Obery Hendricks condemns the sins of right-wing evangelicalism

Eddie Glaude describes Christians against Christianity as “a prophetic ‘takedown’ of right-wing evangelicalism like I have never seen before.” Brittney Cooper describes it as the “prophetic troublemaking and truth-telling” of “a righteous rabble-rouser.” Michael Eric Dyson says, “This book is pure fire!” The fiery prophetic tone that these scholars identify is a strength of the book. But it’s also a limitation.

The book has the feel of a courtroom trial. The defendants are right-wing evangelicals, and they are charged with the crime of “destroying our nation and our faith.” The fiery prophetic prosecutor is Obery Hendricks, an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a biblical scholar who teaches at Columbia Uni­versity and Union Theological Seminary. His opening argument can be found in the first five sentences of the book:

A travesty. That’s how I would characterize Christianity in America today. A travesty, a brutal sham, a tragic charade, a cynical deceit. Why? Because the loudest voices in American Christianity today—those of right-wing evangelicals—shamelessly spew a putrid stew of religious ignorance and political venom that is poisoning our society, making a mockery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.