At its core, this book is a memoir, however it includes insights from many notable voices in the exvangelical space and it is highly researched and well-cited. The author worked as a reporter for NPR during the 2016 election, which gives her a unique perspective in discussing how these events built up steam for the noticeable decline in the evangelical church in the U.S. The book discusses several issues within the church, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and scientific misinformation that lead many of its members to deconstruct from their faith. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in this social movement and how it has affected individuals and communities.

Pairs Well With:

Cosplaying for the Lord’s Army
The “Good Christian Fun” podcast
Fractured family relationships

Memoirs from former Evangelical, deeply conservative, or fundamentalist believers are catnip to me, and McCammon’s experience is no different.

There’s a heavy emphasis on Trump’s impact on the Evangelical and Exvangelical movements. I don’t think that’s a fault, but as someone who has been immersed in these trends for years, that wasn’t what held my interest.
Where I really connected with McCammon is the anxiety that we both felt as children who were taught that it was our responsibility to save our friends from going to hell. I remember youth group trips where we were pushed into public spaces and told to evangelize to folks on the street. There were talks of “quotas” in our meetings - the stress that put on a 12 year old and the lingering shame of trying to convert our friends and classmates is something that left a shadow over both our adult lives.

I really appreciated the resources section that McCammon tucks into the end of the book too - there’s a ton here that not only helped me in my decision to walk away from the Church, but also supported my learning how to talk to people about that decision without causing more pain than intended.

Thank you to ST MARTIN’S PRESS FOR THE ARC - OUT 19 MARCH!

This book had SO MUCH information, almost to its detriment. It was very difficult to read at times, which led to me reaching out to the publisher for an ALC (which I am very thankful to have received). Physically reading this book felt like a little too much for me and could have possibly taken three months. While it was all good content, I like to be able to read more than one book every three months. The audiobook was so helpful and got me through this book in no time. If you are usually a nonfiction reader, I am sure this will be an easier read for you. For me, it felt a little like dissertation.

I found myself highlighting a lot of passages that I found I related to or would want to look back on. Seeing the parallels of the conservative Christian reaction to the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal vs things Trump has said and done was shocking. I was hardly born when the scandal and impeachment happened, so naturally I wouldn’t remember any of the reaction firsthand.

“It is easier to blame the person who is leaving the environment than it is to self-reflect.”

I think people still involved in the evangelical church would benefit greatly from reading this book. There is essentially a list of issues they could address and places to do better laid right out.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m feeling a lot right now, but I’ll try my best to parse through all these feelings.

I had to stop reading The Exvangelicals about a quarter through because I felt like I was drowning. The premise is fascinating and I’d love to learn more about this group I fit into, but this was just information overload. It’s too academic and not personal enough. Honestly I didn’t feel smart enough to understand anything the author was talking about or the connections she made. Hmm. I loved her ideas though, and I’ll definitely be looking more into the exvangelical movement!

The Exvangelicals by Sarah McCammon was also narrated by her and she did a great job.
I gave this 4⭐️. She shares her personal journey with Evangelical Christianity and talks about the deconstruction that’s taking place in our churches today. I’m familiar with Joshua Harris and Rachel Held Evans stories and it all broke my heart.
Thanks St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio via NetGalley.

This book is published by St. Martin's Press. I am currently boycotting St. Martin's Press and its imprints for its lack of taking a stand against its employee who spoke racist, harmful things against Palestinians being murdered by Israel. Therefore, I will not be posting a review at this time.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for giving me advanced reader access. This title publishes March 19, 2024.

McCammon uncovers a lot of elements of the Exvangelical experience. Mostly it is a memoir surrounded by others’ stories. While she cites the many reasons people have left organized Christian religion, it is not an analysis that any one or two reasons are driving the biggest portion of the exodus. She does an admirable job showing how “evangelical” transformed from a way of living Christ’s gospel into a political movement from the 1970s on. The author notes many American cultural movements originating in the early 1990s that may have created the inflection point of a significant increase in the “none” or “unaffiliated” categories of religious survey respondents.

