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Red State Christians: Understanding the Voters Who Elected Donald Trump
Donald Trump, a thrice-married, no-need-of-forgiveness, blustery billionaire who rarely goes to church, won more Evangelical Christian votes than any candidate in history on his way to winning the 2016 US presidential election. Veteran journalist Angela Denker set out to uncover why, traveling the United States for a year, meeting the people who support Trump, and listening to their rationale.In Red State Christians, readers will get an honest look at the Christians who gave the presidency to the unlikeliest candidate of all time. From booming, wealthy Orange County megachurches to libertarian farmers in Missouri to a church in Florida where the pastors carry guns to an Evangelical Arab American church in Houston to conservative Catholics on the East Coast--the picture she paints of them is enlightening, at times disturbing, but always empathetic. A must-read for those hoping to truly understand how Donald Trump became president.
330 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 6, 2019
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September 17, 2019
Red State Christians is an irenic book. That’s not a typo. Many people on both sides of the political divide are distressed at how divided America has become. Angela Denker is a Lutheran minister who has decided that it is time to sit down at the table and talk frankly about our differences of opinion. Traveling to various regions of the United States to interview those who either voted for Trump on the basis of religion or who didn’t vote for him while their peers did, Denker gives a sympathetic ear to people who are, for the most part, simply trying to get along in a hostile economy. There are also rich, megachurch Evangelicals here, but many of the portraits are of people sincerely trying to survive in a difficult climate.
As I confess elsewhere Sects and Violence in the Ancient World, having grown up Evangelical myself, this was a difficult book to read. That form of religion has a Springsteenian way of pulling you back to a less-than-ideal past filled with dread and regret. At the same time it’s an important book because we are being torn apart by political rhetoric. Shortly after the 2016 election I found myself in Texas. The people with whom I interacted were friendly and cordial and showed no signs of ill-will. Walls built in minds can be worse than those built in bricks. Denker interviews unapologetic Evangelicals and conservative Catholics. People who would’ve been labor Democrats and those who can’t understand how either abortion or the death penalty help the nation. The picture is out of focus, rather like reality.
To the critically minded there’s a kind of preciousness to Evangelicalism that is decidedly off-putting. There’s no cuddly side to people like Trump or his handlers. Denker isn’t really writing about these maniacs drunk for power (although some of her interviewees fit that category), but about the average person saddened and confused by what’s happened to us. Although it might feel a little too soft for many, Denker’s surely right that the place to start is with trying to understand one another. It won’t come from national leadership, but there are good people who are capable of rising above labels, some of them Red State Christians.
As I confess elsewhere Sects and Violence in the Ancient World, having grown up Evangelical myself, this was a difficult book to read. That form of religion has a Springsteenian way of pulling you back to a less-than-ideal past filled with dread and regret. At the same time it’s an important book because we are being torn apart by political rhetoric. Shortly after the 2016 election I found myself in Texas. The people with whom I interacted were friendly and cordial and showed no signs of ill-will. Walls built in minds can be worse than those built in bricks. Denker interviews unapologetic Evangelicals and conservative Catholics. People who would’ve been labor Democrats and those who can’t understand how either abortion or the death penalty help the nation. The picture is out of focus, rather like reality.
To the critically minded there’s a kind of preciousness to Evangelicalism that is decidedly off-putting. There’s no cuddly side to people like Trump or his handlers. Denker isn’t really writing about these maniacs drunk for power (although some of her interviewees fit that category), but about the average person saddened and confused by what’s happened to us. Although it might feel a little too soft for many, Denker’s surely right that the place to start is with trying to understand one another. It won’t come from national leadership, but there are good people who are capable of rising above labels, some of them Red State Christians.
August 27, 2019
Angela Denker, Lutheran pastor and sportwriter, presents an intricately researched, authentically voiced, and deeply troubling portrait of Christians who voted for Donald Trump all over the United States. Denker traveled from California to New Hampshire, Pennsylvania to Texas, to do deep interviews with ordinary pastors and laypeople who found themselves, sometimes uneasily, in line with Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party. She examines themes of Christian nationalism, feminism and abortion, guns, race, and even the NFL, deep in conversation with these varied persons to find out what makes them think the way they do.
Denker’s gift is to truly empathize with her subjects while still being able to critique them for their dangerous points. She does a superb job of describing her interviewees in a way they would describe themselves, and then point out the limitations of their thought and politics. Most of all, Denker is a master of nuance and ambiguity – in perhaps a particularly Lutheran way. She consistently reinforces the message that we are all more complex than the media paints us to be, that the “us vs. them” tropes that each side describes often break down on the individual and relational level, and that every person’s story has a moral to tell. Even as Denker comes from a more progressive theological standpoint, she often points out to her readers the areas in which Christians who believe like she does can learn lessons from these complicated Trump supporters. Luther’s lesson to all Christians was that we are simultaneously sinners and saved, free to imitate Christ yet constantly failing to live up to that perfection. Denker reminds us that stories of Red State and Blue State Christians alike reinforce that point every day, as we move further away from Jesus’ prayer that we all would be one.
Denker’s gift is to truly empathize with her subjects while still being able to critique them for their dangerous points. She does a superb job of describing her interviewees in a way they would describe themselves, and then point out the limitations of their thought and politics. Most of all, Denker is a master of nuance and ambiguity – in perhaps a particularly Lutheran way. She consistently reinforces the message that we are all more complex than the media paints us to be, that the “us vs. them” tropes that each side describes often break down on the individual and relational level, and that every person’s story has a moral to tell. Even as Denker comes from a more progressive theological standpoint, she often points out to her readers the areas in which Christians who believe like she does can learn lessons from these complicated Trump supporters. Luther’s lesson to all Christians was that we are simultaneously sinners and saved, free to imitate Christ yet constantly failing to live up to that perfection. Denker reminds us that stories of Red State and Blue State Christians alike reinforce that point every day, as we move further away from Jesus’ prayer that we all would be one.
August 23, 2019
#RedStateChristians, by Angela Denker.
For whom did Denker write this book?
I think she wrote it for me: a mainline Lutheran pastor who loves Jesus and can't reconcile the people I care for who voted for the un-Christian language, policies and personal greed of the current president.
I think she also wrote it for the people I care about who are conservatives and/or evangelicals who have struggled as I have, OR who have wondered how I could have gotten it all so wrong.
Denker writes with compassion, curiosity, and nuance about the Church, paradox, politics and our common hope for our nation.
The impact of purity culture on women in the evangelical church reminds me why I step out to empower women and offer grace to those who live in shame.
Reading this book as the president acts more and more dictatorial, and who functions through lies and in chaos without any systemic policy making, I long for face-to-face, nuanced, mutual conversations with those it has been too easy for me to dismiss -- that's what I appreciate about Angela's work and writing.
The conversations she held with pastors, coaches, athletes, women, moderate Republicans, persons of color, and others will be conversations long held in my mind. She inspires me to reach out, to listen, and to seek understanding.
For whom did Denker write this book?
I think she wrote it for me: a mainline Lutheran pastor who loves Jesus and can't reconcile the people I care for who voted for the un-Christian language, policies and personal greed of the current president.
I think she also wrote it for the people I care about who are conservatives and/or evangelicals who have struggled as I have, OR who have wondered how I could have gotten it all so wrong.
Denker writes with compassion, curiosity, and nuance about the Church, paradox, politics and our common hope for our nation.
The impact of purity culture on women in the evangelical church reminds me why I step out to empower women and offer grace to those who live in shame.
Reading this book as the president acts more and more dictatorial, and who functions through lies and in chaos without any systemic policy making, I long for face-to-face, nuanced, mutual conversations with those it has been too easy for me to dismiss -- that's what I appreciate about Angela's work and writing.
The conversations she held with pastors, coaches, athletes, women, moderate Republicans, persons of color, and others will be conversations long held in my mind. She inspires me to reach out, to listen, and to seek understanding.
August 12, 2019
Angela Denker traveled the country to talk with people of many Christian denominations. She did so with empathy and great effort to understand why some Christians voted for a man, who does not do Christian things, like caring for the sick, poor, refugees and women in the USA.
The book gave me perspective in talking to Trump voters, although most that I encounter are not Christians. It helped me to better understand the greater community of Christian Trump supporters, which so often voted against these Christian beliefs but not against their other strong values like being pro life, pro gun and pro country ( to the point of those values being almost above pro-Jesus.)
This was a great book, a lot to think about at a critical time in our country. I like reading books that change me for the better, this one certainly did.
The book gave me perspective in talking to Trump voters, although most that I encounter are not Christians. It helped me to better understand the greater community of Christian Trump supporters, which so often voted against these Christian beliefs but not against their other strong values like being pro life, pro gun and pro country ( to the point of those values being almost above pro-Jesus.)
This was a great book, a lot to think about at a critical time in our country. I like reading books that change me for the better, this one certainly did.
March 24, 2019
With the 2020 Presidential campaign on the horizon, Red-State Christians is an insightful and timely read. Angela Denker aptly uses her skills as both pastor and journalist to navigate the complex and layered landscape of Christian America. A corrective to easy answers and growing polarization, Red-State Christians works to dissolve lazy stigmas while calling us all to be better. Denker is totally unafraid, taking on issues like immigration and abortion in our churches in a way that validates complexity and shows how binaries don't hold up. Not surprisingly, she shows how being a Christian who voted for Trump looks different in Appalachia and Orange County, for men and women, for Southern Baptists and Catholics, for baby boomers and millennials. And maybe most importantly, this book reminds us how God's grace squeezes through walls.
August 23, 2019
There were more aw shucks moments than I'd expected, but the conclusion tied everything together really well!
