, vice president at Seattle's Discovery Institute, has written a book that is largely outside of what Discovery is mostly known for (Intelligent Design) and more about his perspective of Christian leaders and the church failing culture by compromising what he sees as Biblical truth. It should be noted that most of Dr. West's framing on what is Biblical truth aligns with American conservatism (a right wing perspective). Proof of this perspective is readily available throughout the work and is especially seen at the end of chapter 4 where Dr. West's brief polemics on poverty, crime, homelessness, and education (this one advocating for school choice) advocate political goals of the religious right. His opinion on COVID era policy is regularly articulated as well throughout but, to be fair, he does seem to at least embrace some nuance with what our country went through a few years ago.

All in all, this book seems akin to a last desperate gasp of the religious right as to having even a modicum of influence in American society. The tone is often one that reads like cultural grievance on the page. Fanning the flames of culture war while centering around issues of morality in society such as abortion, gay marriage and religious freedom. In other words, these are the prima facie issues that the conservative right hammers on continually. Abortion is certainly a critically important issue. I strongly disagree with Dr. West on gay marriage (we are a free society based on individual rights after all). Regarding religious freedom, he has some important points worth considering.

While we are on the topic of "Biblical", the Scriptures identify greed, self-righteousness, coveting, the treatment of immigrants and other sins as being serious as well. I wonder how many books by personalities who would find themselves on the religious right want to tackle these issues in society? Are there policy answers to any of them? Is it all individuals who should be concerned or tackle these other sins?

At points during the book, Dr. West criticizes the late Tim Keller for holding private meetings with other Evangelicals to encourage belief in theistic evolution. So what? Aren't there personalities at the Discovery Institute who believe humans and an ancient ape or chimpanzee type had a common ancestor? There are numerous Christian thinkers who believe in theistic evolution and apparently, according to Dr. West, they are deficient or being too close to secular progressives.

The topic of open theism also comes up as Dr. West has lots of frustrated commentary directed at Seattle Pacific University (SPU). He sees SPU as having drifted from its original Biblical framework (again defined by a marriage of Christianity and right wing politics). He calls open theism "heresy". I'm not an open theist and I have no idea what the theology department at SPU has to say about open theism (and frankly, I thought people stopped talking about open theism about 20+ years ago). However, presenting open theism in its best light (a steel man argument) has that God can suspend God's knowledge of the future in order to give humanity free will. Presumably (and maybe it depends on the open theist), God can take his total knowledge back at any time. Some of those theologians base this on Kenosis in Philippians 2 where Jesus (being God) emptied Himself of the exercise of God-like powers in order to become a man. Again, I disagree with open theism and haven't thought about it in probably 20 years but Dr. West does not engage with this theological nuance before labeling them "heretics".

Many of Dr. West's examples of drift or people deviating from the religious right are ancedotal and occasionally involve something that he "heard" from somebody else. There really seems to be flimsy evidence offered in spots (even though he has pages of footnotes at the end of his book). He heard about things at SPU or about another pastor's ministry. Poor argumentation is present in the manuscript including thinking that the marketing campaign for The Passion of the Christ directed by Mel Gibson and, in contrast, The DaVinci Code somehow proves that Hollywood has an axe to grind with Christians. Perhaps there are people who hate Christians in Hollywood but Dr. West does not discuss that the story of The Passion of the Christ involves Gibson pretty much financing the film himself. It was a truly independent film and his unorthodox marketing plan was traveling to churches and hosting previews or screening clips of the film. In contrast, The DaVinci Code film starred one of the most famous actors on the planet at the time (Tom Hanks), was based on a book which sold millions and millions of copies, and was directed by Ron Howard and had major studio backing. That is mostly likely the reason for the discrepancy in marketing. To Dr. West though, everything seems to be a slight against conservative Christians and there is no curiosity as to some of the other reasons why things might have happened the way they did.

Finally, there is a cliche among those of us who aren't political conservatives and that is that "every accusation is a confession" when it comes to portions of the conservative movement accusing people outside of their movement, sadly. It is rich to suggest that people who aren't conservatives have stockholm syndrome when the biggest bloc of support offered to Donald Trump and the MAGA movement is the religious right. The Heritage Foundations ties to Trump in order to get whatever they can of their agenda (do the ends justify the means?) is well known as are many other conservative organizations. Trump's adultery, ownership of casinos, bragging about sexual assault, decades long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and other vices are well-known now. He has also threatened Constitutionally protected American citizens, detained American citizens whom his Dept of Homeland Security thought were undocumented immigrants, continually flouts the law (according to judges) around the behavior of his Dept of Homeland Security, harasses and persecutes immigrants and refugees all over our nation, has openly threated military action against a country that has not attacked us and poses no threat to us (Greenland) which is against any interpretation of Augustine's just war theory and many other deviant authoritarian-type tactics. And Dr. West has not much to say about any of this. The Bible has specific commands about how to treat immigrants and yet there is virtually nothing in this book on that critically important issue.

Conservative Steve Deace (a personality on the Blaze Media) has called Trump the King. Deace does not mean a political monarch. He means that Trump is something of a king to the conservative movement. Trump gets no pushback from Dr. West and very little pushback from other conservatives (at least ones who haven't left the camp). So tell me....who exactly has Stockholm Syndrome?

