I felt seen by Sarah McCammon's book, The Exvangelicals. I grew up in the evangelical church just a few years behind the author and experienced much (but not all) of what she did. Unlike the author, I still am a Christian and seek to follow Jesus today. However, I grapple often with some of what I was taught as a child, or perhaps, how I was taught it... and as a parent now, struggle with how to teach my sons about faith and all things faith-adjacent.

I felt like this book was a great mix of personal memoir (though I would have loved more of Sarah's story) and journalistic exploration of evangelical culture, both in the past and today. The evangelical movement today, especially as it intersects with politics, MAGA, and Donald Trump is appalling... but I don't think all of Christianity is that, nor is all of the church, Christians, and especially Christ. That being said, this book is thought provoking and provides a glimpse into the unique intersection of evangelical Christianity and politics in the United States today.

The book is very readable and relatable. I appreciated all the references for each chapter, and thorough list of recommended books at the end. I hope some of my friends read this so we can discuss!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

This book was part memoir and part journalistic investigation into the exvangelical movement. It was interesting and tender and relatable in so many ways.

Sarah McCammon's 'The Exvangelicals' is an incisive insider look at a number of the ways evangelicalism (and particularly white, conservative evangelicalism) has fallen short, dropped the ball, and/or made things worse for both its own adherents and the populace at large with its rigid, harsh, divisive rhetoric and actions in the decades since its initial inception. The result, McCammon points out again and again, has been burned bridges instead of bridges built, and walls erected rather than torn down. She incorporates vulnerable personal experiences of her own throughout the text, and I don't think I had realized the extent of my own religious trauma prior to her stories, interviews, and insights, many of which I identified with. Evangelicalism as a movement has pervaded so much of church history and Western world culture for so long that it feels rare to find well-informed, well-researched, well-written voices sounding the much-needed alarm. For evangelicals trying to learn why so many people are leaving their churches, people outside the church who want to get a better grasp on the current religious landscape in the United States in particular, and especially for those leaving churches in the first place, McCammon's book will appeal to multiple audiences and speak to many experiences. From purity culture to race and racism to white Christian nationalism to patriarchy and gender roles, this book is an unflinching look at the world evangelicals might have tried --- and have certainly, all too often, failed --- to build.

Content warnings: Do be aware that this book discusses purity culture, racist views, issues around the patriarchy and what have been historically considered "traditional" gender roles, and white Christian nationalism of the more militant variety, among other potentially sensitive subjects for those who have encountered especially fundamentalist or otherwise rigid conservative evangelical viewpoints. Also be aware that these subjects are treated with the utmost care and respect for survivors of these topics and with a distinct eye toward critiquing why such extreme beliefs have, knowingly or unknowingly, caused so much harm and damage to so many.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this free reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

I was very interested in reading this title, and it even sat on my digital bookshelf as an advanced reader's copy until its publishing date came and went, and I hadn't been able to get to it. So, as soon as I could make room for it in my reading life, I did. Sarah McCammon is a name familiar to those who run in NPR circles. Specifically, she reports on and speaks about politics and the intersections of politics and religion. She is not, however, a name that is familiar to me. The title of her book grabbed my attention because I suppose some might call me an exvangelical - if they were trying to be kind and not, well, a typical evangelical, in which case they would say I was backslidden, a heretic, a heathen, or some other adjective that means I'm no longer a card-carrying christian.

This is not the first, nor will it be the last, book I read about the exodus (word use intended) happening in evangelicalism these days. My own journey out started on a mission trip of all places. I'm just enough older than McCammon in that while she was still in high school and college, I was a young married, and having babies. But, despite our age difference, our experiences with evangelicalism are very similar.

All of this leads to me giving my thoughts about McCammon's book, about which her publisher says, "Rigorously reported and deeply personal, The Exvangelicals is the story of the people who make up this generational tipping point, including McCammon herself. Part memoir, part investigative journalism, this is the first definitive book that names and describes the post-evangelical movement--identifying its origins, telling the stories of its members, and examining its vast cultural, social, and political impact." Respectfully, I disagree.

I do not feel the information in this book was anything new that hasn't already been used in previously published titles (Laura E. Anderson and Kristin Kobes Du Mez titles, for example), nor did the reading feel rigorously reported. While it might be the first book to have the word "exvangelical" in its title (but is it, though?), it is not the first book to describe the post-evangelical movement in any way. I also didn't walk away from it with any insights into the impacts this movement has culturally, socially, and politically. Any insights shared are not new to me, and any new ones weren't outlined that I could pick up on. I respect the work McCammon put into this title, both the work it takes to put such a personal story out there and the work she put into tracking down "sources," etc., for the journalistic aspects of this title. I respect her work in the book; unfortunately, it didn't resonate with me like other titles/authors in this emerging "genre" have. There are, I believe, several reasons for this. One is my journey out of evangelicalism. It started a very long time ago, and I am well down the road. This book might have resonated with me if I had just started this journey.