March 24, 2020
More Rushes to Judgment than Attempts at Understanding
To call the election of Donald Trump to the United States Presidency in 2016 a “surprise” is an understatement. The revelation that his victory was due in no small part to the support of Christians in the states he ended up winning – the so-called “red states” – is to answer the first question only to be confronted by another: why? Why would so many Christians throw in their lot with a man who, of all the candidates they could have chosen, seems in his personal character to represent everything that is opposed to what you’d think they would value?
Author Angela Denker, in travelling the country and taking the time to carefully speak to people, seeks to address this mystery. She does succeed in showing that red state Christians are not a monolith who share the same concerns and even identify their Christianity the same way. There are subgroups who may be geographically situated, such as in the Appalachian region with their unique concerns, or they may be somewhat more diffusely spread across the country, such as the social conservatives who, though found more in the Bible belt and less in the Pacific Northwest, focus on concerns that are not regional.
It’s one thing to identify the various subgroups of red state Christians. However, it’s entirely another thing to understand them, which, after all, is the stated objective of the book’s subtitle. And here I don’t think she always succeeds, especially with respect to socially conservative Christians – those who are pro-life and pro-traditional sexuality and family structure.
She herself doesn’t have to agree with the convictions of those she interviews in order to meet her objectives, but she does have to understand why and how those socially conservative Christians came to hold them. She has to be willing to enter into their world, and see reality through their eyes. Here, unfortunately, I don’t think she even tries.
Even though gender and sexuality issues are not important when it comes to explaining the election of Donald Trump, Denker cannot hide her disdain for traditional viewpoints here – “women who are not allowed to preach,” “the lack of acceptance by the church of the LGBTQ community,” and so on. It was no more than an annoying distraction to this reader until I got to page 241. What I read there and on the following two pages was startling, to say the least. If she had previously fought to restrain her criticism of those she disagrees with, here it became apparent that the gloves were off and she was holding nothing back.
While visiting the conservative Catholic Thomas More College, where she noted that among the students she met were “a few young women, who were uniformly pretty, greeted me with a constant smile, and were all wearing skirts,” she offers this reaction to a young man’s opinion that gay men should not be priests:
“For the first time, I clearly saw Cassella’s handsome mask lifted and exposed for what lay beneath: a hatred of the other that is covered thinly by a well-practiced veneer of politeness… The idea that a gay man is not ‘naturally ordered’ is not often expressed publicly in American culture, but Cassella said it without hesitation or shame.
“Driving down the dirt road out of Merrimack, I kept thinking about the odd sterility of Thomas More’s campus. It felt innocuous and strangely perfect – peaceful. I realized later what Thomas More and Cassella had reminded me of: the pristine, shimmering gardens of Hulu’s breakout show about a conservative Christian takeover of America, The Handmaid’s Tale. On the show, modeled after Margaret Atwood’s book of the same name, unmarried women of childbearing age are forced to live as handmaids in the homes of the married, though sterile, conservative Christian elite. Once a month or so, when they’re fertile, the handmaids are systematically raped in a religious ceremony pulled, in a twisted way, from the Old Testament. The male leaders of this nation, called Gilead, support their barbaric practices with sophisticated thought and analysis. They’re temperate and well dressed, well organized and murderous, intolerant of any dissent.
I wondered what version of Gilead would be ideal for Thomas More’s students and leadership, and I wondered what success they would have in sharing their vision more widely. As long as Trump is president, they’ll have ample opportunity to promote their intolerance.”
Reading this took my breath away. Denker was not even remotely interested in exploring and understanding the conservative viewpoint that reality as God has created it is objective not just in the physical realm, but in the moral and social realm as well; that it consists of an “order of things” where structures like family, marriage, and sexuality are defined, not by us, but by God, and that true humility is to be found in subjecting oneself to God in His created order rather than in usurping this authority for ourselves. Now, for the sake of argument this view may be wrong, but by making no attempt to understand it, and instead leaping to judgment and condemnation of it, Denker has lost all objectivity and any claim to attempting to “understand” those who, for her, are the “other.”
The second, and for the purpose of the election, more important social issue that Denker mishandles is abortion. She seems to trivialize the pro-life position and reduce it to just one of a laundry list of political positions one would hold along with such things as gun ownership and small government, things that you would write down on a piece of paper, put a check mark beside them, and conclude “Oh I guess I’m Republican.”
On page 228 she asks one woman, a Trump voter, who identified as pro-life, whether her pro-life group “had done any work on immigration, in light of the border separation crisis,” implying that one is not truly “pro-life” unless one is also involved in a whole host of human rights issues beyond the life of unborn human beings. This demonstrates that she really has no idea of what it means to be pro-life. A little thought experiment will help, one I shamelessly borrow from philosopher George Mavrodes:
“Let us imagine a person who believes that Jews are human persons, and that the extermination of Jews is murder. And let us now go on to imagine that we live in a society in which the “termination” of Jews is an everyday routine procedure, a society in which public facilities are provided in every community for this operation, and one in which any citizen is free to identify and denounce Jews and to arrange for their arrest and termination. In that imaginary society, many of us will know people who have themselves participated in these procedures, many of us will drive past the termination centers daily on our way to work; we can often see the smoke rising gently in the late afternoon sky, and so on. And now imagine that someone tells us that if we happen to believe that Jews are human beings then that’s okay, we needn’t feel any coercion, nobody requires us to participate in the termination procedures ourselves. We need not work in the gas chamber, we don’t have to denounce a Jew, and so on. We can simply mind our own business, walk quietly past the well-trimmed lawns, and (of course) pay our taxes.
Can we get some feel for what it would be like to live in that context? And maybe we can then have some understanding of why they [the right-to-lifers] are unlikely to be satisfied by being told that they don’t have to get an abortion themselves.”
And, I would add, why suggesting that it is appropriate to just wave away and dismiss a singular focus on the unborn unless it is accompanied by an equal expenditure of energy on every other conceivable social issue, just shows a profound lack of effort and empathy in entering into their view of reality. The primary question for the pro-lifer, Ms. Denker, is this: what is the unborn? If the unborn is not a human being, no justification for abortion-on-demand is required, but if the unborn is a human being, no justification is adequate.
Denker’s trivializing of the pro-life position makes her unable to understand the foundation upon which an entire, substantial subset of red state Christians built their justification for voting for Trump. If she doesn’t get the first and primary reason, she is not going to get those that follow from it.
If the reader can be discerning, ‘Red State Christians’ can be a valuable and interesting contribution. But as the author consistently refuses to empathize with and truly enter into the world of those with whom she disagrees, instead implying (or at least pondering) that maybe they’d be more like her if they’d stop letting “conservative media outlets” do their thinking for them, her claim in the subtitle of “understanding the voters who elected Donald Trump” seems disingenuous and half-hearted.
To call the election of Donald Trump to the United States Presidency in 2016 a “surprise” is an understatement. The revelation that his victory was due in no small part to the support of Christians in the states he ended up winning – the so-called “red states” – is to answer the first question only to be confronted by another: why? Why would so many Christians throw in their lot with a man who, of all the candidates they could have chosen, seems in his personal character to represent everything that is opposed to what you’d think they would value?
Author Angela Denker, in travelling the country and taking the time to carefully speak to people, seeks to address this mystery. She does succeed in showing that red state Christians are not a monolith who share the same concerns and even identify their Christianity the same way. There are subgroups who may be geographically situated, such as in the Appalachian region with their unique concerns, or they may be somewhat more diffusely spread across the country, such as the social conservatives who, though found more in the Bible belt and less in the Pacific Northwest, focus on concerns that are not regional.
It’s one thing to identify the various subgroups of red state Christians. However, it’s entirely another thing to understand them, which, after all, is the stated objective of the book’s subtitle. And here I don’t think she always succeeds, especially with respect to socially conservative Christians – those who are pro-life and pro-traditional sexuality and family structure.
She herself doesn’t have to agree with the convictions of those she interviews in order to meet her objectives, but she does have to understand why and how those socially conservative Christians came to hold them. She has to be willing to enter into their world, and see reality through their eyes. Here, unfortunately, I don’t think she even tries.
Even though gender and sexuality issues are not important when it comes to explaining the election of Donald Trump, Denker cannot hide her disdain for traditional viewpoints here – “women who are not allowed to preach,” “the lack of acceptance by the church of the LGBTQ community,” and so on. It was no more than an annoying distraction to this reader until I got to page 241. What I read there and on the following two pages was startling, to say the least. If she had previously fought to restrain her criticism of those she disagrees with, here it became apparent that the gloves were off and she was holding nothing back.
While visiting the conservative Catholic Thomas More College, where she noted that among the students she met were “a few young women, who were uniformly pretty, greeted me with a constant smile, and were all wearing skirts,” she offers this reaction to a young man’s opinion that gay men should not be priests:
“For the first time, I clearly saw Cassella’s handsome mask lifted and exposed for what lay beneath: a hatred of the other that is covered thinly by a well-practiced veneer of politeness… The idea that a gay man is not ‘naturally ordered’ is not often expressed publicly in American culture, but Cassella said it without hesitation or shame.
“Driving down the dirt road out of Merrimack, I kept thinking about the odd sterility of Thomas More’s campus. It felt innocuous and strangely perfect – peaceful. I realized later what Thomas More and Cassella had reminded me of: the pristine, shimmering gardens of Hulu’s breakout show about a conservative Christian takeover of America, The Handmaid’s Tale. On the show, modeled after Margaret Atwood’s book of the same name, unmarried women of childbearing age are forced to live as handmaids in the homes of the married, though sterile, conservative Christian elite. Once a month or so, when they’re fertile, the handmaids are systematically raped in a religious ceremony pulled, in a twisted way, from the Old Testament. The male leaders of this nation, called Gilead, support their barbaric practices with sophisticated thought and analysis. They’re temperate and well dressed, well organized and murderous, intolerant of any dissent.
