This is a measured, clear exposition of the connections between evangelicalism and racism, with a side note of the persistent power of white males in fundamentalist denominations. Professor Butler, who teaches religious and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania, earlier in her life traveled through the evangelical community and experienced subtle racism first hand. Her accounts of what she experienced add to the accessibility of her research. As others have said, I was struck from the start of Trump's candidacy and then presidency that he was a strange hero for the religious right. As time went on and cringe-worthy incidents accumulated, I couldn't imagine how they could continue to support him. This book will give you the answers, and show that Trump is only a current symptom of a festering problem that goes back decades.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a prepublication version of this book.

"White Evangelical Racism" by Yale professor and former evangelical Anthea Butler responds to the question that many Americans have been asking themselves over the last four years: how can evangelical Americans vote for and support for president Donald Trump, a man who seems to flout so many Christian principles?

For Butler, evangelical support of Trump is no shock. She argues that evangelicalism as a movement is rooted in nineteenth century racist and pro-slavery arguments. And throughout the twentieth century, particularly in its latter half, evangelicals increasingly embraced nationalist politics and politicians and politicians that cast America as a white, Christian nation--Butler even goes so far as to call evangelicalism more a nationalist political movement than a religious one. Evangelicals' association with racism and nationalism is not new with their support of Trump; these are in the fabric of their being.

Butler's effort to place Trump as a product of longstanding evangelical racism owes much to the work of historian Randall Ballmer, who has shown that while the common perception was that evangelicals' marriage to the right came from their opposition to Roe vs. Wade, evangelical opposition to segregation--which Republican politicians harnessed in the Southern Strategy--actually drove this union.

And other scholars have also recently sought to point out that evangelical support of Trump is rooted in older evangelical ideas and values. Kristin Kobes du Mez, historian and professor at an evangelical university, explores this in her recent book, "Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation." It describes the ways that Trump's evangelical support is steeped in evangelical views of manhood and masculinity, some of which can be traced to evangelicalism's earliest efforts to attract men as converts and then percolated throughout the twentieth century.

That said, while both books are engaging reads, Butler's book is clearly written for a popular audience. Her book does not include footnootes, though it does include a list of suggested readings (that includes du Mez's work), and she refers throughout her work to her own experiences as a Black former evangelical. Du Mez's book is a work of academic history, though its solid storytelling and lucid prose give it appeal to a popular audience. Still, these books taken together make a compelling case that evangelical support of Trump in America should surprise hardly anyone at all.

White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America by Anthea Butler is a clear and concise history of how contemporary Evangelicalism is not a sudden phenomenon but the result of the racism built into its early strands and maintained as a foundational element throughout.

There is a faux educator on Netgalley (unless maybe he works (mis)educating people for Breitbart) who can be counted on to spew nonsense whenever he stumbles across any book that supports anything other than white pseudo-Christian patriarchal society, and this is no exception. He pretends that Butler does not acknowledge that some early Evangelicals did lead the fight against slavery (she does acknowledge it). He cites an economist (though by the wrong first name, William is his middle name and not the one he publishes under) who won a Nobel prize for a theory on slavery, though that is not what Fogel is mentioned for. The book mentioned is questionable at best and, even giving some of it the benefit of the doubt, does not refute Butler's points at all. This bigoted faux-educator hopes that no one has read or is familiar with any previous scholarship or, for that matter, historical events and will not notice the stench coming from his mouth. And, since he is really just preaching to others like himself, they are probably as unfamiliar with the books and events as he is, he is clearly cribbing his racism from someone else, but he still spreads his filth on far too many good books that could help bring people together, except he has a narrow view of who qualifies as people.

Okay, I feel better now, cowards like that just irk me. This book disrupts what Evangelicals have been doing for generations not so much by uncovering new information but by bringing all of these things together so we can see the big picture. And the big picture is that racism is at the heart of white Evangelicalism in the United States and has been for many years. Once they finally left any Christianity behind and became a full-fledged cult intent on gaining power, they were no longer able, in a rational person's mind, to hide behind any form of morality.

