This was a review I posted on Facebook's Bloglike notes page back on Nov 22, 2007.
It came up in my FB memories today but I was unable to link to it, so I've copied it here.
I no longer have the book but I'd be interested to re-read it today to see if I had the same take on things.
What I like about it is some of the quite humorous and spot on quotes.
The Sinner’s Guide to the Evangelical Right
by Robert Lanham. New American Library, 2006.Reviewed by Tim Tillinghast
The sinner's guide to the Evangelical Right
I forget where I heard about this book, but I ordered it just to see “what the other side” thought. It started out fairly balanced, though it was it is a difficult book to read from the get-go. As it went on, it seemed to descend into mean-spiritedness. Still even at its most painful moments, it is also quite funny.
An interesting feature of the book is that they have taken 5 everyday evangelicals and gotten quotes from them on some of the issues that are discussed. These are included as sidebars. A nice idea, but with the exception of one, the people chosen seemed a bit off the wall in their beliefs and not what I would consider to be evangelicals. [Note 2024: I'm curious how I would evaluate these people today given what has transpired in the evangelical church since then].
The outsider’s take on the evangelical culture is interesting and often spot-on. (See his definition of prosperity gospel below).
He criticizes people and ministries for many of the same things we would find questionable: prosperity gospel, wealthy televangelists, the church’s lack of concern for the poor and the environment, etc. Unfortunately, Lanham is too quick to throw out the baby with the bath water.
Some choice quotes from the book:
(These are some of the funnier or more insightful ones. Do not be deceived by these. There is much in this book the average Christian will find objectionable and borderline blasphemous. At the least, you will be uncomfortable reading this book).
p 4, Rejected titles for [James Dobson’s] Dare to Discipline
• Spare the Rod, Spoil the Demon-possessed Hellion
• Everybody Hurts, Sometimes
• Paddle off the Pounds: the Spanker’s Diet
• Spank Liberally, Vote Conservatively
p. 17, “Cover your subversive Think Globally, Act Locally bumper sticker with the more evangelistically-friendly substitution: Think Heavenly, the Environmentalists Shall Burn in Godless Iniquity”
p. 20, “Baptist: Believed to be the inbred stepchild of the Amish, the Baptist denomination is still synonymous with literal interpretation of the Bible, fried chicken, and deacons with names like Slim and Earl.”
p. 25, the NIV was “specifically translated by a committee to appeal to the predominant beliefs of conservative evangelicals, though the tear-out GOP-stamped voter registration cards were likely omitted at the last minute”.
p. 30, Joel Osteen – “Mr Osteen’s upbeat, condemnation-free messages – not to mention Lakewood’s arcade, complete with 32 video games – focus on injecting the fun into FUNdamentalism.”
p. 31, “Joel’s enormous teeth projected to fifty times their natural height on Lakewood’s multiples screens undoubtedly scare the hell out of hundreds of children each Sunday.“
p. 34, “The implications of Osteen’s prosperity gospel are disturbing: if you’re poor, there’s something spiritually wrong with you.” . . . Joel has “been blessed with a wife who wears a tad less mascara than Tammy Faye”.
Megachurches:
p. 40, “Most megachurch pastors have wives who wear blouses with shoulder pads.
“Some have started referring to larger ones as gigachurches, but we don’t want to encourage them.”
p. 42, Megachurches try to be “relevant” so as to “attact younger churchgoers because they don’t have that ‘old person smell’ you encounter at your granny’s Church of the Redeemed Heart. Plus the dress is casual. Sermons are about current issues. And the music rocks hard, like on American Idol”.
Seeker Sensitive:
p. 59, “Seeker Sensitive churches try to get sinners to attend by using theatrics, gimmicks, feel-good preaching, and . . . Christian martial arts classes where you can learn to kick butt ‘the Christian warrior way’. On the surface, seeker-sensitive churches usually seem tolerant and progressive, but as we’ll demonstrate, they’re pulling a bait and switch.
“Many churches have become multimillion-dollar companies that like any other business, want to keep growing. It’s logical they would want to attract the unchurched. Sinners represent the largest untapped potential tithing demographic.” So pastors will “let the coals cool down a bit on their fire and brimstone to keep the crowds from turning away. The Jesus of the seeker-sensitive movement doesn’t walk on water. He walks on eggshells.”
Glossary (p. 217 and following):
Fellowship: Christians don’t hang out. They ‘have fellowship’. And usually while sharing Reese’s Pieces Sundaes at Friendly’s.
Get your praise on: The evangelical equivalent of “are you ready to rock?!” Popular with youth ministers who have goatees and an earring.
Prosperity Gospel: The belief that the all-powerful God allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross by a heckling crowd of sandal wearers so that their born-again offspring – at least the self-righteous, extra-devoted ones who give money to televangelists – could all own brand-new Ford Explorers and McMansions.
Spiritual Warfare: . . . Spiritual Warfare would also be a fantastic name for a Christian paintball company.
