In today’s polarized society, many of us who consider ourselves moderate or progressive Christians know someone—a relative, coworker, or friend—whose understanding of Christianity differs sharply from our own. Ignoring the issue is one way to deal with it, but if you’re able to have a respectful conversation with the person, this book should prove useful.

Author John Fugelsang has subtitled his book A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds. It’s his way of trying to reclaim the Bible from far-right groups and restore Jesus’ message of love. Fugelsang’s writing style in Separation of Church and Hate is funny, clever and sometimes irreverent, but he supports his positions with strong scriptural evidence along with a commonsense approach to the Bible.

Fugelsang discusses the rise of the Moral Majority and Christian far-right at the end of the 20th century and how they used selected scripture passages to promote their political views. This led to the Christian nationalism and extremist theology we see today. These “fundamentalists, fascists, and flock-fleecing frauds” have distorted the teachings of Jesus for their own ends and taken in the gullible; they’ve also given the haters and racists justification for their views. Yet, many of these people don’t have a scholarly knowledge of the Bible, and they count on others not to have that knowledge either, so Fugelsang provides readers with the information they need to refute their claims.

He looks at the life and teachings of Jesus, who emphasized loving our neighbors and enemies, associated with outcasts, welcomed the stranger, and preached against materialism. It is difficult to reconcile this with the religious far-right’s racism, persecution of immigrants, and willingness to eliminate the social safety nets that many depend on for survival–so that the rich can gain more wealth.

The book continues by examining specific arguments of religious conservatives about topics such as feminism, abortion, LGBTQ marriage, gun control, the death penalty, and immigration. The original texts cited by the conservatives are examined in light of the culture of the times, and how many of the texts have been taken out of context and distorted over the years. At the end of each chapter on these and other topics, the author summarizes the biblical arguments of conservatives, comparing their claims with the reality of what the Bible says or doesn’t say.

These summaries will be helpful for anyone trying to refute the claims of those who have co-opted the Bible for their own purposes, resulting in a large segment of society antithetical to the biblical mandates to love others, welcome the stranger, act justly, and love mercy. Speaking to the minds and hearts of those who have been taken in by false teachings may be one way we can reclaim a genuine Christianity. Many will not listen, but if we are patient and act with love, some may be open to looking at the Bible in a new way.

In our own churches, we may need to reconsider how we teach about the Bible to children, as well as adults. Should we still call the Bible “the word of God”? Or might it be more helpful to explain that it was written by many different authors across diverse cultural settings—people who, though perhaps inspired, also brought their own humanity into their writings? We need a new way of looking at the Bible if we hope to know how we are truly meant to live. Separation of Church and Hate invites us to reimagine our faith with compassion and honesty.

Separation of Church and Hate will be published on September 9, 2025, by Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, which provided a digital review copy of this book.

This is a fantastic book that nails my frustration with the current use of “Christianity” to justify hate and bigotry. I hope it finds a wide audience. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

John Fugelsang is not here to shame any of the groups many of the people in the Christian religion have decided are their enemies. He IS here to call attention to the radically opposite way those Christians have chosen to live compared to the guy they claim to follow.

It's sure to be a book that pisses off the bigots, the Christian nationalists, the white supremacists, the ones who believe their job is to preach hatred to LGBTQIA+ folks, anti-immigrant, pro-life-only-for-embryos, politicians who spout off a few carefully chosen verses, etc... you know the type.

He starts with the compelling story of how he came to be: the son of a former nun and a former Franciscan brother who fell in love. His backstory paves the way for his present day demeanor and belief system- if you listen to his radio show or have seen him on tv demolishing hateful conservatives with a gentle smile on his face, you know something's different about this guy. This book is an excellent explanation of why he's so different. He's not a vulgarian, but he's certainly not a prude, he has beliefs and they're the opposite of most of the folks you see loudly proclaiming their faith in front of Congress or on their right wing conspiracy theory shows.

I hope this book gets in the hands of many many people (even some people in my life are in desperate need of it) he touches on foundational doctrines of Christianity while emphasizing the need for CONTEXT. Despite the church I grew up in, I made a rubbish evangelical christian nationalist. I hated having to try to learn apologetics and debate tactics and how to quote verses that were chopped up/misquoted in order to get one up on the non-believers. I wanted someone to answer my questions but I was discouraged from asking them. I suspect there are still many people like that in the religion- this book would be invaluable to them.