I wondered what version of Gilead would be ideal for Thomas More’s students and leadership, and I wondered what success they would have in sharing their vision more widely. As long as Trump is president, they’ll have ample opportunity to promote their intolerance.”
Reading this took my breath away. Denker was not even remotely interested in exploring and understanding the conservative viewpoint that reality as God has created it is objective not just in the physical realm, but in the moral and social realm as well; that it consists of an “order of things” where structures like family, marriage, and sexuality are defined, not by us, but by God, and that true humility is to be found in subjecting oneself to God in His created order rather than in usurping this authority for ourselves. Now, for the sake of argument this view may be wrong, but by making no attempt to understand it, and instead leaping to judgment and condemnation of it, Denker has lost all objectivity and any claim to attempting to “understand” those who, for her, are the “other.”
The second, and for the purpose of the election, more important social issue that Denker mishandles is abortion. She seems to trivialize the pro-life position and reduce it to just one of a laundry list of political positions one would hold along with such things as gun ownership and small government, things that you would write down on a piece of paper, put a check mark beside them, and conclude “Oh I guess I’m Republican.”
On page 228 she asks one woman, a Trump voter, who identified as pro-life, whether her pro-life group “had done any work on immigration, in light of the border separation crisis,” implying that one is not truly “pro-life” unless one is also involved in a whole host of human rights issues beyond the life of unborn human beings. This demonstrates that she really has no idea of what it means to be pro-life. A little thought experiment will help, one I shamelessly borrow from philosopher George Mavrodes:
“Let us imagine a person who believes that Jews are human persons, and that the extermination of Jews is murder. And let us now go on to imagine that we live in a society in which the “termination” of Jews is an everyday routine procedure, a society in which public facilities are provided in every community for this operation, and one in which any citizen is free to identify and denounce Jews and to arrange for their arrest and termination. In that imaginary society, many of us will know people who have themselves participated in these procedures, many of us will drive past the termination centers daily on our way to work; we can often see the smoke rising gently in the late afternoon sky, and so on. And now imagine that someone tells us that if we happen to believe that Jews are human beings then that’s okay, we needn’t feel any coercion, nobody requires us to participate in the termination procedures ourselves. We need not work in the gas chamber, we don’t have to denounce a Jew, and so on. We can simply mind our own business, walk quietly past the well-trimmed lawns, and (of course) pay our taxes.
Can we get some feel for what it would be like to live in that context? And maybe we can then have some understanding of why they [the right-to-lifers] are unlikely to be satisfied by being told that they don’t have to get an abortion themselves.”
And, I would add, why suggesting that it is appropriate to just wave away and dismiss a singular focus on the unborn unless it is accompanied by an equal expenditure of energy on every other conceivable social issue, just shows a profound lack of effort and empathy in entering into their view of reality. The primary question for the pro-lifer, Ms. Denker, is this: what is the unborn? If the unborn is not a human being, no justification for abortion-on-demand is required, but if the unborn is a human being, no justification is adequate.
Denker’s trivializing of the pro-life position makes her unable to understand the foundation upon which an entire, substantial subset of red state Christians built their justification for voting for Trump. If she doesn’t get the first and primary reason, she is not going to get those that follow from it.
If the reader can be discerning, ‘Red State Christians’ can be a valuable and interesting contribution. But as the author consistently refuses to empathize with and truly enter into the world of those with whom she disagrees, instead implying (or at least pondering) that maybe they’d be more like her if they’d stop letting “conservative media outlets” do their thinking for them, her claim in the subtitle of “understanding the voters who elected Donald Trump” seems disingenuous and half-hearted.
November 11, 2024
This book feels really outdated at this point. We need an in depth part 2.
August 22, 2019
I’ll confess it. When I learned of Angela Denker’s book, I felt the tension between interest in a colleague’s work, a commitment to amplifying the voices of other clergywomen, and exhaustion with profiles intended to provoke my compassion for people who, I assume, don’t have much sympathy for LGBTQ+ people like me. Denker is both a pastor ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and a journalist who has written for Sports Illustrated, the Washington Post, and Sojourners, and as I hoped, she brings both her theological insights and her journalistic gifts to this wonderful book, which I highly recommend.
Denker traveled the country to interview Christians in communities that we might assume are full of Trump voters, and that was the case in almost all of them. Regional histories and economies play as much a part in their varied motivations as do theological and social commitments. She takes the reader to metroplexes, affluent suburbs, and declining small towns. Denker offers a fair representation of the people she meets, yet throughout, she offers the reader both her counter-arguments to and in some cases her areas of agreement with the points-of-view of conservative Republicans who represent that majority of self-identified evangelical Christians who voted for Trump. Their motivations include Christian Nationalism, attachment to guns, opposition to abortion, and a love for a particular ideal of America. The foundation of racism and White Supremacy is apparent in many of the ideas shared by the people Denker interviews.
Her visit to El Paso is particularly poignant in the wake of the recent Wal-Mart shooting. There the churches are living in the midst of what is sensationalized by the President in speeches and on social media; people cross the border to work and to shop and to visit with family and friends. When we are up close to other human beings, how can we dehumanize them and still call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ? Yet even some of the Hispanic families in El Paso support Trump, and Denker unpacks levels of privilege and internalized racism that illustrate how difficult it will be to reach common ground even on topics that seem obvious (to me) on Christian principles.
I live in a Red community in a Purple state, not too far from one of the communities profiled. The book reminded me that while I sometimes despair that conservative and progressive Christians will ever find common cause in a broad sense, I actually live among and worship with Trump voters, and we do manage to find ways to communicate with one another, because we are already in relationship. It’s not always comfortable, and there are some compromises I can’t make. Denker’s engaging journey around the country encourages me to keep being in relationship and hoping that others will see in me the humanity Denker so aptly portrays in Red State Christians.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher as part of the launch team. I also recommend the discussion guide available from the publisher, which would be a great resource for congregational read-alongs.
Denker traveled the country to interview Christians in communities that we might assume are full of Trump voters, and that was the case in almost all of them. Regional histories and economies play as much a part in their varied motivations as do theological and social commitments. She takes the reader to metroplexes, affluent suburbs, and declining small towns. Denker offers a fair representation of the people she meets, yet throughout, she offers the reader both her counter-arguments to and in some cases her areas of agreement with the points-of-view of conservative Republicans who represent that majority of self-identified evangelical Christians who voted for Trump. Their motivations include Christian Nationalism, attachment to guns, opposition to abortion, and a love for a particular ideal of America. The foundation of racism and White Supremacy is apparent in many of the ideas shared by the people Denker interviews.
Her visit to El Paso is particularly poignant in the wake of the recent Wal-Mart shooting. There the churches are living in the midst of what is sensationalized by the President in speeches and on social media; people cross the border to work and to shop and to visit with family and friends. When we are up close to other human beings, how can we dehumanize them and still call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ? Yet even some of the Hispanic families in El Paso support Trump, and Denker unpacks levels of privilege and internalized racism that illustrate how difficult it will be to reach common ground even on topics that seem obvious (to me) on Christian principles.
I live in a Red community in a Purple state, not too far from one of the communities profiled. The book reminded me that while I sometimes despair that conservative and progressive Christians will ever find common cause in a broad sense, I actually live among and worship with Trump voters, and we do manage to find ways to communicate with one another, because we are already in relationship. It’s not always comfortable, and there are some compromises I can’t make. Denker’s engaging journey around the country encourages me to keep being in relationship and hoping that others will see in me the humanity Denker so aptly portrays in Red State Christians.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher as part of the launch team. I also recommend the discussion guide available from the publisher, which would be a great resource for congregational read-alongs.
September 3, 2022
I will say I would have given this book 3 stars because of the title versus subject matter. There is an underlying theme of white nationalism throughout the book. However, what the title does not reveal is that the research, interviews and humanizing discussions that take place between the author and interviewees dives so much deeper. This book is not all about white nationalism within red state Christianity. It is about the people (Christians) within those res states that have their own stories, which led many of them to vote for Trump in 2016.
Angela Denker does a great job of discussion regions and the historical and socioeconomic context of each of the regions discussed before diving into interviews and why it is that the story of that region’s people matters. Every region and person have their own story and reasons for voting or not voting for Trump in 2016. And Denker continuously reminds throughout the book that each person who voted for Trump in 2016 has their own story.
It is not as simple as “they voted for Trump because they are white nationalists.” Most of the time that is NOT the case.
It reminded me that humans are complex and because Trump is the person he is, does not always (most of the time) translate into voters wanting him BECAUSE of that. He is a result and a symptom of struggles and individual stories that have been being written for some time; some economic, some religious, some tied to abortion, but most often tied to fear.
This is a very revealing book that led even me to rethink how I have lumped all Christians who voted for Trump together in one category. I, as well as many folks further to the left have been guilty of this. Denker reminds us to talk to our our neighbors. But, more importantly she reminds us to LISTEN to our neighbors, friends, family, etc… for this I give it an extra star. 4 stars.
A very good read. Open this book with an open mind and heart.
Angela Denker does a great job of discussion regions and the historical and socioeconomic context of each of the regions discussed before diving into interviews and why it is that the story of that region’s people matters. Every region and person have their own story and reasons for voting or not voting for Trump in 2016. And Denker continuously reminds throughout the book that each person who voted for Trump in 2016 has their own story.