Normally, I do not rate memoirs, and while this book reads much more like a memoir than anything else, the publisher and the author do not label it as such, so neither will I. I'm going to stick with the rating I gave it, although the further away from the book I move, the more "meh" I feel about it. In my personal opinion, there are better-written titles available on this topic. I want to be clear, better written about the topic itself. McCammon's story is her story; her experiences are her experiences, and I would never critique those parts.

If you're curious about why exvangelicals have left the church, the best thing to do is talk directly with them.

The second best thing to do may be to read this book.

Because McCammon was once all-in among the evangelical culture, she understands what it's like to grow up with a sincere Christian faith in a deeply evangelical family. But bit by bit, the questions and doubts she had about her own beliefs as well as about the Christian world around her grew too loud to ignore.

She discovered she was not alone. There are many reasons why many people are leaving the church. McCammon writes:

“For many of the exvangelicals I’ve met, those Christian spaces feel less and less like home, and Jesus seems harder to find in them. And for some, following Jesus, or, at least the truth as they see it, means stepping out of those spaces—out of that ‘parallel universe’—and onto a new and unfamiliar path.”

As she points out in her book, everybody has their own story. It’s often more complicated and nuanced than outsiders imagine.

The Exvangelicals is full of first-hand stories as well as data from multiple research studies. McCammon, a national political correspondent for NPR, writes with clarity and grace, using her in-depth journalism skills to tell a complex story in an easily digestible way.

I highly recommend this book. My thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.

This book was very informative and I found myself nodding in agreement to many things written.

Having grown up in an evangelical home & hearing American news as often as our Canadian news, I understood more than I could relate to the experiences mentioned throughout the book.

It was well researched, and was a reminder that questioning or deconstructing one’s religious upbringing is not wrong. It can be eye opening and bring you to a deeper understanding of what you actually believe.

I loved this book and could resonate with much of McCammon's experience of growing up as an evangelical and not knowing your place as an adult.

Do you know what the word exvangelicals means? Exvangelicals “are former evangelicals who for social, political or theological reasons, find themselves at odds with the current state of the conservative American evangical ethos.” The author is perfect for exploring evangelicalism in her memoir. She had been raised in a deeply religious evangelical family. Her home fostered a fear of the outside secular world. She had been led to believe that one thing she had been taught such as dinosaurs roamed the earth with Adam and Eve.. she experienced religious trauma where obedience born of fear was the norm. Politics were her breaking point. The author says that she is still healing.

This is a fascinating look at evangelical ism from a perspective that is personal and investigative. It is an intriguing, insightful with excellent information.

As a Floridian experiencing the rise of Neo-Christian Fascism I jumped at the chance to read this book and it did not disappoint. It's hard for me to imagine the level of brainwashing and cultism that has gone into cultivating the Evangelical audience when I myself have never been associated with Evangelicalism. My only real-world experience was my daughter being prophesized to in school which led to her asking to join Awana with her school friend. I agreed, since I have always held the stance that I would take my kids if they asked, and she quickly realized that if she said what they wanted to hear she'd get candy but she didn't actually accept any of their beliefs. She's now a staunch Atheist.

Getting a behind the scenes look at the religion; not just through Sarah McCammon's own experiences, but in her expose to others was eye-opening and insightful. I learned a lot which is what I hoped to get out of reading The Exvangelicals. McCammon did a great job at explaining some of the more common terms as well, like deconstruction and what that looked like for people. She also took great care to explain how different the process is for each individual and that the timeline is also individualized and personal. McCammon dipped into the political spectrum a bit, especially the rising of Donald Trump and the God-like status he has achieved within the Evangelical movement. I thought her viewpoint, experience and first person retellings of the people around her to be thought provoking and relevant. McCammon did not shy away from the racial divide within the Evangelical movement. She offered insight into the failings of the movement and how they continue to lose among the African American and the young.

There is something to be said about knowledge and power and I am happy for McCammon and those like her from being able to free themselves from, what is essentially, an organized cult.

Thank you SMP for the gifted ARC.

We know the statistics. Young people (and others) are leaving the evangelical church. Some are leaving the faith altogether while others are deconstructing and then rebuilding their faith to a state they feel is more authentic to the example of Jesus.

