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A review by cosmicbookworm
Red State Christians: Understanding the Voters Who Elected Donald Trump by Angela Denker
5.0
How did we reach a point where our nation elected a man like Donald Trump to the White House, when less than twenty years earlier, evangelical Christians were condemning Bill Clinton? Why would so many Christians support a man who embodies values contrary to their beliefs? How did we end up here? Angela Denker, a Lutheran pastor from Minneapolis, MN, a former sports writer, spent a year in 2018 traveling the country seeking answers. Denker effectively compiles the history and current state of a diverse nation in her search for answers.
I admit that by the end of the book I was a little weary of listening to the views of people who draw different conclusions than I do, especially when I learn of things like a Southern Baptist church withdrawing support of a Lutheran Church in El Paso, who is doing great things for people in its community, https://www.facebook.com/cristorey1010/ because of the pastor’s refusal to support Donald Trump. Things like this bring me to the point of exhaustion.
The book's conclusion brings everything together. If I lived in the Twin Cities, I’m confident that I would find my way to Denker’s congregation. This is a place I could worship.
Denker’s conclusion to her important book:
“My Red State Christian story began with Trump, with his bombast and his uncanny ability to mollify moral concerns and unite an Evangelical Christian coalition of voters. Still, the place my story ends is far from Trump. It ends in places in America where people are forming unlikely alliances, surprising each other and surprising political pundits, to build a future that looks nothing like the Republicans or Democrats of the past. Grace, for American Christians and for all of us, is a difficult thing. It means starting from a place where all of us have been wrong, and knowing that we all have something to learn from each other. If you are a liberal reading this book, I hope you’ve learned about the humanity and diversity of Red State Christians, and you can see parts of yourself in them. If you are a conservative reading this book, I hope you’ve learned about the dangerous edges and manipulation apparent in parts of American Red State conservative Christianity, and I hope you see that in some places, Jesus’s message of love and sacrifice has been perverted to lift up power and hatred. I hope, whoever you are, that your beliefs prior to reading this book have been challenged and that you’re open to further conversation.”
I admit that by the end of the book I was a little weary of listening to the views of people who draw different conclusions than I do, especially when I learn of things like a Southern Baptist church withdrawing support of a Lutheran Church in El Paso, who is doing great things for people in its community, https://www.facebook.com/cristorey1010/ because of the pastor’s refusal to support Donald Trump. Things like this bring me to the point of exhaustion.
The book's conclusion brings everything together. If I lived in the Twin Cities, I’m confident that I would find my way to Denker’s congregation. This is a place I could worship.
Denker’s conclusion to her important book:
“My Red State Christian story began with Trump, with his bombast and his uncanny ability to mollify moral concerns and unite an Evangelical Christian coalition of voters. Still, the place my story ends is far from Trump. It ends in places in America where people are forming unlikely alliances, surprising each other and surprising political pundits, to build a future that looks nothing like the Republicans or Democrats of the past. Grace, for American Christians and for all of us, is a difficult thing. It means starting from a place where all of us have been wrong, and knowing that we all have something to learn from each other. If you are a liberal reading this book, I hope you’ve learned about the humanity and diversity of Red State Christians, and you can see parts of yourself in them. If you are a conservative reading this book, I hope you’ve learned about the dangerous edges and manipulation apparent in parts of American Red State conservative Christianity, and I hope you see that in some places, Jesus’s message of love and sacrifice has been perverted to lift up power and hatred. I hope, whoever you are, that your beliefs prior to reading this book have been challenged and that you’re open to further conversation.”