It is not as simple as “they voted for Trump because they are white nationalists.” Most of the time that is NOT the case.
It reminded me that humans are complex and because Trump is the person he is, does not always (most of the time) translate into voters wanting him BECAUSE of that. He is a result and a symptom of struggles and individual stories that have been being written for some time; some economic, some religious, some tied to abortion, but most often tied to fear.
This is a very revealing book that led even me to rethink how I have lumped all Christians who voted for Trump together in one category. I, as well as many folks further to the left have been guilty of this. Denker reminds us to talk to our our neighbors. But, more importantly she reminds us to LISTEN to our neighbors, friends, family, etc… for this I give it an extra star. 4 stars.
A very good read. Open this book with an open mind and heart.
October 8, 2019
In light of the extraordinary and increasing complexities of the present age it would be naive to believe Denker's premise for this book would produce much more than shallow explanations. Her research is well-executed and well-presented. Her writing was explorative and balanced. In this book, liberal and conservative readers may find enough to support their own convictions. But therein lies the rub. The faith that produces stunting insular biases, the inability to think clearly and love altruistically, or to see charlatans for what they are both inside and outside the church is damaging. The stories of how this segment of the voting populace was led to vote for an inept candidate in such large numbers portends a scary future for all of life on earth. Turn off your TV and read this and other thoughtful books. Follow Jesus Christ, but gain in wisdom.
December 9, 2019
I think this was a good book for me to read to try to get a sense of why people who identify as Christian support Donald Trump. I definitely understand their reasoning more than I did, but I don't feel better about it. I feel sad and hopeless.
I think that Denker did a good job in her research and writing, but as a liberal atheist, I don't think 'red state Christians' will ever be okay with me. To be a 'real' American = being Christian and Republican (and white, obvs). I'm afraid for our future as a country. I'm worried about the safety of my daughters in a culture that increasingly supports patriarchal views and overlooks sexual violence in order to get more of 'their' judges in the courts. This is not going to end well for a lot of us.
I think that Denker did a good job in her research and writing, but as a liberal atheist, I don't think 'red state Christians' will ever be okay with me. To be a 'real' American = being Christian and Republican (and white, obvs). I'm afraid for our future as a country. I'm worried about the safety of my daughters in a culture that increasingly supports patriarchal views and overlooks sexual violence in order to get more of 'their' judges in the courts. This is not going to end well for a lot of us.
September 8, 2020
When I placed a hold on this book, I was hoping to gain some insight into a group I might have identified with a decade ago. Growing up, I went to a Catholic Church with my family, but like many tweens and teens, strayed when I entered middle school. A concerned friend of mine invited me to her Baptist youth group where I reconnected with religion that got me through some very tough teen years. I even volunteered as a middle school small group leader for the same youth group for a couple years after high school, bouncing between Wednesday nights there and Sunday mornings at an Anglican Church. My split with the church happened when I was asked to leave the Baptist church over my attendance to the Anglican church. And when I left, not one of them checked in on me, unless of course I had expressed anything seemingly aloof or negative towards the church. Quickly, I began feeling loathsome eyes on me, words spoken by leaders were making my stomach churn, and reading the Old Testament that was misused as weapons against those viewed as “different” were making me destructively depressed. As I advanced in my college years, receiving a much more unbiased, unfiltered education, I began noticing my ideas change as my critical thinking skills developed. I began asking myself questions like, “Am I a feminist?” “Am I actually against abortion?” “Is racism still as prevalent as it was 70 years ago?” and by the 2016 election, I had staunchly declared myself as liberal, something 16-year-old me would baulk at. But people change, and critical thinking transforms the most stubborn of ideas. Now, while holding on to some core beliefs and a moral compass, I would describe myself as spiritual, and yes, liberal.
So when I read the description of this book, it immediately caught my attention. I felt that over the past five years, I had been very critical of conservatives, especially for having been one at one point. And if I held on to anything from Christianity, it was the first tattoo I had permanently poked into my body: Imago Dei. The Image of God. “So God created man in His own image, in His image He created him, male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). To this day, I believe that there is beauty and grace in each person, and my moral code obligated me to empathize with these people I had dubbed “enemy.”
However, this book challenged me in ways I had not expected. Denker wrote in a way that presented facts, ideas from interviews she conducted, and her own experiences as a Christian in a very aloof and noncommittal way. She laid the groundwork for the critical thinkers to come in and connect the dots to see and feel the picture for themselves, all while remaining mostly unbiased. And instead of easily pointing me in the direction of empathy or condemnation, I found myself asking impossibly hard questions about Christianity and the insistence of Christians to impose their religion on American politics. Perhaps through the idea that Christianity touts itself as the one true religion and not believing or practicing will lead to damnation, Christians have established evangelism as a means of making sure that their neighbors are all guaranteed salvation? After all, evangelism is described as “spreading the good news,” right? But why is it then that the “good news” being spread is really just policing people’s lifestyles because they don’t personally approve of it? And when God has granted man free will, why do we impose beliefs to limit or take away that free will?
After all, we all learned in elementary school that church and state should remain separate. It’s in the Bill of Rights. So why all of a sudden are Christians so hellbent on establishing our secular country as a “Christian Nation,” while our country was built on the notion of freedom of religion? Imposing your beliefs as law is essentially robbing free will away from the people; can you show me where in the Bible Jesus did that? Can you also show me in the Bible where Jesus looked down on “sinners,” judging them harshly, alienating them, and telling them they would go to hell unless they changed their ways? It also inspired me to speculate if any other religion was imposing their beliefs on America and demanding that they influence American law, and I frankly couldn’t think of one.
Towards the end of the book, Denker’s voice shifted from aloof speculation to quiet disagreement. So by the time I got to the conclusion, I was expecting a solid condemnation or another aloof, unbiased call to think. However, we got neither. Denker chose to use the conclusion to explain how she wasn’t trying to divide two sides of America, which wasn’t necessarily wrong, but she did conclude with the hope that liberal readers had gained an empathetic view and that conservative readers had realized the dangers of the Red State Christian rhetoric. As a liberal reader, I didn’t feel that my feelings on the matter had been affected. If anything, I felt that all the assumptions I’d made about Red State Christians were mostly true: they tactfully used out of context quotations from the Bible as a weapon while simultaneously ignoring the more relevant teachings for today’s problems, such as immigration, sexism, sexual assault, racism, etc., and sweeping those problems under a rug of strategically avoided questions. While I’d like to think conservative readers gained insight of the evils of Red State Christians and their effect on America, I’m not quite sure they possess the level of critical thinking skills to disseminate opinion and lack of opinion on subjects that are so [unfathomably] argued about and defended nowadays. If they had, I feel they would be more staunchly critical of these party members and their agenda. That is why I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5. However, willful ignorance is not permanent; I am a living example of that.
I’d recommend this book for Christian book clubs. I feel this book will promote sorely needed conversations in the church that may save the future of our country.
So when I read the description of this book, it immediately caught my attention. I felt that over the past five years, I had been very critical of conservatives, especially for having been one at one point. And if I held on to anything from Christianity, it was the first tattoo I had permanently poked into my body: Imago Dei. The Image of God. “So God created man in His own image, in His image He created him, male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). To this day, I believe that there is beauty and grace in each person, and my moral code obligated me to empathize with these people I had dubbed “enemy.”
However, this book challenged me in ways I had not expected. Denker wrote in a way that presented facts, ideas from interviews she conducted, and her own experiences as a Christian in a very aloof and noncommittal way. She laid the groundwork for the critical thinkers to come in and connect the dots to see and feel the picture for themselves, all while remaining mostly unbiased. And instead of easily pointing me in the direction of empathy or condemnation, I found myself asking impossibly hard questions about Christianity and the insistence of Christians to impose their religion on American politics. Perhaps through the idea that Christianity touts itself as the one true religion and not believing or practicing will lead to damnation, Christians have established evangelism as a means of making sure that their neighbors are all guaranteed salvation? After all, evangelism is described as “spreading the good news,” right? But why is it then that the “good news” being spread is really just policing people’s lifestyles because they don’t personally approve of it? And when God has granted man free will, why do we impose beliefs to limit or take away that free will?
After all, we all learned in elementary school that church and state should remain separate. It’s in the Bill of Rights. So why all of a sudden are Christians so hellbent on establishing our secular country as a “Christian Nation,” while our country was built on the notion of freedom of religion? Imposing your beliefs as law is essentially robbing free will away from the people; can you show me where in the Bible Jesus did that? Can you also show me in the Bible where Jesus looked down on “sinners,” judging them harshly, alienating them, and telling them they would go to hell unless they changed their ways? It also inspired me to speculate if any other religion was imposing their beliefs on America and demanding that they influence American law, and I frankly couldn’t think of one.
Towards the end of the book, Denker’s voice shifted from aloof speculation to quiet disagreement. So by the time I got to the conclusion, I was expecting a solid condemnation or another aloof, unbiased call to think. However, we got neither. Denker chose to use the conclusion to explain how she wasn’t trying to divide two sides of America, which wasn’t necessarily wrong, but she did conclude with the hope that liberal readers had gained an empathetic view and that conservative readers had realized the dangers of the Red State Christian rhetoric. As a liberal reader, I didn’t feel that my feelings on the matter had been affected. If anything, I felt that all the assumptions I’d made about Red State Christians were mostly true: they tactfully used out of context quotations from the Bible as a weapon while simultaneously ignoring the more relevant teachings for today’s problems, such as immigration, sexism, sexual assault, racism, etc., and sweeping those problems under a rug of strategically avoided questions. While I’d like to think conservative readers gained insight of the evils of Red State Christians and their effect on America, I’m not quite sure they possess the level of critical thinking skills to disseminate opinion and lack of opinion on subjects that are so [unfathomably] argued about and defended nowadays. If they had, I feel they would be more staunchly critical of these party members and their agenda. That is why I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5. However, willful ignorance is not permanent; I am a living example of that.