McCammon shares her own experiences as she helps readers understand the history behind the current atmosphere of the evangelical church. Many were taught to disbelieve science, for example. Kids raised in a closed environment of evangelical fervor are now facing confusions and disillusionment. She also shares stories of others who have had similar experiences, troubled by evangelical actions, whether in the area of modern politics or other social aspects of the culture.

Much has been written on the shrinking evangelical church. While this book does not provide any shocking new insights, it is a good book for Christians to read to understand the historical harm done in the name of Christianity, alienating many people.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book. It was truly enlightening, and a bit frightening. I have a new appreciation for the strength and courage it takes to leave something you’ve been indoctrinated to believe is the only path to Heaven when you start to observe the inconsistencies that mar the facade of perfection. Many exvangelicals observed those they used to trust to offer moral guidance making very immoral decisions (particularly politically) and this caused them to question the people they’d placed their faith in.

Imagine viewing your parents as god-like and all-knowing, only to discover they have questionable views that don’t align with the ways you always imagined they were. Their morals are more malleable than you imagined. They have adopted the view that the ends are more important than the means; if that means choosing amoral leaders who may enact policies they support, suddenly the moral character of the candidate is irrelevant. I fear even non-evangelicals have experienced that kind of disillusionment within the past eight to nine years.

During the Clinton impeachment hearings, the moral character of the president was lambasted and Christian leaders argued that a man of questionable character was unfit to lead the country. Suddenly, that doesn’t matter anymore. Due to all of the TV coverage of Clinton’s affair, the author’s mother asked if she knew what oral sex was. Fearing it might be a trick question, she responded, “I think…I think it’s just what it sounds like, Mom?” After giving it some consideration, her mom responded, “Well, I think… I think, if you have Jesus, you don’t need oral sex!” This made me laugh out loud.

In regard to the abortion issue, her mother told her “...she believed that eventually the country would find itself in a civil war over the issue, much like it had over slavery.” Apparently, abortion is largely compared to modern-day slavery, which I find fascinating since they don’t see compelling women to carry pregnancies to term the same way. I mean, in what way is a fetus forced to be a slave? As the author points out, issues of racism are paradoxically dismissed as “largely a thing of the past.”

Reading about the role of discipline in Christian households, largely due to “experts” like James Dobson of Focus on the Family, was truly disturbing. In regard to spanking, “he says that if a child cries for longer than five minutes, the parent should ‘require him to stop the protest crying usually by offering him a little more of whatever caused the original tears.’” I found that so deeply troubling, and it makes me fear for evangelical Christian children who are homeschooled, since no one will ever see the evidence of the abuse.

The author interviewed several counselors who work with exvangelicals to try to address the trauma experienced during their childhoods. “If I’m saying, at the moment you’re born, ‘you’re sinful and you’re broken; there’s something wrong with you,’ and that’s reinforced in the very earliest messages that you receive as a child,” one expert explained. “Talking to exvangelicals, if you ask the question, ‘What does it feel like to be safe?’ Often, they don’t have a really good answer. They know how to survive, but they don’t know how to feel safe.”

Sociologist, Christian wrote in his book, American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving: “American evangelicalism…is strong not because it is shielded against, but because it is—or at least perceives itself to be—embattled with forces that seem to oppose or threaten it.” He continues to explain that without that tension, “evangelicalism would lose its identity and purpose and grow languid and aimless.”

Essentially, evangelicalism is fed by opposition to other POVs, and adherents are specifically indoctrinated to believe their POV is the only valid one. Not much room for compromise, which is a shame.

This was very interesting to me. I grew up in the 80's and 90's, and I was part of a church, but now I don't attend very often. She weaves in her story, as well as other people's stories. I liked the blend of memoir and the introspective look.

I am intrigued by the trend I see unfolding before me. Deconstruction/Exvangelicals/None .... whatever the label may be, the truth is hard to ignore. There is a group that is walking away from the church. What is interesting in that is that it isn't new. Old statistics show that 50% of people from 18-30's walk away from their faith, for reasons that weren't really shown before, and yet people from this same group starts showing up back at church in their later years. I've read different books as to why, just from my own curiosity, and what I've seen, good, bad, or indifferent, is that there isn't a big item that is identifiable, but more that it's a personal choice (this is NOT invalidating THEIR choice, just observing what I've seen). Sarah McCammon's The Exvangelicals book is a lot like others in that it showcases specific individuals experiences and their understanding, as well as her own (thank you for those willing to share). How Sarah's book is different is that she has gone a step further and put those experiences into identifiable categories that helps one understand a common theme or thread as to why this is happening, especially the new one of Religious Trauma, which isn't really new, but is now being spoken and validated among different help/counseling/therapy groups. Overall, I found this very informative, and easy to read, as well as eye opening for understanding the numbers that stood alone for so long.
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

As a Millennial who was raised Southern Baptist smack dab in the middle of the purity culture revolution who has been examining her own struggle with faith and evangelicalism, I found this book to be very insightful into understanding how we, as Americans, got to the place we are now. (Whew, deep breath after that run on sentence). I am still sorting out my own trauma of being responsible for other people's impure thoughts or actions because I *gasp* bared my shoulders or showed my knees. I appreciate any and all reflective takes on this culture and how to go about disentangling ones self from it.

