Funny, I get offered review copies of political books all the time, but no one ever offers me the books that are actually interesting, like this one.
From the International Herald Tribune:
The evangelical Christian movement conjures up a very negative picture to many Europeans and to more than a few Americans. A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll last year found that more than one-fifth of Americans would not vote for an evangelical Christian for president, far more than those who ruled out a Jew or a Catholic.
This picture is of a narrow, bigoted collection of pious people who wish to impose their politics and religion on the United States. It is reinforced by the likes of James Dobson, an influential religious leader who recently pronounced a Republican presidential hopeful, Fred Thompson, as insufficiently Christian. There is another portrait. It is contained in an interesting book, "Applebee's America," written by Ron Fournier, a journalist; Doug Sosnik, formerly a political strategist for President Bill Clinton; and Matthew Dowd, who helped run President George W. Bush's 2004 campaign. It focuses on the megachurches, home to much of the evangelical Christian movement.
The authors' conclusion: "They're not all gun toting, gay-bashing Republican Party pawns."
The book notes that exit polls from the 2004 election found that 60 percent of the attendees at megachurches are women; almost one-quarter are African-American or Hispanic; half are independents or Democrats, and their views on issues like abortion and homosexuality are close to those of the general public.
This is the evangelical movement of Rick Warren, a best-selling author and head of the Saddleback Church in California, one of the largest congregations in America.
Warren and Dobson are a microcosm of the controversy and confusion over the role evangelical Christians play in American social and political life. Warren is about inclusion and hope. Dobson is about exclusion and polarization.