I’d recommend this book for Christian book clubs. I feel this book will promote sorely needed conversations in the church that may save the future of our country.
October 16, 2019
This well-written book helped me understand (as much as possible) how in the world anyone could have voted for Trump. The author asked the questions I would have asked. She was respectful to those she interviewed. I feel that she reported fairly. Very, very interesting.
November 24, 2020
This was one of the hardest books I have ever read. Being raised by red state Christians, for better or for worse, shaped my developmental years. As an adult trying to process that upbringing I continue to research how and who brought Tr*mp to power. Overall I appreciated the story telling and how honest it was, but I felt saddened by so much. I also felt that the hatred, bigotry, and racism within certain individuals, was justified by the author due to religious reasons which made me uncomfortable. I will certainly need a break from such deep reading for now, but fully intend to use notes that I took to continue my research into this topic.
June 14, 2024
Appreciated how well-researched this book was, and the stories she told. None of it felt particularly groundbreaking and a fair bit of it was extremely maddening, but I think it was a compassionate and genuine attempt to understand the role of evangelical Christians—who she helpfully details as not a monolith—in electing Donald Trump. And she makes a concerted effort to reconcile their votes with their faith. (Also as a progressive Christian in a mainline [Episcopal] church, I got where she was coming from. Bonus points for being Minnesotan. Almost a 3.5)
July 29, 2019
I learned so much from this book: about Christian Nationalism in churches, the surprising lack of influence from abortion and guns in many Red State Christians' decision-making, and much-needed nuance in so many cases. Race is a big factor, but the way Denker describes it causes me to respond differently to my siblings in Christ.
October 28, 2019
A thoughtful look at the variety of people in America and the church. Don't skip the conclusion!
February 8, 2021
Many Christians (including myself) could NOT believe that Donald Trump won the 2016 election because of the white Evangelical vote. Angela Denker, a Lutheran pastor, decides to explore what led so many Christians to vote for someone like Donald Trump, who seems to be the antithesis of Christianity. Denker visits several "red state" areas to talk to people in those areas about the 2016 election and Trump. What I found most surprising is the variety of reasons people gave for voting for Trump, even when most didn't like him. I think people tend to assume it's one or two main issues, but people had a wide variety of reasons and often still didn't consider themselves "Trump supporters" even if they did vote for him. While I do think Denker did a good job overall, there were a few times where I felt like she just didn't want to like a certain church and only looked for the lacking things instead of being more objective. Overall, it was an interesting book. I was slightly hesitant to read it because this issue has just torn apart the Church and did I really want to read MORE about this. But, I do feel like Denker did a good job and showed all sides of this issue. For me I have too high of personal standards to vote for "the lesser of two evils" and how is a lesser evil going to help the Church? I wish Christians would 1) not see politics as the solution to anything related to the Church and 2) be more willing to do a write-in vote or back other candidates outside the two party system. Overall, I think this book was more written for Christians who didn't vote for Trump, so if that's you then I would recommend this book.
Some quotes I liked:
"I saw in Keet Lewis what I saw in so many Trump-supporting Christinas I interviewed, from the halls of of power in Washington to the hollers of Appalachia: a desire to 'make Trump good,' a sense that they know that all is not right yet desperately want to believe that God has won in Trump, so they make all sorts of leaps. Despite these mental gymnastics regarding Trump, Lewis has a genuine love for Jesus and a desire that America might follow the Bible, at least as he understands it." (p. 36-7)
"The idea of voting for Hillary, he assumes, is unimaginable for any Christian. He identifies the fatal Democratic mistake: misunderstanding and underestimating the Christian antipathy toward Hillary Clinton. More than guns, abortion, gay rights, small government - the Red State Christians I spoke to across the county were unified more in their hatred of Hillary than in any other way." (p. 73)
"'When they said women couldn't be pastors and they had to stay home, I got up and walked out,' [Brad Todd] said, adding, 'If you are conservative socially and not theologically, it is hard to find a church home.'" (p. 149)
"Trump would finally prove that the Evangelical outrage about Clinton was based not on respect for women or for the institution of marriage but instead, as usual in America, on partisan allegiance over any kind of religious morality." (p. 167-8)
"For Evangelical women, the 'pussy' comments weren't enough to overcome decades of right-wing media hatred of Hillary. Trump's comments on the bus were nothing compared with what many Evangelical women had dealt with in the church for generations. As America would find out early in the years of the Trump presidency, Evangelical women had more to deal with when it came to male mistreatment of women than comments on a bus. And ironically, Trump's presidency would usher in a new era of female outspokenness about male aggression and the necessity of women's rights, even in the church." (p. 169)
"What would Jesus do on the US-Mexico border? 'Jesus would say that when it comes to immigration, nobody is illegal in the world. We all have rights.' she said. 'Jesus broke all kinds of rules. He touched the lepers. One came back, and the law said not to come back, but he did, and Jesus blessed him. The law said the Samaritan women should have been stoned. The law said Jesus shouldn't heal on the Sabbath. For Jesus, compassion and love were more important than the law. We are not there to judge [at the border]. God will be the judge. Jesus said to feed the hungry and clothe the stranger. That is it. Who are we to pick who to feed and clothe?'" (p. 278-9)
Some quotes I liked:
"I saw in Keet Lewis what I saw in so many Trump-supporting Christinas I interviewed, from the halls of of power in Washington to the hollers of Appalachia: a desire to 'make Trump good,' a sense that they know that all is not right yet desperately want to believe that God has won in Trump, so they make all sorts of leaps. Despite these mental gymnastics regarding Trump, Lewis has a genuine love for Jesus and a desire that America might follow the Bible, at least as he understands it." (p. 36-7)
"The idea of voting for Hillary, he assumes, is unimaginable for any Christian. He identifies the fatal Democratic mistake: misunderstanding and underestimating the Christian antipathy toward Hillary Clinton. More than guns, abortion, gay rights, small government - the Red State Christians I spoke to across the county were unified more in their hatred of Hillary than in any other way." (p. 73)
"'When they said women couldn't be pastors and they had to stay home, I got up and walked out,' [Brad Todd] said, adding, 'If you are conservative socially and not theologically, it is hard to find a church home.'" (p. 149)
"Trump would finally prove that the Evangelical outrage about Clinton was based not on respect for women or for the institution of marriage but instead, as usual in America, on partisan allegiance over any kind of religious morality." (p. 167-8)
"For Evangelical women, the 'pussy' comments weren't enough to overcome decades of right-wing media hatred of Hillary. Trump's comments on the bus were nothing compared with what many Evangelical women had dealt with in the church for generations. As America would find out early in the years of the Trump presidency, Evangelical women had more to deal with when it came to male mistreatment of women than comments on a bus. And ironically, Trump's presidency would usher in a new era of female outspokenness about male aggression and the necessity of women's rights, even in the church." (p. 169)
"What would Jesus do on the US-Mexico border? 'Jesus would say that when it comes to immigration, nobody is illegal in the world. We all have rights.' she said. 'Jesus broke all kinds of rules. He touched the lepers. One came back, and the law said not to come back, but he did, and Jesus blessed him. The law said the Samaritan women should have been stoned. The law said Jesus shouldn't heal on the Sabbath. For Jesus, compassion and love were more important than the law. We are not there to judge [at the border]. God will be the judge. Jesus said to feed the hungry and clothe the stranger. That is it. Who are we to pick who to feed and clothe?'" (p. 278-9)
March 5, 2020
For many evangelical Christians, the election of Donald Trump was a victory. Dozens of books have been written about the question of why a group who had incessantly discussed the issue of character during the Bill Clinton era voted into the office of president a thrice divorced narcissist who was the antithesis of the kind of person whom they claimed was the only type to be worthy of the position. I can only assume those people have never read Thy Kingdom Come by Randall Balmer or God's Own Party: The Making of the Christian Rightby Daniel K. Williams which explains the years of work done to ensure that whatever candidate the Republican party put up would be considered the "Christian" choice, even when that candidate was a divorced occultist running against a Baptist Sunday school teacher.
Ms. Denker's offering in the genre of "What happened?" books which insist on seeing Trump as an anomaly rather than the product of years of careful work finds the author traveling the country to speak to Red State Christians and address how his election occurred. From mega churches catering to thousands to struggling chapels in the rust belt catering to dozens, the author interviews people she considers conservatives to find out how their faith informed their voting. The results aren't surprising. Spouting the same rhetoric they gave to the baffled reporters who asked them the same questions, most of them leaned hard on the moral failings of the nation (abortion, gay marriage, loss of patriotism) and the idea of America as a Christian nation. They explained how draft dodging Trump was a patriot and how willing he was to put an end to the deplorable things liberals were doing to the nation. I saw the same statements (and I imagine many others who have friends and family who are Conservative Christians also did) on my Facebook pages. Denker's ultimate analysis was that "the white conservatives I spoke with often had more diverse family and neighborhood experiences than the white liberals I spoke to." Their rhetoric could be hateful (Build that wall!) but they were often willing to help the people they spoke so negatively of and welcome them into their families. At the end she speaks sweetly of not treating such folk as the other but keeping the lines of communication open and remembering they are part of our collective church body - and often important to our own family, friendship circles and community life.