If you had to describe the themes, it would be that the reasons for the decline of people practicing Christian principles and participating in church-led discipleship might be: evangelicals hypocrisy-=decrying President Clinton’s character flaws while overlooking President Trump’s by Dobson, Falwell Jr and other prominent spokespersons—in a naked ploy to affect influence and gain political power; a lack of empathy for people’s experiences in sexual identity and racism; a focus on the militant side of spirituality—a life and death struggle against fleshly vices and supernatural evil manifestations; and a total distrust of academic, scientific and media authorities while establishing an alternative, parallel set of academia and media—tele-evangelists, radio/tv networks and exhortation to “do your own research.”

Maybe this last was inevitable as we learn more about scriptural interpretations and hermeneutics that have called into question traditional understandings of scripture. But a staunch defense by evangelical leaders of tradition, not scripture, perhaps is a perverse reaction to such purely academic explorations like the Jesus Seminar of the 1980s and 1990s—who would vote on the authenticity of certain verses. A distaste for sexuality has been a carryover from some Greek philosophy that espouses the goodness of the spirit and the badness of the flesh. Similarly, a reliance on our own reason may be un-Christian, while a reliance on God’s guidance is more pure. Thus, trust in earlier forefathers’ understanding of scripture and cultural practices is good while new insights into historical context and linguistics is bad.

As to the first theme of hypocrisy, it doesn’t take much to note that most sermons excoriate sexual immorality but overlook the leaders’ and congregant’s wallowing in greed, envy, divisiveness, quarrelsome and so on. These are, according to the writer of the New Testament epistle Galatians, disqualifications for inheriting the kingdom of God.

For those who want to understand the inside of the living in what might be called a paranoid-schizophrenic body of believers, this book is helpful along with Jon Ward’s memoir and analysis that was recently published.

I appreciate the opportunity to preview this book by the publisher and NetGalley.

Heard a podcast discussing this one and interviewing the author. It’s an important topic. I recommend it!

This was very different than my normal read, but I did enjoy it because I could relate to what the author was dealing with. It was well written. I would only recommend this to specific people with certain experiences though.

Sarah McCammon is an award-winning journalist and National Political Correspondent with NPR. One focus of her reporting, per her NPR bio, is on the divides in America including the intersection of politics and religion. It is not surprising that she has written this book about her own religious upbringing and how, among other issues such as marginalizing, the evangelical alliance with white Christian nationalism was a tipping point for the younger generation such as herself.

This group of Gen-Xer, millennial, and Zoomer evangelicals grew up in what McCammon calls the Moral Majority shadow. When they came of age, the world that was broadly interconnected and technology placed science, fresh viewpoints, different ideologies and lifestyle choices at their fingertips. As they integrated into the wider world, they become disillusioned when they realize, as McCammon did, that their upbringing and education “clashed with her expanded understanding of the outside world.”

McCammon says that she has seen a groundswell of other younger adults like the ones she interviewed “reevaluating the picture of the world that was painted for them by their evangelical subculture and trying to make sense of how, in the words of the prophet Micah, “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly” with God. By the mid 2010s, a staggering “twenty-five million American adults who had been raised evangelical had left the faith,” an act of “conscientious objection.” McCammon is among them.

McCammon points out that evangelicalism is not a hierarchical religion with a governing body but, according to her and others, a social and religious movement. While practices vary throughout the many churches that fall under this broad umbrella, evangelicals generally believe in the supremacy of the Bible and salvation by grace alone. For many, this faith tradition provides a community and lifestyle that is meaningful and rewarding. They hold dearly the the teachings of their church community and pass their faith along to their children through modeling, church attendance and often, as was the case of McCammon and others she interviewed, by placing them in schools and colleges that are faith based.

For those who choose to leave this faith tradition, they must face what McCammon terms deconstruction,” the often painful process of rethinking an entire worldview and identity that was carefully constructed for them.” For their parents who dedicated years to molding their children for a life they believed was the correct path, this is a bitter pill. Often, those who leave the faith will find they lose the embrace of their community and support network, family included. For McCammon and those she interviewed, the decision was not lightly made.

