Wild Faith

An account drawn from primary sources and the firsthand accounts of survivors that chronicles the fierce and ungovernable rise of the Christian right over the last half-century that lays out the grim vision Evangelicals are trying to enforce on our democracy.

All across America, a storm is gathering: from book bans in school libraries to anti-trans laws in state legislatures; firebombings of abortion clinics and protests against gay rights. The Christian right, a political force in America for more than half a century, has never been more powerful than it is right now–and they won’t stop until they’ve refashioned America in their own image.

In Wild Faith: The Christian Right, Theocracy, and the Battle for America, author Talia Lavin goes deep into the beliefs that motivate the Christian right, from its segregationist past to a future riddled with apocalyptic visions. Along the way, she explores what motivates anti-abortion terrorists; the Christian Patriarchy movement, with its desire to place all women under absolute male control; the twisted theology that leads to rampant child abuse; and the ways conspiracy theorists and extremist Christians influence each other to mutual benefit.

Readers will meet “deliverance ministers” who carry out exorcisms by the hundred; modern-day, self-proclaimed prophets and apostles; Christian militias, cults, zealots, and showmen; and the people in power who are aiding them to achieve their goals.

From school boards to the Supreme Court, Christian theocracy is ascendant in America — and only through exploring its motivations and impacts can we understand the crisis we face. Can a multiracial democracy survive in the face of an organized, fervent theocratic movement, one that seeks to impose its beliefs on every citizen of this country — whether they believe in Jesus, or somebody else, or no God at all?