Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Sarah McCammon for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I really enjoyed this one and found it really interesting with the personal stories as well as journalistic investigation. If you’re interested in learning more about exvangelical culture, pick this one up.

It's hard for me to write a review for this book because I think it does have value and so much of it is intertwined with the author's own personal experience. However, as someone who is pretty deep into exvangelical culture, a lot of this was just 101 content for me on stuff that I've already learned quite a bit about. So that didn't really resonate for me. But I can see this being beneficial for people who are newer to deconstruction or less chronically online than me. Personally I wish this had either been more of a memoir or more academic and dived deeper into a select few topics rather than an overview of several.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I was excited to read this part-memoir, part-journalistic examination of the evangelical church, how it's members are indoctrinated, and what it takes for people to leave that faith. The author did a great job of examining how the evangelical movement has shaped and influenced politics in the U.S. for many years, and highlights the dangers still ahead. It's full of accounts and testimonials from other exvangelicals, and is quite well-written and researched.

This book was a perfect mix of personal experiences and broader discussion of the evangelical church. While my experience did not fully match the author’s and I don’t typically use the term “exvangelical”, this book made me feel seen in a lot of my struggles with the church. This book won’t be for everyone, but I recommend it to 2 categories of people: (1) those who’ve left or are considering leaving the evangelical church and want to feel seen or (2) people within the evangelical church who want to understand why people are leaving - but only if you’re willing to read with an open mind. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

I could personally relate to so much of this book, it was kind of scary. McCammon does a wonderful job summing up her own personal experiences though I was left with the sense that she is still grappling with a lot of leftover questions and doubts. It takes an enormous amount of bravery to question the institutions and foundations of your own upbringing, and even more to write a book about it. Well done.
4/5 ⭐️

THE EXVANGELICALS: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church by Sarah McCammon explores the social movement of "exvangelicals". Part memoir and part investigative journalism, this book sheds light on the experiences of some of those leaving Evangelical churches. 
THE EXVANGELICALS: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church explores the current social movement of "exvangelicals". Part memoir and part investigative journalism, this book sheds light on the experiences of and reasons behind some of those leaving Evangelical churches. 

Quite readable, the title sheds light on the controversies, disappointments, responses to, and results of abandoning certain versions of evangelicalism. A good companion book to further understand the history of the movement is Jesus and John Wayne, a title that the author references in this narrative.

THE EXVANGELICALS: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church by Sarah McCammon explores the social movement of "exvangelicals". Part memoir and part investigative journalism, this book sheds light on the experiences of some of those leaving Evangelical churches.

Like myself, McCammon grew up in a deeply evangelical family during the '80s and '90s and was taught to fear God, obey unquestioningly, and never doubt her faith. But when she covered the Trump campaign for NPR, she witnessed up close the negative influence of evangelical Christian beliefs on the political right and the hypocrisy of their support for an individual who makes a mockery of the central command of Jesus to love our neighbors as ourselves. McCammon discovered she was not alone in fleeing from the rebranded fundamentalism of her youth.

Some key takeaways:
-Social Media Influence: social media platforms have played a significant role in the exvangelical movement. Online spaces allow people to connect, share their stories, and find support, creating a sense of community for those questioning their faith.
-Political Intersection: as Evangelicals have been trying and somewhat succeeding to UN-separate church and state, this has directly influenced thousands of former Evangelicals to leave that version of their faith.
-Generational Shift: A rising generation of exvangelicals is emerging, challenging traditional religious norms. McCammon sheds light on their experiences, struggles, and the courage it takes to step away from a faith system that once defined their lives.

Overall, this book is a decent introduction to this conversation, but I strongly recommend reading JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez to get a bigger picture of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism. JESUS AND JOHN WAYNE did a better job explaining why white evangelicals rallied behind Donald Trump, despite his departure from traditional Christian virtues, and how this transformation continues to harm our society.

This was an insightful look to what happens when people leave the White Evangelical faith. The author describes her own experiences and interviews other ExVangelicals.

I really liked this. It provided a lot of information in a balanced way (good ratio of life experiences and stats)

The information about the church’s support of Trump was 🤬

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.