Red State Christians: A Journey into White Christian Nationalism and the Wreckage It Leaves Behind Paperback – August 16, 2022

The book author traveled in a number of states to interview pastors, church leaders and congregants to write this book. She found various reasons why people were conservative/evangelical Christians. Some people were following untruths from leaders, and others were being led by culture-war ideas. The Christian Nationalists were essentially making this nation their God, which could be called a form of idolatry. It produced good discussion in our small group. The author was very readable.

It took me over a year to read this book. I had to pick it up and put it down numerous times because the stories were often difficult to hear and process. I began by just wanting the author to tell me about how deluded "Trumpism" is. In some measure, she did that by simply pointing to the overwhelming facts that Trump is neither a Christian nor a true Republican, but a user and a manipulator of both. But her book reveals the common humanity and God's grace that united us across the religious and political lines. I found her stories with the Arab Christians and Muslims to be the most eye opening andmoving.I cannot do a better review than quoting the author's final paragraph:"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."

There is a real need for this book. It is well written, but failed to address the elephant in the room. I didn't see where she ever asked the Trump voters she met if they voted for him in the primary The Bible says, "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God... Have nothing to do with them." (2Tim 3:1-5) There were many Republicans running for the nomination. Every one of them were far more supportive of Christian values than Trump. These voters not only ignored the Apostle Paul's admonition to "have nothing to do with them," they helped elect a man who is the antithesis of everything Jesus taught. I also wished she'd asked these supporters how their evangelistic efforts have been going in the last few years.

Angela Denker takes the readers of this book on a trip into the Christian/Evangelical heart of the Trump electorate. It is a story which is filled with honest dialogue and nuance. It speaks of people as they really are, people who are filled with contradiction. None of us can truthfully be reduced to a simple sentence or two. Everyone has a tendency to stereotype and every stereotype is too confining for reality and Angela brings us and herself to task for refusing to see our own warped thinking and how we limit God's grace working in everyone.As a retired evangelical pastor I recommend this book highly to everyone who finds themselves shaking their head at how a man who seems to break almost every Christian principal is the overwhelming choice of most of the most obvious Christians in the United States for President.

I am a non-Christian living in lexington Kentucky but soon to be moving to a very rural part of the state. I have been fascinated by the trump voter since his win. The one book that really changed my view was “The Great Revolt” and I was hoping this book would be something like that. Unfortunately, although it’s a fine book, it’s not anything thought changing. It’s worth the rad but probably not going to teach you anything new

My husband & I read a chapter a day, and spent every evening discussing it. Wow! Fascinating, and a challenge to expand our view of others. So glad we dug into this book. A few days after we finished, we had some 'Aha!' moments that pulled it all together. This is definitely a book you should read deeply, and take time over. So glad Pastor Denker did so much traveling and research, and shared the information so well!!

A must read for all of those who want to get insight into the minds of those who support Trump. The group is not a single issue, simple minded people. The complexities of why Trump is so popular need to be explored. Angela has done a phenomenal job at demystifying them in this book.

I had such a good time reading this book. It's interesting to hear about the motivations behind various voters in the U.S.The book is extremely non partisan, and very well researched. I really like Angela's message that we need to start understanding each other more.Thanks for writing such a good book.