[Richard Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

John West addressed a problem which has been a thorn in my side for sometime. It is lamentable to see well known Christian pastors and Christian schools try to water down Christianity and "make nice" with the secular world is frustrating to say the least. It's bad enough when Christian leaders and pastors are accused of sexual infidelities, fraud, abuse of children. These acts malign both Christians and God. The one criticism I would make is that Mr. West is too nice to these people, such as Collins and others, trying to "not be too judgmental". I suspect my opinion speaks more to me than to John West but you have to call these individuals out and make them explain what they are thinking and how can they slip by what the God says unequivocally. To me this book is not depressing but more eye opening to the depth of the problem. It does seem to answer the question of who the goats are when Christ returns and separates them from the sheep...

[Michael Herriges · Rating 5 out of 5]

A necessary book for our times

John West has hit the nail on the head with this book. So many of us have seen and continue to see the damage of this on the Church. As a pastor I often run into this, even among other pastors in our denomination. I now have an even deeper understanding of the history of this failure in the Church. However, I now have more tools to use in combating the enemy.

[marty bennet · Rating 5 out of 5]

knowing what time it is and making the to action

This book is a survey our predicament and a call to action. The author joins Megan Basham in identifying the enemy within and prescribes a proper response.

[Allan Nemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating but heartbreaking read. I knew the American church is in decline. However, I did not realize how much and how far it has deteriorated. It's a must read but as I already said it will break your heart.

[Frank Peters · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book that I have mixed feelings about. The purpose of the book was to identify where Christian leaders have failed the broader church by assimilating with the culture rather than being faithful to God’s teaching in the bible. The obvious difficulty with such a book is that one needs to decide whose interpretation of the bible will we hold to be foundational. I mostly agree with the author on how he navigates this, but not completely. When it comes to interpreting what the bible says about ethics, I would agree. Thus, when he discusses how Christian ministries have moved away from biblical teaching on sexual ethics, I find myself becoming depressed about what has happened, but thankful that the author is calling things out. But when he approaches how a Christian should live in a pluralistic society, I am not always in agreement with the author. He seems to suggest that if the company, school or organisation is doing something contrary to scripture, it is our job to do something about it (depending, of course on how much control and power we have). I am not convinced that the author is correct here. After all, the bible makes is very clear that we should not expect society to conform to God’s teaching (1 Corinthians 5:9+).

Similarly, he calls out Christian leaders for having biases in secondary issues (such as origins). Even while I likely agree with the author’s views on origins, I do not agree with his criticisms of others. His writing came across as bitterness or “sour grapes”. Then on his web site, essentially all of the resources for faith and science are from where he works: the Discovery Institute. Now, I tend to agree with that institute, but I don’t believe that I have the knowledge and wisdom to confidently know that we are correct. In fact, I just criticised a book with a BioLogos (theistic evolution) bias for similar reasons – the belief that only they are correct. This type of bias is unfortunate when coming from any side and (in my opinion) does not reflect the love and respect we should have for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Another political area that is highlighted is the response to Covid. Once again, I likely agree with the author, but disagree that we know we are correct. This subject is too political and causes unnecessary (and likely sinful) conflict within the church. Thus, I disagree with the author that one’s belief in origins or response to Covid is a valid measure of what the author refers to as Stockholm Syndrome Christianity.

Ultimately, I found the book depressing on multiple fronts. I find it depressing how many Christian groups have taken on the world’s wisdom while abandoning what God teaches in the bible. I find it depressing how young people are losing their faith at so-called Christian universities due to teachers that no longer have an orthodox faith. I find it depressing how churches are blindly accepting sexual ethics that go against what God says is best for us, thus messing up the lives of people in the churches. But I also found the tone in this book depressing as the author knows he is correct on all counts and seems almost happy criticising some other Christians that he disagrees with. Finally, I am depressed that those who love this book will accuse me of compromising my faith by not agreeing fully with them. Lord, may your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[Paul Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for all Christians, but especially Pastors and church leaders. When the church starts deciding that certain parts of the Bible don’t apply to today’s culture, it ceases to be the salt and light. “The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.” Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭160‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” II Timothy‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

This book is well written, backed up with references and endnotes, and deals with the most common errors seen in lukewarm churches today.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The infallible, inerrant authority of Scripture informs all my beliefs and decisions.
But what happens when we fail in this area as Christians?
This book is a hard-hitting and eye-opening exposure of the dangers of progressive movements in Christianity and what happens when deconstructing goes too far.
It upholds biblical values with unflinching bravery to educate, exhort, and equip Christians.
If you want to learn the truth about what’s happening in all major institutions to undermine orthodox Christianity, this book will help you understand and fight back with the truth.

[Alan Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poisonous snake may lie motionless in the grass until you step on him, and then it is too late. That’s the way subtle ideas are poisoning some Christian institutions and society. This is one of the few books I know of that gives an eyewitness account of the antichristian process today. Five stars.

“The result was that our church simply talked less and less about anything we feared might offend people.” Location: 1,468

[Caden Bishota · Rating 5 out of 5]

Embodied by Judas Iscariot, some of the greatest betrayals of Christianity have come not from without but within. West elucidates why the Faith's leaders often fail to stand strongly, and what we can do to call those with a self-defeating faith to repentance while avoiding it ourselves.