This book might be difficult reading for those who are happily settled in evangelical communities. But one wonders—to what end will misdoubting the experiences detailed in this book lead? A robust next generation is vital for any community to survive.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

As a member of what I consider the Christian Left, I often wonder if I’m reading the same Bible as the Evangelicals that follow Trump. Where is the compassion for our fellow man? Where is the concern, not just for an embryo, but also the child? So, I was interested to see what Sarah McCammon had to say about the supposed growing number of younger people leaving the movement.
I think one of the important things she says is that it’s not just a religious sect, it’s a community and a culture and leaving it often leads to the loss of family and friends.
McCammon walks the reader through the mindset of the Evangelical culture, especially the belief that the Bible is infallible, scientists are not to be trusted and only they know the “truth”. She spends a lot of time on their refusal to believe in evolution. It actually gave me a better understanding of how so many can fall for Trump’s claptrap. When your belief system doesn’t allow for any wavering or skepticism, for any allowance for change, it makes it more plausible that you’ll only accept the “facts” that suit your narrative, regardless of their accuracy.
“Information is evaluated based not on conformity to common standards of evidence or correspondence to a common understanding of the world, but on whether it supports the tribe’s values and goals and is vouchsafed by tribal leaders. ‘Good for our side’ and ‘true’ begin to blur into one.”
The one problem I had with the book is that she never really makes her case for “the massive social movement” of people leaving the evangelical church. She cites individuals and their reasons - LGBTQ+ issues, women’s roles, sexual freedom and corporal punishment. But I never got a sense of how many people she was talking about. Likewise, while I found the section on religious trauma enlightening, I was curious to know how widespread it was. Maybe there’s no way to know. But I would have been interested to know if there were any studies.
This is probably a book that will “preach to the choir”. I can’t envision many still firmly invested in the evangelical movement reading it. But maybe it will provide a sense of community to those who have left but feel they’re alone in their situation. I was impressed by the number of folks she mentions that have social media presences.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an adv2nce copy of this book.

This was a fantastic non-fiction book that spoke to the issue of the white evangelical church on so many levels. Author McCammon shares her own story of growing up in the evangelical church in the US Midwest in the 80s and 90s. She lets us in on her struggle–and a struggle it was!–to wrestle with the doubts and misgivings she had about her particular brand of faith for many years, and to finally leave the evangelical church in her 30s. The final straw was covering the 2016 US presidential election for NPR, and observing the toxicity of the movement.

“Exvangelicalism” is a social movement of folks who have left evangelicalism and found a different path: a different Christian denomination, agnosticism or atheism. This book is indeed critical of evangelicalism, but she still holds most individuals in that world with kindness and empathy. It is not a rant against Christianity; she counts herself as someone who has shifted her Christianity to a different form, not abandoned it. She gives voice to those on the spectrum from atheism to full believers.

In this part-memoir, part social dissection of the white evangelical American church, McCammon talks about the fears of the rapture (being “left behind”), purity culture, the struggle to reconcile Biblical literalism with evolution. She discusses current issues like increasing isolationism of evangelicals and how this enables a movement that marries evangelicalism and Trumpism. She talks a lot about the levels of trauma of leaving evangelicalism while acknowledging the pro-social benefits of belief as well.

Overall, this is an excellent and timely book that should appeal to many. I certainly found it a valuable and interesting read.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for a gifted copy for review.

Evangelical Christianity has taken center stage in the US in recent years. This is the story of the men and women, most of them young (Gen X, Millennials, etc) who have left the churches and why. The focus is on the teachings around sex and sexuality and the growing political impact that evangelicals have.

I'm not a big non-fiction reader. Too many are filled with fact after fact and, frankly, just boring. This book is not. Written in almost memoir fashion by a noted journalist with experience across the country (including NPR), I was fascinated. I finished this book in only a couple of days. Sarah was raised in a family with strong beliefs that they instilled in their children. She attended Christian schools and colleges. She may have quietly questioned the teachings, but she fervently followed the tenets of her faith. As she was exposed to more and more of the secular world, however, her views changed. For this book, she interviewed many other "exvangelicals" about their experiences. There is a particular emphasis on the experiences of LGBTQ+ Christians.

Well researched and footnoted with lists of books for further reading, this is a great read and very thought-provoking. A great look inside the life of a group of Americans who have a strong influence on their own families and on American politics.