What I struggled with at the end of this book, as well as that of so many others, was the question of how real a faith could be that was based on false beliefs. Many of these people held positions which are the antithesis of biblical teaching and I think perhaps that was my main problem with this narrative. Ms. Denker's own beliefs, as a Lutheran minister, are undoubtedly informed as much by theology as by biblical principles. That's fine but that doesn't explain how a group of people who claim to be sola scriptura* (scripture alone) can be so far removed from what those scriptures teach. Ultimately, this book told me nothing I didn't already know from social media.(*Luther was an early advocate of sola scriptura but that practiced by American evangelicals tends to come from Billy Graham's adherence of scriptural authority.)
Ms. Denker's offering in the genre of "What happened?" books which insist on seeing Trump as an anomaly rather than the product of years of careful work finds the author traveling the country to speak to Red State Christians and address how his election occurred. From mega churches catering to thousands to struggling chapels in the rust belt catering to dozens, the author interviews people she considers conservatives to find out how their faith informed their voting. The results aren't surprising. Spouting the same rhetoric they gave to the baffled reporters who asked them the same questions, most of them leaned hard on the moral failings of the nation (abortion, gay marriage, loss of patriotism) and the idea of America as a Christian nation. They explained how draft dodging Trump was a patriot and how willing he was to put an end to the deplorable things liberals were doing to the nation. I saw the same statements (and I imagine many others who have friends and family who are Conservative Christians also did) on my Facebook pages. Denker's ultimate analysis was that "the white conservatives I spoke with often had more diverse family and neighborhood experiences than the white liberals I spoke to." Their rhetoric could be hateful (Build that wall!) but they were often willing to help the people they spoke so negatively of and welcome them into their families. At the end she speaks sweetly of not treating such folk as the other but keeping the lines of communication open and remembering they are part of our collective church body - and often important to our own family, friendship circles and community life.
What I struggled with at the end of this book, as well as that of so many others, was the question of how real a faith could be that was based on false beliefs. Many of these people held positions which are the antithesis of biblical teaching and I think perhaps that was my main problem with this narrative. Ms. Denker's own beliefs, as a Lutheran minister, are undoubtedly informed as much by theology as by biblical principles. That's fine but that doesn't explain how a group of people who claim to be sola scriptura* (scripture alone) can be so far removed from what those scriptures teach. Ultimately, this book told me nothing I didn't already know from social media.(*Luther was an early advocate of sola scriptura but that practiced by American evangelicals tends to come from Billy Graham's adherence of scriptural authority.)
October 16, 2019
Every American needs to read Angela Denker's Red State Christians.
I've had a hard time writing this review because Red State Christians just felt so personal. As someone who was raised in a conservative Christian home, and who voted Republican up until my late 20's, so many of the stories told by Angela Denker felt familiar to me. They were me ten years ago. In the same way, Angela's perspective also felt familiar. I now live in a blue state and consider myself progressive in politics and faith, and voted opposite half my family in the 2016 election. Angela understands this tightrope that many of us walk- loving people we don't understand.
What was most surprising for me, despite the familiarity, was how much I learned about red-state voters. I realized that just because I know people who voted for Donald Trump, doesn't mean I know everyone. And just because I watch the news doesn't mean I see the nuance and the diversity of the people who voted for Trump.
Angela spent 2018 traveling the US interviewing Red State Christians and getting to know a diverse group of individuals and churches who helped elect Donald Trump. A Lutheran pastor and reporter, she shares these people and places with care and truth, but without sugar-coating the sometimes horrifying manipulation of Christianity she found in her travels.
If you are like me and always find yourself wondering why this man has captured the heart of so many Christians, you will discover some answers here. You may not like them, but you may find yourself moving beyond stereotypes when relating to our fellow Americans. If you are like many of the people in this book, a Christian who voted for Donald Trump, you will feel the familiarity that I felt when reading. You will not be mocked; you will see a portrait of the diversity of people that live in red states. You may also be surprised by Angela's compassion. With the same hope that I have for my conservative family, you may learn a little about the other side too.
Angela's book is not only absorbing (my spouse and I fought over the one copy we had), but it is also incredibly important. It is the beginning of many conversations that need to be had — not conversations on Facebook, or conversations based on caricatures from the news. But conversations around dinner tables and small groups, or even over a cup of coffee. This book is a beacon of hope for our country. If you want to do one thing today to help heal the divide, no matter who you voted for, take the first step toward understanding. Read Red State Christians.
*I received an advanced copy of this book to review. I loved it so much I have already purchased another copy as a gift.
I've had a hard time writing this review because Red State Christians just felt so personal. As someone who was raised in a conservative Christian home, and who voted Republican up until my late 20's, so many of the stories told by Angela Denker felt familiar to me. They were me ten years ago. In the same way, Angela's perspective also felt familiar. I now live in a blue state and consider myself progressive in politics and faith, and voted opposite half my family in the 2016 election. Angela understands this tightrope that many of us walk- loving people we don't understand.
What was most surprising for me, despite the familiarity, was how much I learned about red-state voters. I realized that just because I know people who voted for Donald Trump, doesn't mean I know everyone. And just because I watch the news doesn't mean I see the nuance and the diversity of the people who voted for Trump.
Angela spent 2018 traveling the US interviewing Red State Christians and getting to know a diverse group of individuals and churches who helped elect Donald Trump. A Lutheran pastor and reporter, she shares these people and places with care and truth, but without sugar-coating the sometimes horrifying manipulation of Christianity she found in her travels.
If you are like me and always find yourself wondering why this man has captured the heart of so many Christians, you will discover some answers here. You may not like them, but you may find yourself moving beyond stereotypes when relating to our fellow Americans. If you are like many of the people in this book, a Christian who voted for Donald Trump, you will feel the familiarity that I felt when reading. You will not be mocked; you will see a portrait of the diversity of people that live in red states. You may also be surprised by Angela's compassion. With the same hope that I have for my conservative family, you may learn a little about the other side too.
Angela's book is not only absorbing (my spouse and I fought over the one copy we had), but it is also incredibly important. It is the beginning of many conversations that need to be had — not conversations on Facebook, or conversations based on caricatures from the news. But conversations around dinner tables and small groups, or even over a cup of coffee. This book is a beacon of hope for our country. If you want to do one thing today to help heal the divide, no matter who you voted for, take the first step toward understanding. Read Red State Christians.
*I received an advanced copy of this book to review. I loved it so much I have already purchased another copy as a gift.
Read
September 6, 2019It wasn’t your typical megachurch experience. When journalist and Lutheran pastor Angela Denker showed up at New Destiny Christian Center to check out the ministry of Paula White, one of Donald Trump’s pastoral advisors, she might have expected a coffee shop in the lobby (she kinda did) and a glitzy auditorium for a sanctuary. Instead she found a water fountain and a “nondescript room in rural Florida” where the worshippers seemed well-acquainted with the rougher side of life.
When Pastor White, who is Anglo, stood up before the mostly African-American congregation, she did look the part of the edgy, telegenic, evangelical pastor—“black leather jacket and stiletto heels”—and that was the former keyboardist of the arena rockers Journey on musical backup, but her message was down-home with an obvious familiarity with prisoners and the hungry. “It’s all about love,” her hairstylist told Denker. “She’s not up there [in Washington] saying, ‘Trump, Trump, Trump’…she’s there to lead him to Jesus.” (192)
Paula White is just one of the surprising people you’ll meet in Denker’s new book, Red State Christians: Understanding the Voters Who Elected Donald Trump. Denker woke up after the 2016 election and wanted to know what had happened to “American Christians, God, and country.” (5) Though she was a confirmed liberal living in the Midwest, she was curious to know how America had become so divided—how we had come to speak two different languages.
“Ultimately, the unlikely love affair between Red State Christians and Trump comes down to a shared language,” she says. “So I’ve set out to record how Red State Christians talk about their faith, their votes, their guns, and their president…[T]he key to understanding their relationship with the most unlikely president is to listen to them, with empathy, scrutiny, and attention.” [13-14]
Read my full review on Heartlands...https://alexjoyner.com/2019/09/03/the....
When Pastor White, who is Anglo, stood up before the mostly African-American congregation, she did look the part of the edgy, telegenic, evangelical pastor—“black leather jacket and stiletto heels”—and that was the former keyboardist of the arena rockers Journey on musical backup, but her message was down-home with an obvious familiarity with prisoners and the hungry. “It’s all about love,” her hairstylist told Denker. “She’s not up there [in Washington] saying, ‘Trump, Trump, Trump’…she’s there to lead him to Jesus.” (192)
Paula White is just one of the surprising people you’ll meet in Denker’s new book, Red State Christians: Understanding the Voters Who Elected Donald Trump. Denker woke up after the 2016 election and wanted to know what had happened to “American Christians, God, and country.” (5) Though she was a confirmed liberal living in the Midwest, she was curious to know how America had become so divided—how we had come to speak two different languages.
“Ultimately, the unlikely love affair between Red State Christians and Trump comes down to a shared language,” she says. “So I’ve set out to record how Red State Christians talk about their faith, their votes, their guns, and their president…[T]he key to understanding their relationship with the most unlikely president is to listen to them, with empathy, scrutiny, and attention.” [13-14]
Read my full review on Heartlands...https://alexjoyner.com/2019/09/03/the....
November 24, 2020
The best nonfiction book I’ve read this year. I had to put it down for a few weeks during a self-imposed political blackout around election time. I’m glad I finished it.
In November 2016, the media was searching for a simple answer as to why Donald Trump had been unexpectedly elected. The media, particularly television, did a horrible job answering this question. It’s not something that can be answered in a 90 second video clip. It requires a book like this one to even scratch the surface of an answer. The author traveled to around the country visiting with with various Christian Trump supporters, attempting to understand the rationale for their support. The book did bring me to a place of greater understanding of people’s motivations even if my own opinions didn’t change at all.
