Book cover of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism

Book description

For readers of Democracy in Chains and Dark Money, a revelatory investigation of the Religious Right's rise to political power.

For too long the Religious Right has masqueraded as a social movement preoccupied with a number of cultural issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage. In her deeply reported investigation,…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Power Worshippers as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book painstakingly traces the powerful people and groups that support and perpetuate Christian nationalist ideologies and efforts across the United States. This book pairs well with social science texts in that it highlights the powerful networks that mobilize the millions of Americans who embrace Christian nationalism. 

Katherine Stewart investigates the think tanks, advocacy groups, and pastoral organizations funded by extremely wealthy donors and family foundations, which are deliberately using religion to concentrate political power in their hands and to remake the United States into an autocratic theocracy where their authority will be unchallenged. She argues that this development is not merely a political realignment or another manifestation of a broader culture war. Instead, Stewart strongly warns, these wealthy, politically conservative families and groups seek dominion over crucial American institutions--education, the media, government, and the courts-- by using “religious liberty” arguments. And they have had considerable success…

From Kathleen's list on the Christian Right as a political power.

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