I wanted to read this book because I'm very interested in why so many people are leaving the church. I thought reading the book would show some things the church could improve on and even ways we could move forward in stronger relationships with those who call themselves exvangelicals.

Unfortunately, I didn't find that. This was more like a memoir, and many of the issues in the book regarding the church are against things that the church teaches and truths that Christians stand on (for example, the Bible is truth, and having a desire to teach your kids a biblical worldview).

For someone who has left the church, this might be a good read to help them know there are others out there who understand. For those who are trying to understand why this movement exists, you'll find some of the reasons. For someone who wants to make a difference, there's not a lot that you will take away from this other than the world is filled with people who believe differently.

I received an ARC copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book provides a great overview of the Evangelical world, both for those who are already familiar with it and those who are not. It clarifies what is driving many people to be discontented with Evangelicalism and the various well-known figures in these circles. It is a helpful reminder of how labels are viewed and how various individuals may identify themselves depending on who they are talking to. It is an insightful and enlightening read that all could benefit from.

Thank you for an ARC of The Exvangelicals! My husband grew up in the evangelical church during the same time as the author, and that is what initially piqued my interest in this book.

It certainly did not disappointment. I was blown away but how the author was able to combine facts about typically boring topics — politics and organized religion — and use such cunning, figurative language simultaneously.

I’ve recently shied away from non-fiction because the recent titles I’ve encountered read more like a textbook, but Sarah McCammon has pulled me out of that slump.

I highly recommend this title for anyone who is looking to gain a better understanding of what it was like growing up during the 80s and 90s evangelical era. Unexpectedly, considering the genre, this is a page-turner! Easy five stars.

An in-depth book about leaving the church and what that means as a whole. You can tell the research and detail that went into each chapter. For those searching for a new normal with Christianity this is a great read.

i work in the evangelical ministry world, so this was a fascinating read for me! it’s easy for people to get lost in the different transitions of our lives & the stories they hold are important. i’m glad this was a book that was written!

Both Sarah and I have dealt with religious trauma from growing up in fundamentalist Christian households and deconstructed our former religious beliefs to find ourselves once we become non-religious. I appreciate how much I resonated with this book and the quality of the journalistic aspect of this book. However, I would've loved to see Sarah's personal journey from being religious to not being religious anymore, and how she healed from her religious trauma.

Even though I wasn't the target audience and didn't agree with everything Sarah said, I really enjoyed this book. Sarah writes as her experience growing up in an evangelical home and church culture and how as an adult she is one of the many millineals who identify as "evangelical" and have walked away from what they grew up being taught and believing. She does back and forth between interviewing other people, sharing her own personal experience, and sharing research (the last 30% of this book is references!)

Sarah says that her deconstruction process started when she was in high school and left her super christian culture home to intern in Washington DC for a writing organization. This deconstruction continued as she worked as a reporter for NPR and covered the Trump election- she was turned off by how many church leaders were worshipping Trump even though trumps character was not in line with scripture. Now Im definitely not one who likes to talk about church and politics but I think Sarah points us so many ways that the "evangelical little c church" has strayed from the way of Jesus and is leaning towards cultural evangelicalism as its guide. She interviews many different ex-vangelicals and what caused them to leave the faith.

As someone who grew up in the evangelical church culture (sarah's experience was way more extreme than mine) I found myself relating to so much of what she experienced growing up and a lot of her questions/concerns/negative things about the church I found were things that I also have been frustrated with over the past few years. These things have led Sarah to deconstruct her faith and walk away whereas it has caused me to ask questions and see where church leadership has strayed/I am reminded just of the sinful nature of humanity and how people of the church impact so many peoples thoughts about faith/jesus/their own beliefs. Reading this gave me so much compassion for those questioning what they believe and the isolation they must feel if they do decide to leave. Again, I didn't agree with a lot of things that Sarah lands on- but I really enjoyed reading her (and others) perspectives and experiences.

Many of the topics she covers include toxic purity culture, flawed church leadership, racism, church's response to covid, lack of support of the LGBTQ community, politics (mainly Trump election), and some other highly controversial topics.

This book is set to released 3/19/2024.. Thank you to St. Martins Press for the ARC!