The Table of Contents, to give a sense of the topics covered:
* Christian Nationalism and Fourth of July Church in Dallas TX
* He Will Save the Supreme Court: Abortion
* God and Guns
* Bibles and Boob Jobs: The Money and Influence of Orange County Christians
* Young, Free-Thinking, and Pro-Trump: Midwestern Farm Families in Rural Missouri
* Winners and Losers: Trump, Football, and Christianity
* The Evangelical Intelligentsia: What About the “Establishment” Christians?
* Evangelical Women and Donald Trump: Who’s Grabbing Who?
* Less Conservative, More Consequential: Rural Rust Belt Red State Christians in Appalachia and Central Pennsylvania
* Conservative Catholics: Building a New American Kingdom and Defying the Pope
* Red State Arabs: Christians, Muslims, and Evangelicals in Houston
* On the Border: Donald Trump and Latinx Christians
In November 2016, the media was searching for a simple answer as to why Donald Trump had been unexpectedly elected. The media, particularly television, did a horrible job answering this question. It’s not something that can be answered in a 90 second video clip. It requires a book like this one to even scratch the surface of an answer. The author traveled to around the country visiting with with various Christian Trump supporters, attempting to understand the rationale for their support. The book did bring me to a place of greater understanding of people’s motivations even if my own opinions didn’t change at all.
The Table of Contents, to give a sense of the topics covered:
* Christian Nationalism and Fourth of July Church in Dallas TX
* He Will Save the Supreme Court: Abortion
* God and Guns
* Bibles and Boob Jobs: The Money and Influence of Orange County Christians
* Young, Free-Thinking, and Pro-Trump: Midwestern Farm Families in Rural Missouri
* Winners and Losers: Trump, Football, and Christianity
* The Evangelical Intelligentsia: What About the “Establishment” Christians?
* Evangelical Women and Donald Trump: Who’s Grabbing Who?
* Less Conservative, More Consequential: Rural Rust Belt Red State Christians in Appalachia and Central Pennsylvania
* Conservative Catholics: Building a New American Kingdom and Defying the Pope
* Red State Arabs: Christians, Muslims, and Evangelicals in Houston
* On the Border: Donald Trump and Latinx Christians
July 25, 2019
What is something we all have in common; a story, a personality, a view on life, and our faith and our politics. With the 2020 presidential election in full swing and as many are still considering the events of the 2016 election, Pastor and writer, Angela Denker, travels to the US to hear those stories from Pastors, lay leaders, students, and a variety of others to gain a sense of where their faith blends with their political views. Also in the midst of those stories, people unpack why Trump was the presidential candidate to elect in 2016. It was interesting to read as I consider how some of the reasons why people praise President Trump is similar to areas in Texas and New Hampshire, it has also provided great conversations with individuals as I ask others about their thoughts with 2020 being next year.
This book will challenge you and invite you as well into a dialogue with how faith and politics are intertwined and influence one another. I hope, as the 2020 presidential election continues to unfold, we are in dialogue with one another to where it isn't yelling to prove the other wrong, but truly listen to where we can make our hopes and dreams, come alive for a brighter future.
This book will challenge you and invite you as well into a dialogue with how faith and politics are intertwined and influence one another. I hope, as the 2020 presidential election continues to unfold, we are in dialogue with one another to where it isn't yelling to prove the other wrong, but truly listen to where we can make our hopes and dreams, come alive for a brighter future.
May 15, 2023
Some parts of the book shared novel insights that actually held my interest, but most was just an already-been-done summarization of red-staters from someone who holds a clearly progressive theology and political ideology. I was irked by Denker's portrayal of herself as an unbiased observer of the subjects in her book, when actually she tended toward a holier-and-more-educated-than-thou tone. The book was fine and read well. The interviews and most anecdotes were interesting. I would even say that I learned a few things. I might give it three stars if not for my final thought below...
Completely not objective here:
This book was just annoying to read as a conservative Christian who never supported Trump. I think it might be genuinely enjoyable for others, or even for Christians who practice a liberal theology (Denker is a minister in the ELCA denomination, which is considered quite progressive). The failure to concede that conservative Christianity does not equal Trumpism or Christian nationalism was aggravating to the core. That's all.
Completely not objective here:
This book was just annoying to read as a conservative Christian who never supported Trump. I think it might be genuinely enjoyable for others, or even for Christians who practice a liberal theology (Denker is a minister in the ELCA denomination, which is considered quite progressive). The failure to concede that conservative Christianity does not equal Trumpism or Christian nationalism was aggravating to the core. That's all.
Read
December 31, 2024In 2016 won Donald Trump de presidentsverkiezingen in de VS. Zijn winst kwam mede door de steun van heel wat christenen. Angela Denker, die zowel journalist is als predikant, wilde weten wie deze christenen waren en wat hen bewoog om op Trump te stemmen.
Denker is predikante in de Evangelisch-Lutherse kerk, een van de progessievere kerken die er in de VS zijn. Zij wilde de Trumpstemmers begrijpen in hun keuze. Daarom besluit ze een aantal maanden lang rond te trekken in de staten die in 2016 Trump aan de verkiezingswinst hielpen en in gesprek te gaan met de christenen die daar wonen: de Red State Christians. Op haar rondreis raakt ze in gesprek met diverse soorten christenen: evangelicalen, protestanten, katholieken, conservatieven, Arabische christenen, Latin’s en Afro-Amerikanen. Op die manier wilde ze achterhalen waar de steun van Trump vandaan komt.
Het is een heel wisselend beeld, dat uit de gesprekken naar voren komt. De één staat al vanaf het begin van Trumps campagne achter hem. Een toonaangevende evangelical, zoals Jerry Falwell, kiest nog voordat de verkiezingen binnen de Republikeinse partij voorbij zijn, voor Trump als kandidaat. Datzelfde geldt voor de conservatieve katholieken in New Hampshire, waar Trump de primary’s verrassend wint en daardoor aan zijn zegetocht begint.
Andere gesprekspartners staan aarzelend achter Trump. Ze gedogen hem eerder en zien in Clinton een groter gevaar en scharen zich daarom maar uit arren moede achter Trump. Denker noteert hoe de verkiezing van Trump voor enorme verdeeldheid zorgt, met name binnen de megakerken waar ook veel Latino’s en Afro-Amerikanen onderdeel van zijn: de dag nadat Trump gewonnen heeft, komt de een in feeststemming de kerk binnen, terwijl de ander diep geraakt is.
Denker ontdekt dat de verdeeldheid echter niet met Trump begonnen is. Trump buit die verdeeldheid wel uit en versterkt die verdeeldheid aanzienlijk. Die verdeeldheid onder Amerikaanse christenen is er echter al onder Obama. Een deel van de Red State Christians, die ze spreekt, heeft in 2008 op Obama gestemd. Ze zijn echter teleurgesteld geraakt in zijn politiek en in zijn houding. De rode draad van de steun voor Trump is dat ze zich niet gezien voelen door Obama en niet gezien voelen door de media. Ten tijde van Obama’s presidentschap merken deze Red State Christians dat de media met allerlei vooroordelen over hen spreken. Ze voelen zich niet serieus genomen. Het gevoel niet meer gezien te worden en niet meer mee te tellen is een belangrijke factor om voor Trump te gaan. Ze zijn het zat om tot de verliezers te behoren. Ze zien in Trump een winnaar, die hen ook kan laten winnen. Hij kan de progressieve lijn van Obama, die een bedreiging is voor de conservatieve evangelicals, protestanten en katholieken, doorbreken.
Voor lang niet iedereen speelt het geloof een doorslaggevende functie. Met name in de gebieden die in 2008 en 2012 voor Obama kozen, is de economie de reden om voor Trump te gaan. Hij belooft Amerika weer groot te maken. Met zijn ruwe, grove taal blijkt deze miljonairszoon hun taal te spreken en hun wereld te begrijpen. Trump heeft haarfijn aangevoeld dat in de verkiezingen de tegenstelling tussen de elite en het gewone volk een factor van betekenis is en heeft zich gepresenteerd als de man van het gewone volk. Wellicht zijn er te hoge verwachtingen van Obama geweest, waardoor men zich teleurgesteld van hem heeft afgekeurd. Ze hadden het idee dat Obama de raciale tegenstellingen binnen de VS kon overbruggen. Omdat ze dat niet zagen gebeuren onder zijn bewind, hebben ze zich teleurgesteld van hem afgekeerd. Zeker in deze gebieden, die tot voor kort op de Democraten stemden, zijn de Democraten op achterstand geraakt. Met hun keuze voor progressieve thema’s, waarbij economische thema’s vergeten werden volgens de kiezers, hebben de Democraten in deze staten zich vervreemd van hun traditionele achterban.
Fascinerend is de constatering dat veel Amerikanen met een achtergrond in het Midden-Oosten achter Trump staan. Deze Arabische Amerikanen zijn veelal christen en waren dat al toen hun families nog in het Midden-Oosten woonden. Omdat Trump uitsprak dat hij IS zou bestrijden, zien ze in hem een beschermer van het christendom van het Midden-Oosten.
Denker is op ook zoek naar manieren om de tegenstellingen te overwinnen. Ze ontdekt dat de achterban van Trump veel genuanceerder is dan in de media wordt afgeschilderd en dat de keuze voor hem vaak een gebrek aan beter is.
Positie van vrouwen
Tijdens haar rondreis ontdekt ze dat onder de oppervlakte niet alleen een conservatieve onderstroom is, maar dat er ook veel verandert. Denker laat zien dat de positie van vrouwen in de conservatieve achterban van Trump verandert, ook omdat Trump, ondanks zijn vrouwonvriendelijke uitspraken, meer dan zijn achterban gewend is vrouwen op topposities benoemt.
