So Du Mez could have taken an accurate view on evangelical issues, and written something worth reading. Still God works through us anyway, and the world is very definitely better off for His Church (though that’s a discussion for another day). Through all my reading of church history, I’ve concluded there has to be a God, or we’d have blown ourselves to pieces by now. It’s called sin, and it happens in the Church.
We do have problems, and we have since Paul wrote about it in his first letter to the Corinthians - not to mention a whole lot preceding it in the Old Testament. I refuse to participate in such excuse-making. Rachael Denhollander, who more than anyone else was responsible for Larry Nassar being brought to justice for abusing gymnasts, has studied the problem of sexual abuse in evangelical churches, and found it to be “rampant,” and “widespread.” Churches too often cover it up, explaining it inexcusably as “for the good of the ministry.” My kids’ former youth pastor is in federal prison for sexual misconduct. I’d be the last to deny evangelicals have problems. The case she makes is, unfortunately, badly confused, poorly supported, and frequently misinformed.
It’s a rambling critique of white evangelicals, who have “Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation,” according to the book’s subtitle - as if we should get all the credit for that. Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez, the current Amazon #1 best-seller in Protestantism, is another case in point. They keep getting their critiques wrong anyway. Christians give our critics way too much material to work with.
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