I was truly excited to read McCammon's new book The Exvangelicals. As a Christian (and a white American one) I'd been lamenting for years the problems in the white, American evangelical church. My family and I changed from an evangelical church to a mainline denomination in 2020. I wondered if the Exvangelical label fit me and my family's experience.
According to McCammon, most Exvangelicals are young-ish adults who grew up in fundamentalist or very conservative Evangelical households. Their parent were strict and adherence to church attendance and doctrine was held above all else. Many of these kids grew up in a holy bubble - protected from the sinful influences of American society, while at the same time being told to be influence the world for God and lead people to Jesus. The author recounts her one main experience outside the bubble when she was a teenager. She worked as an intern in the US Congress in Washington DC and lived in a dorm with other teens. It was there she began to see the cracks in the facade of the bubble - non-evangelical people were not wholly evil.
The author grows up and follows all the rules of evangelicalism - she dates a good Christian boy in college and marries him young. She explains how surreal it is to go from "sex is bad sex is bad" thinking to flipping the switch on her wedding night "sex is now good and God is cheering you on!" She explains the Purity Culture movement of the 1990's and how sexist and damaging it was to young girls and women. A young woman was not only responsible for her own morality, but also responsible for not causing a man to stumble. There were a lot of rules to follow.
The one area that I had hoped McCammon would explore more is Evangelicalism's inherent sexism and subjugation of women. In many evangelical churches, a woman (in the 21st Century!) cannot lead, cannot become ordained, and may only serve under the leadership of a man, unless it's in nursery ministry. Women may not speak to or even email their (male) pastor without their husband's presence and permission.
The topic that McCammon cites as the true dagger in the soul of American Evangelicalism is their devotion to Donald Trump. People who had used the Bible to uphold a strict moral code and way of life and faith were willing to throw all of that under the bus when it came to DT. And I have to agree with her quite strongly - any religious body that attaches itself to a political candidate in this way is doomed. Because that is not what Jesus is all about.
I enjoyed reading this book, even though I realized I do not fit the exvangelical definition. I am still very strong in my faith and practice, just no longer affiliated with the evangelical church.
Thank you to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a compelling story which brings together personal experiences from the author and lots of other people with academic studies of evangelicalism, conspiracies, and right wing activism. It strikes a great balance between academic and personal sources. It was really accessible to me as someone who grew up about as far from the evangelical right wing as you can get.

This was a hard but very good read. I learned stuff I cried.. definitely worth picking up and taking a look yourself

Wow, this book opened some fresh wounds, and healed some others. As someone who left an extremely fundamentalist religion over 20 years ago, I thought I had worked through all of these things, but I guess I was wrong. If this is something that's in your past, too, be aware that you're going to have some strong feelings throughout this read. The sections on religious trauma and purity culture were particularly enlightening for me. To be able to put a name to some things that I've been living with for years and seeing that my thoughts about it are not mine alone was fascinating. To be honest, I highlighted so many passages that I probably should just re-read the whole thing. Be aware, there is a slightly political slant to some of the chapters, in that Sarah examines some of the reasons she believes so many churches whole-heartedly support Trump in spite of his pretty clear moral failings. I do think that she did this respectfully and without bias, but that's just my opinion. I appreciate that she also gives a very lengthy list of resources for us of other books and podcasts to explore. These run the range of people who have given up on religion entirely to those who have left the fundamentalist pieces of church behind and are still seeking a spiritual refuge. I loved Sarah's honest and frank account of her journey, and would highly recommend this to anyone struggling with this, or even to anyone curious about the exvangelical movement.

Even though I didn't grow up Evangelical myself, I know quite a few "exvangelicals" and am fascinated by the deconstruction many of them are going through. I thought this book was very well done, informative and readable. I also liked that it wasn't a complete rant of a book, it was clearly very thoughtful and introspective, and I enjoyed the mix of memoir and journalistic writing.

What an incredible book to read as someone who has come out of a high demand religion. Although my experiences were different, there is an underlying commonality that really binds a lot of us together. Someone else who knows you how felt and what you experienced is truly such a gift in this world. I will be recommending the book to several in my community to add to their collections,