What do most Americans think about Christians? Are Christians just as immoral as unbelievers? To most people, the answers are an obvious negative opinion to the first, and yes and worse to the second. The thing is that these answers would be wrong. There are a lot of misconceptions about Christians in America, and sociologist Bradley R. E. Wright has decided to correct many of them in his brilliant new book, Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites… and Other Lies You’ve Been Told.

I know what you are thinking. Oh boy! Another book review on the blog. Well, I like them, and getting and reading books. I am truly excited about this one, though, since it is useful in making a point about the misconceptions about our culture and the state of Christianity in this country. It also presents questions about what type of society is truly best for America and American Christianity.

Dr. Wright introduces the book by giving a summary of what started him on this research path. He kept hearing and reading dire statistics about the state of Christianity in the United States. He wondered at how these statistics come from both Christians and secular sources, and he wondered if the universality of the predictions was because of a true statistic, or a myth that people repeated without examination.

The professor began by looking at various social science surveys, including from the Gallup organization, the Barna group, and out of academia. He looked at the wording of the questions, and the respondents’ answers. He found something unique, that Christians in general are highly respected, and that most denominations that make up “Evangelical Christianity” are also highly respected, as are “Christians” in general, and “Born-Again” Christians. Only “Evangelicals” are not highly respected, as a name-group, and that probably lends itself to the idea that people misunderstand the term, and actually respect Christians.

The professor goes on to show how in research, Christians are not just viewed favorably by the general public, but are also doing well on almost every social and political level. Whether marital fidelity, spousal treatment, religious observances, love for others, prayer, belief in the fundamentals of the faith, and so forth, Christians are doing as well as, or better than, any other time in history other than perhaps the 1950’s.

The only caveat to this is the increased number of “religiously unaffiliated”. Many point to a culture that is less Christian and more secular. The question is whether one wants a culture of large churches with many non-Christians, or churches where the Christians are more likely than in previous eras to be sincere Christians, and not just going to church for fear of social stigma. Which one is better? It’s up to the reader and Christians in general to decide.

The only real problem I had with the book was the way that the areas of race relations and attitudes towards gays were covered, the author gets into his politics. At least, I presume that he does, since he looks hard at every question, except those that relate to these two areas. I am not saying that there is no issue of negative feeling in these areas, but think carefully here. If a person thinks someone is a liberal, as most blacks are, and the respondent is a conservative, then they might not like them for supporting ideas they don’t support. It doesn’t mean it’s an actual lack of love, but an unfavorable feeling. This is NOT racism, but logical, just as many blacks do not view white conservatives favorably.

On the issue of homosexuality, unfavorability is not the same as hate. If you ask Christians if they have favorable opinions about adulterers, those cohabitating outside of marriage, and so forth, they will likely not feel very favorable. This does not mean a lack of love. It can, and in some cases, likely does. In most cases, probably not.

Despite these criticisms, this book is invaluable for its exposing myths and correcting the record on the state of Christianity in America. I recommend it for those wanting to gain a better idea of where we really are in this country as Christians, and how to progress even further.

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I received this book from Bethany House for the purposes of review. I am obligated to post the review on my blog and on a commercial web site such as Amazon.com. I want to emphasize that the opinions above are my honest viewpoint. I want to thank Thomas Nelson for allowing me to review this book, and thank you all for reading this.

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