Religion of Fear: The Politics of Horror in Conservative Evangelicalism

This book is really about Islam! As Christians, we have four possible approaches to the Other Manifestations of God (Krishna, Zoroaster, Buddha, Abraham, Moses, Muhammad, Baha'u'llah, etc.) and their Scriptures: 1. Loving respect and acceptance of their Scriptures' beauty and power 2. Brotherly interfaith cordiality with other faiths, no hostility to their Messengers 3. Neutrality on all issues but no negativity 4. Open hostility, disrespect, ridicule, attacks, hatred, fear. It is labeling and pigeonholing, as well as leveling unsupportable ad hominem attacks, to characterize any "whole group" of Christians as falling into one of the above 4 categories! SO NO, "conservative fundamentalist evangelicals" do not ALL HATE and FEAR Muhammad! Many work in interfaith efforts with other religionists, and as a Baha'i who accepts all the Manifestations, I work daily with some of the most determined, Trump loving, far right Christians in interfaith efforts to help build homes for the homeless and other social welfare programs. Ever hear a Christian trash talk another religion's Prophet, then see him working at the local food bank giving food to hungry Islamic kids? Sorry to tell you this, but yes, it happens! I don't want to be guilty of some "let's all just get along" hymn but if you visit jesusbahai dot com you can find more depth and breadth on the topic. The author does a great job of "profiling" a certain nonexistent Christian, but that profile has great value in introspection about how politics can and can't combine with religion. My expertise is in the area of religious violence, and if you visit the violence link on the above site, you'll see how this, and other more interfaith analyses of politics using religion, can give a good or bad name to any and ALL religion. An excellent read if we don't fall into the trap of generalization bias, Exception Fallacy or in this case, the Fallacy of Division, meaning trying to ascribe generalizations about a group to individuals we assign to that group. BTW if you want to temper this viewpoint with humor and gut wrenching honesty try Patton Dodd’s MY FAITH SO FAR!

Enjoyed reading this. Insightful, illuminative and useful for understanding what is happening in America in the last several decades. As a student of both horror and theology, I found this book to be very interesting and provocative. The style is eminently readable as well (not something you always find in academic studies). Even though the book is now several years old, I still strongly recommend it.

This proves the point: Ignorance is not knowing, stupidity is not wanting to. Fear and ignorance are close companions: you cannot have one without the other and this book shows both feed on each other. A good book for anyone who feels than extreme right wing religion and dangerous for the state, which is why our founders wrote the first amendment the way they did. They understood the danger of mixing state and religion.

One of the best books that helps show the connection between fear, the fear-based politics of the Christian Right, and white Protestantism in the United States. Bivins asks readers to consider the wider implications of "the politics of fear"--a topic that all Americans should understand. Also, the negative comments show that Bivins clearly touched a nerve.

Bivins explores a dramatic side of modern American religion, where the emphasis is on winning souls through fear. Rather than just preaching hellfire and Armageddon in church, these Christians engage all the arts of mass media to drive their warnings home across the nation. As Bivins quotes Christian tract cartoonist Jack Chick, "I want to shock people. I want to make them physically sick when they see this". Bivins points out that the vast majority of conservative Christians in the USA were non-aggressive during the decades of America's world supremacy. But as American dominance waned, many conservatives blamed the forces of sin, and devoted themselves to a victory for God. Bivins details many of their major media efforts such as Christian cartoons, attacks on popular music, "hell house" dramas, and apocalyptic novels. He finds the level of vindictive violence, blood, and horror in these productions almost stupifying. Instead of offending the religious authorities of his day by daring to forgive sinners, Jesus as portrayed in these productions is bound to execute vengeance for sin. As Jesus says in the Left Behind novel Glorious Appearing, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that is justice, and that is your sentence". The book is good in covering the story plots, knock-out lines, and theatrical methods of fear-mongering Christianity over the past four decades. But the intro. chapter is dense social science talk, and Bivins invites readers to skip this part if inclined. At the end he raises some good questions about how a popular religion of fear is affecting American society. --author of Correcting Jesus

The premise of this book is absurd. Islam is the religion of fear and the one we all should fear. It beheads unbelievers; Christians serve them and offer them the Gospel. Islam is theocratic; Christianity is Christocentric and not theocratic. Islam subjugates women through polygamy, marital rape, and child brides; Christianity sets them free to serve God as equals with men. One could go on. See Robert Spencer, The Religion of Peace. The book exposes the small and relatively harmless dark side of some churches in America. That is not worth a book.

Bivins explores a dramatic side of modern American religion, where the emphasis is on winning souls through fear. Rather than just preaching hellfire and Armageddon in church, these Christians engage all the arts of mass media to drive their warnings home across the nation. As Bivins quotes Christian tract cartoonist Jack Chick, "I want to shock people. I want to make them physically sick when they see this". Bivins points out that the vast majority of conservative Christians in the USA were non-aggressive during the decades of America's world supremacy. But as American dominance waned, many conservatives blamed the forces of sin, and devoted themselves to a victory for God. Bivins details many of their major media efforts such as Christian cartoons, attacks on popular music, "hell house" dramas, and apocalyptic novels. He finds the level of vindictive violence, blood, and horror in these productions almost stupifying. Instead of offending the religious authorities of his day by daring to forgive sinners, the Jesus portrayed in these productions is bound to execute vengeance for sin. As Jesus says in the Left Behind novel Glorious Appearing, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that is justice, and that is your sentence". The book is great in covering the story plots, knock-out lines, and theatrical methods of fear-mongering Christianity over the past four decades. The intro. chapter is dense social science talk, and Bivin's invites readers to skip this part if inclined. At the end he raises good questions about how a popular religion of fear is affecting American society. --author of Correcting Jesus