Yes, this book fired me up because it makes very clear, in well argued and supported points, the things many of us have known and/or sensed for some time. Maybe someone who doesn't live in stupidity central (Lynchburg, VA, home of the faux university Liberty run by the cult Falwell) will be able to stand back and have their understanding improved by this book. I see this hatred and inbreeding daily and get fired up.

If I have offended anyone, too bad. Considering the people in cages, dead or dying, going hungry and/or homeless because of what these people do, I don't care if I hurt someone's little feelings. I am not worried since you're all cowards anyway.

So, highly recommended for those who want to learn. For those who don't, well, you probably wouldn't be able to read it anyway, there are polysyllabic words in the book.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

An eye opening book about the history of the Evangelical Church in the USA. I’ve never been able to figure out why Trump has such strong support from this group – the book certainly provided the answer. It also paints a clear picture about the role the Evangelical Church plays in the huge division that currently exists.

I agreed with the ideas expressed in this book, especially

… evangelicalism is not a simply religious group at all. Rather, it is a nationalistic political movement whose purpose is to support the hegemony of white Christian men over and against the flourishing of others (Kindle location 1289).

If you don't agree with this view or others like it, I suggest that this book is still worth reading, because it is short and clearly written. If you wish to build up an argument against people you disagree with, the best place to start with is the writer who has confidence in her argument and does not bury her views under a mountain of blather.

At Kindle location 602, the author references this 2014 article by Randall Balmer in Politico Magazine

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133

which, Butler writes,

debunked one of the most durable myths in recent history, the conceit that the religious right, fundamentalism, and conservative evangelicals emerged as a political movement in response to the Supreme Court decision in <i>Roe v. Wade</i> in 1973.

This is an important argument in this book. I think it would be worth it to read this article before or while you read this book. The real reason that conservative evangelicals emerged as a political force, Balmer says (and Butler agrees), is that evangelicals wished to exact revenge on the federal government, because the feds forced segregated schools to integrate by threatening to revoke religious schools' tax-exempt status. Again, I found this convincing.

At Kindle location 1234, the author briefly mentions the Supreme Court case of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd., v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which was decided in favor of a cake shop that refused to provide a wedding cake to a gay couple. It's an interesting case, and again I agree with the conclusion that Butler drew from the facts. To know more about the facts of this case, read two good articles about it on the site <i>Scotusblog</i>. They are

https://www.scotusblog.com/2017/09/wedding-cakes-v-religious-beliefs-plain-english/

and

https://www.scotusblog.com/2018/06/symposium-masterpiece-cakeshop-not-as-narrow-as-may-first-appear/

Thank you to Netgalley and University of North Carolina Press for making a free electronic galley copy of this book available to me for review.

One of the things that confuses secular Americans the most is how the evangelical crowd can vote for Donald Trump when he is the antithesis of everything the Christian religion supposedly stands for. How can someone who believes in the teachings of Christ first and foremost, vote for a thrice married adulterer, alleged child rapist, liar, etc., etc.. I know it certainly has been a dichotomy that has been turning over in my head for the past four years. Enter Anthea Butler who has succinctly explained how this came to be and, while many presume the reason is simply abortion, there are actually more layers and quite a history that has lead to where we are now. The underlying reason evangelicals are this way? Racism.

It's so easy for modern evangelicals to balk when being accused of racism, but how many of them accurately know where their movement has come from? I would wager not many. Thankfully for those of us who have been hung up on this issue for awhile, Butler lays out for us in a very succinct manner how evangelicalism adopted racism for its benefit since slavery and how it grew after the second reiteration of the Klan in 1915.

Many people know that when Trump and other Republicans talk about "law and order" they are using a dog whistle for anti-blackness. It seemed evident to me when this phrase first hit my radar during the protests this past summer, but how did that phrase become such a dog whistle? This was one of the most eye opening parts of the book to me, along with the rise of Billy Graham and how he ties in with anticommunist sentiments which then morphed into racist sentiments. Graham, Hoover, the Red Scare, an evangelical fear of end times... it seems they all combined to create this everlasting racism.