He takes things like feminism, LGBGTQIA+ folks, abortion, immigration, the poor, sexual "purity", the death penalty, gun control, people of other faiths-and no faith at all, and white supremacy and breaks them down with his signature humor and intelligence. It's an immensely important book and it's such an enjoyable read.

Thank you John Fugelsang, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for this ARC, it was such a fantastic book!

I’m a huge Fugelsang fan and miss listening to him on his Sirius XM show (no longer have it), so I was glad to see this book, which wittily and warmly conveys his thinking about church and politics. Christian nationalism is a fake religion, and he lays out the case clearly and with his trademark humor, which enables us to laugh while we weep. As a liberal Christian myself, I’m grateful for his voice. But “liberal Christian” should be redundant, if we read and followed what Jesus said. Thanks to John, the publisher, and Netgalley for enabling me to read this.

Not really any new information here, nor would one expect it from a comedian. However, what this does is break down what so many Christians feel--that their religion has been co-opted by the political right--into an accessible format. This will be popular.

If you know John Fugelsang, either as a podcast host, actor, comedian or otherwise, then you likely have a good idea of what to expect from Fugelsang's "Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds."

"Separation of Church and Hate" likely qualifies as a no-holds barred approach toward taking the Bible back from the Christian nationalism that currently permeates throughout American politics and from a far-right Christianity that often weaponizes what it means to be Christian.

I suppose "Separation of Church and Hate" is, in fact, no-holds barred. However, Fugelsang infuses these brief yet pointed essays with such humor and humanity that it lacks the often tit-for-tat approach of many who've written on these subjects in written years.

While one may quickly dismiss such a book written by, gasp, a comedian, Fugelsang is the son of a former Catholic nun and a Franciscan brother who's well-informed, intelligent, and insightful while also being absolutely relentless in a way that brings to mind the likes of George Carlin and Christopher Hitchens among others.

"Separation of Church and Hate" is funny. However, you absolutely won't miss Fugelsang's point that Christianity has been hijacked by far-right groups and politicians bent on imposing their narrow views on government and society to justify their oppressive and bad faith.

There's really not a fundamentalist argument not addressed here - abortion, immigration, LGBTQ rights, and others. Fugelsang digs through scripture and biblical history to right wrongs, expose hypocrisy, and outright call-out those who would misuse scripture for their own agendas.

Along the way, the Fugelsang that we know and love rises to the surface. This isn't written from a political agenda, per se. This isn't necessarily written from a point of actual argument. Fugelsang is fighting, however, he's fighting to reclaim a Christianity embodied by love, mercy, and service. It would be easy for "Separation of Church and Hate" to spiral into a different kind of hate, however, what excites me most within the pages of "Separation of Church and Hate" is that Fugelsang radiates love and compassion throughout while still relentlessly making point after point.

You can likely imagine that "Separation of Church and Hate" won't be embraced by everyone, however, for those who long to restore sanity to the public and private expression of what it means to be a Christian this is a vital, necessary, funny, and well-informed exploration and, yes, "calling" to make that happen.

Wow, this book was really unexpected 😮 5 STARS 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 for sure!!! I was not familiar with this author/comedian so I had not anticipated this book to be so hilarious.

Coming into this book I'd expected a really aggressive argument especially given the title and cover......and it was a very thorough argument 🤔 but not really aggressive. The book had lots of humor which I think really helped digest such a difficult subject matter.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was how it was organized. So often I'll pick up a book wanting to feel empowered when all I end up feeling is stressed out, tired and hopeless. That's definitely NOT this book. I really appreciated how it was laid out like a guide book, going section by section with different arguments one may have with people pushing Christian hate. (I mean it LITERALLY says 'guide' on the front 😅 but come on we've all picked up books that are supposed to be helpful but they really aren't, so kudos to this author for writing an ACTUALLY helpful book 😊)

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reader copy of this book. This review was written voluntarily.

I think you may enjoy this book if like me, you are confused on why a religion preaching love and acceptance is now seen as hateful and hostile.