Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Though the subtitle of Sarah Posner’s “Unholy” (White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Fonakd Trump) is not likely to draw many Trump supporters in to take a chance, he book is a masterpiece delivered with surprisingly little judgement or snideness. The book is much less about President Trump than the subtitle might predict. Instead it really an exploration of the question of ‘why do evangelicals form the core of Trumps most vociferous support base, especially given that he’s a vulgar, thrice-divorced, Bible-illiterate (far from he family-values God-fearing Christian one would expect the evangelical community to embrace)? Posner tells the story of how the evangelical community has become politically active in right-wing conservative Republican politics over the past 4-5 decades, how their social issue passions have come to define their voters, and how the Republican Party has come to reflect, especially with Trumps ascension to the WH, their values. It is the white evangelical voter and their issues that fit so well with the campaign, and now administration policies of Trump, that made this seemingly ‘unholy’ matrimony not actually perfect, but almost predestined. Trump is everything the white evangelical voter wanted in a political savior; that powerful fighter willing to buck all the secular PC multiculturalism of liberal democracy to bring the glory of Christian America back to the fore. From making it ok to say ‘Merry Christmas’ again, to bringing ‘conscience policy’ and ‘religious freedom’ to the head of the civil rights list, Trump has delivered in ways the evangelical right has desired for decades. The long ignored grievances of the white evangelical have been heard and and being addressed by Trump. As such this swath of American society is eternally grateful and loyal for it. Posner’s story and prose are both balanced and engaging. White evangelicals may not like everything she has to say in the book, but I believe they would be hard pressed to honestly refute her historical examination of the movement or it’s notable players. 5 hearty stars. Another reviewer (who states they are an evangelical) give the book 4 stars because that reviewer felt that Posner was too generalizing about Christians and evangelicals as entire groups. I didn’t feel this way, but then again I am not part of either demographic so I defer that judgement.