Butler also demonstrates how evangelicals became politically entwined with the Republican party, to the point today where, in my mind, it is impossible to separate the two. I would urge you to read this book even if it were just for this section because it shows how a minority of Americans have been able to leverage their vote and win presidential elections as a result. Butler argues that George W. Bush was the first to benefit from this and how it has grown. A look at almost any evangelical/fundamentalist Instagram or Facebook account shows they are falling for the conspiracy theories spouted by Trump, who they seem to think is second to Christ but indeed act as if he is first. Even knowing how they arrived there, it still blows my mind.

On a side note, this section reminded me of something important. In the age of Trumpism, it's easy to look back at George W.'s administration and think, "Well, maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought," but if you take the time (for a two minute Google search, even) you can easily find examples of disgusting, racist behavior on the behalf of the former president. We have to insist that the bar has not moved. We cannot dismiss the awful behavior of other Republicans because "at least they're not as bad as Trump." Trump should be the extreme, not the bar between okay and not okay.

I want to thank Butler for taking the time and putting in the work to write this book because it answers several questions many of us have had about the religious voting bloc. I would encourage you to read this succinct and timely book, it won't take more than a few hours, and in the end you'll have at least some of the answers you may have been looking for. If you are evangelical, Butler also writes directly to you at the end of the book. While it's unlikely evangelicals will read the book, they ought to. They know they are accused of racism and it's time for them to learn why and grow from it. Well, one can dream.

This book is beneath contempt! The author claims to have taught college level students for twenty years and yet she writes like an adolescent instead of a scholar. She makes claim after claim and each time you feel certain that her next sentence will back her assertion up but this never happens. Instead she repeatedly mouths the words racism, white privilege and the like over and over again without ever offering any supporting facts. Someone should go to Google books and do a count of how many times she repeats the word "racism". I bet that the result is quite large.
This deeply misguided woman much watch the movie "Amazing Grace" again and learn that it was conservative evangelical Christians in England, led by William Wilberforce, who demanded that Parliament end slavery in the British Empire and that this happened in 1807. She might also wish to read William Fogel's book, "The Fourth Great Awakening" that debunks all of Butler's specious beliefs. By the way Fogel is a Nobel laureate!
This book stinks to high heaven! DO NOT BUY IT!

I have lived my entire life in Alabama, where merely daring to read such a book (without intention to discredit or denounce it) is itself an act tantamount to heresy or treason. Like the author, I was raised and have deep roots in evangelicalism. Reading this felt like a clear voice above the fray validating the things that I have known to be true, but didn't have the documentation to prove. And I can guarantee that they will be rejected vehemently by those who need to hear them most.

This is a clear, concise and fair history of how we got to here - where the cracks in evangelicalism have begun to show the rot that is destroying it from the inside, where the "Moral" Majority is exposed for the absolute joke that it always was, where racism and hatred are called exactly what they are. There were so many points where I was screaming "Yes! This! Exactly!"

One point that I wish the author had explored further was mentioned in the conclusion: the jealousy of evangelicalism towards the acceptance of maineline churches. I thought this was an interesting theory worthy of further explanation. Possibly Butler could cover it in her next book - I would definitely be the first in line to buy a copy!

I was nodding my head as I was reading this book. I wanted to SCREAM YES! YES! This is what I have been saying for years. My Christian, White friends all voted for Trump because they wanted a return to family values. Not realizing that what they were referencing is a fairy tale.
Two even told me that by electing Donal Trump they were hoping a race war would happen and they confided in me that they were stockpiling guns and food for the war.
I shook my head in disbelief and wondered if I lived in a different country then them...turns out they were being "led" by pastors who preached these beliefs.
Ms. Butler hit the nail on the head with this book. I greedily read every word and agreed with all of her premises.
Too much focus has been on white evangelical voters, too much attention has been paid to the moral majority, when I hear the Focus on the Family segment on the radio, I cringe inside...I wonder, how will they try to control people different then them today?
I thought that the author really did a great job researching and presenting the history of the Evangelical movement and its racism from the start.
This is a book that EVERYONE should read.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC for this honest review.