Tegelijkertijd is onder Trump de MeToo-beweging op gang gekomen, waardoor vrouwen opkomen voor een veilige sfeer om te leven en te werken. De vrouwonvriendelijkheid van Trump is blijkbaar ook een katalysator geweest waardoor vrouwen voor hun eigen positie op zijn gekomen.
De verkiezing van Trump lijkt aan de ene kant een noodgreep van conservatieve bewegingen om de vooruitgang te stoppen en tegelijkertijd is het presidentschap van Trump een aanjager van emancipatie. Door de tegenkrachten die hij oproept, maar soms ook door zijn eigen beleid.
Dialoog
Het boek van Denker is geschreven vanuit de hoop op een dialoog: door met elkaar in gesprek te gaan, leer je elkaar kennen en leer je elkaars keuzes te begrijpen. Wanneer die dialoog steeds wordt gevoerd, bestaat er een kans dat de verdeeldheid vermindert en de vooroordelen worden weggenomen. Als ik het boek van Denker lees, is de stem van Trump vaak vooral een roep om gezien te worden. Daarbij namen zijn kiezers de negatieve kanten van Trump voor lief, omdat zij het belangrijker vonden dat signaal af te geven.
Denker is predikante in de Evangelisch-Lutherse kerk, een van de progessievere kerken die er in de VS zijn. Zij wilde de Trumpstemmers begrijpen in hun keuze. Daarom besluit ze een aantal maanden lang rond te trekken in de staten die in 2016 Trump aan de verkiezingswinst hielpen en in gesprek te gaan met de christenen die daar wonen: de Red State Christians. Op haar rondreis raakt ze in gesprek met diverse soorten christenen: evangelicalen, protestanten, katholieken, conservatieven, Arabische christenen, Latin’s en Afro-Amerikanen. Op die manier wilde ze achterhalen waar de steun van Trump vandaan komt.
Het is een heel wisselend beeld, dat uit de gesprekken naar voren komt. De één staat al vanaf het begin van Trumps campagne achter hem. Een toonaangevende evangelical, zoals Jerry Falwell, kiest nog voordat de verkiezingen binnen de Republikeinse partij voorbij zijn, voor Trump als kandidaat. Datzelfde geldt voor de conservatieve katholieken in New Hampshire, waar Trump de primary’s verrassend wint en daardoor aan zijn zegetocht begint.
Andere gesprekspartners staan aarzelend achter Trump. Ze gedogen hem eerder en zien in Clinton een groter gevaar en scharen zich daarom maar uit arren moede achter Trump. Denker noteert hoe de verkiezing van Trump voor enorme verdeeldheid zorgt, met name binnen de megakerken waar ook veel Latino’s en Afro-Amerikanen onderdeel van zijn: de dag nadat Trump gewonnen heeft, komt de een in feeststemming de kerk binnen, terwijl de ander diep geraakt is.
Denker ontdekt dat de verdeeldheid echter niet met Trump begonnen is. Trump buit die verdeeldheid wel uit en versterkt die verdeeldheid aanzienlijk. Die verdeeldheid onder Amerikaanse christenen is er echter al onder Obama. Een deel van de Red State Christians, die ze spreekt, heeft in 2008 op Obama gestemd. Ze zijn echter teleurgesteld geraakt in zijn politiek en in zijn houding. De rode draad van de steun voor Trump is dat ze zich niet gezien voelen door Obama en niet gezien voelen door de media. Ten tijde van Obama’s presidentschap merken deze Red State Christians dat de media met allerlei vooroordelen over hen spreken. Ze voelen zich niet serieus genomen. Het gevoel niet meer gezien te worden en niet meer mee te tellen is een belangrijke factor om voor Trump te gaan. Ze zijn het zat om tot de verliezers te behoren. Ze zien in Trump een winnaar, die hen ook kan laten winnen. Hij kan de progressieve lijn van Obama, die een bedreiging is voor de conservatieve evangelicals, protestanten en katholieken, doorbreken.
Voor lang niet iedereen speelt het geloof een doorslaggevende functie. Met name in de gebieden die in 2008 en 2012 voor Obama kozen, is de economie de reden om voor Trump te gaan. Hij belooft Amerika weer groot te maken. Met zijn ruwe, grove taal blijkt deze miljonairszoon hun taal te spreken en hun wereld te begrijpen. Trump heeft haarfijn aangevoeld dat in de verkiezingen de tegenstelling tussen de elite en het gewone volk een factor van betekenis is en heeft zich gepresenteerd als de man van het gewone volk. Wellicht zijn er te hoge verwachtingen van Obama geweest, waardoor men zich teleurgesteld van hem heeft afgekeurd. Ze hadden het idee dat Obama de raciale tegenstellingen binnen de VS kon overbruggen. Omdat ze dat niet zagen gebeuren onder zijn bewind, hebben ze zich teleurgesteld van hem afgekeerd. Zeker in deze gebieden, die tot voor kort op de Democraten stemden, zijn de Democraten op achterstand geraakt. Met hun keuze voor progressieve thema’s, waarbij economische thema’s vergeten werden volgens de kiezers, hebben de Democraten in deze staten zich vervreemd van hun traditionele achterban.
Fascinerend is de constatering dat veel Amerikanen met een achtergrond in het Midden-Oosten achter Trump staan. Deze Arabische Amerikanen zijn veelal christen en waren dat al toen hun families nog in het Midden-Oosten woonden. Omdat Trump uitsprak dat hij IS zou bestrijden, zien ze in hem een beschermer van het christendom van het Midden-Oosten.
Denker is op ook zoek naar manieren om de tegenstellingen te overwinnen. Ze ontdekt dat de achterban van Trump veel genuanceerder is dan in de media wordt afgeschilderd en dat de keuze voor hem vaak een gebrek aan beter is.
Positie van vrouwen
Tijdens haar rondreis ontdekt ze dat onder de oppervlakte niet alleen een conservatieve onderstroom is, maar dat er ook veel verandert. Denker laat zien dat de positie van vrouwen in de conservatieve achterban van Trump verandert, ook omdat Trump, ondanks zijn vrouwonvriendelijke uitspraken, meer dan zijn achterban gewend is vrouwen op topposities benoemt.
Tegelijkertijd is onder Trump de MeToo-beweging op gang gekomen, waardoor vrouwen opkomen voor een veilige sfeer om te leven en te werken. De vrouwonvriendelijkheid van Trump is blijkbaar ook een katalysator geweest waardoor vrouwen voor hun eigen positie op zijn gekomen.
De verkiezing van Trump lijkt aan de ene kant een noodgreep van conservatieve bewegingen om de vooruitgang te stoppen en tegelijkertijd is het presidentschap van Trump een aanjager van emancipatie. Door de tegenkrachten die hij oproept, maar soms ook door zijn eigen beleid.
Dialoog
Het boek van Denker is geschreven vanuit de hoop op een dialoog: door met elkaar in gesprek te gaan, leer je elkaar kennen en leer je elkaars keuzes te begrijpen. Wanneer die dialoog steeds wordt gevoerd, bestaat er een kans dat de verdeeldheid vermindert en de vooroordelen worden weggenomen. Als ik het boek van Denker lees, is de stem van Trump vaak vooral een roep om gezien te worden. Daarbij namen zijn kiezers de negatieve kanten van Trump voor lief, omdat zij het belangrijker vonden dat signaal af te geven.
October 4, 2019
4.5 stars, really.
I honestly can not remember what I saw or read that led me to this book, but I am very glad to have found it and read it. The book is very easy to get into and mostly a moderate read - there were only a few points where I felt the author was beleaguered to fill space and was droning on.
But what makes this book, is the concluding chapter where the author discusses her family and her own recognition of the divide between “other” and her as well as her addressing not white washing the atrocities she DID see in the name of God and country.
I highly recommend this to all on every side of “the other”. Now if only there was a book as insightful for the red-state non-Christians.
I honestly can not remember what I saw or read that led me to this book, but I am very glad to have found it and read it. The book is very easy to get into and mostly a moderate read - there were only a few points where I felt the author was beleaguered to fill space and was droning on.
But what makes this book, is the concluding chapter where the author discusses her family and her own recognition of the divide between “other” and her as well as her addressing not white washing the atrocities she DID see in the name of God and country.
I highly recommend this to all on every side of “the other”. Now if only there was a book as insightful for the red-state non-Christians.
October 3, 2019
Pastor Denker traveled around the country: from Houston to Florida to Appalachia to Missouri, to interview Christians who had voted for Trump, and learn about their multiple and complex priorities and reasons. Near the end, she travels to the Arab Christian community in Houston (near where I currently live) and to the border town of El Paso. I find these chapters particularly compelling. And at a moment in time that seems so divisive, I find a strange hope in her year-long journey and the people she got to know.
August 27, 2019
I am deeply grateful for Angela Denker’s excellent new book. Denker spent more than a year traveling to red states and interviewing Trump’s supporters, and the end result is a text that is at once compassionate toward Trump voters, while also holding red state Christians accountable for embracing ideologies that seem to contradict the scriptural imperative to love one’s neighbors, practice mercy and kindness, and seek justice for those on our margins.
May 2, 2020
The one question I still wanna know the answer to is this- If these red state Christians have gay friends and friends of other races, how can they still vote for someone who has repeatedly said he will take away their rights? Seems the rankest hypocrisy. Here and I was always told that if bigots get to meet someone unlike them they'll become more tolerant. Apparently not.
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