Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America

Book Review (Russell Moore)

I really like Russell Moore. If there are some glimmers of hope that white evangelicalism isn't 100% a dumpster fire that we should all walk away from, Russell Moore is one of those glimmers. In particular, I have been impressed that Moore didn't back Trump, consistently has stood against racism, and has been a voice against the indifference and cover-ups of the sexual abuse of women in the SBC. Those are courageous stands that obviously cost Moore a great deal personally, and professionally, and this book is kind of about that. It's not written as a memoir or autobiography or anything, but it's clearly a book that has emerged primarily because when Moore refused to endorse Trump, he found that (very) many of those he considered fellow-travellers in Christianity actually held other things dear, not Christ and not the Gospel, and turned out to be enemies and not friends at all.

Moore's book then, is configured around this: "I was not losing my faith, but I was losing my religion" - what do you do when you realise that the religion around you has lost its way? This is what Moore seeks to do - give an altar call to come to Jesus.

Before I get to the chapters, in the introduction Moore recognises a real problem. It's this: plenty of people analyse the situation, and evangelicalism, and say "Look, the problem is evangelicalism itself. This (political power, white supremacy, patriarchy) has been at the heart of evangelicalism all along." Whereas Moore looks at the great problems of the last 7 years (2016-) and says that the problem is "is not that evangelical Christianity believes and practices all these things, but that we don’t." (p.20). That is, it's the churches absolute failure to actually believe and practice what it says it believes. Those are two different analyses, and it's not my intention today to try to adjudicate them. I have some sympathy with both positions, but I want to follow Moore's lead here and the contour of his book.

So, the book has five chapters, each titled "Loosing our [X]", with X = credibility, authority, identity, integrity, stability. And each chapter ends with "here's what you do", which kind of works, kind of doesn't. It's very "what might you do as an individual if this is an area that's troubling you".

Credibility works over the same terrain that I have already mentioned - "The problem now is not that people think the church’s way of life is too demanding, too morally rigorous, but that they have come to think the church doesn’t believe its own moral teachings." (p.44) Yes, this is a crisis of credibility. And its damning. It's damning that the church which ought to be a place that loves Jesus and opposes sexual indulgence and materialism and power-tripping, instead is a place that protects sexual indulgence, promotes materialism, and idolises power, and would out of hand reject Jesus and his teachings.

Authority works through the issue of the loss of prestige and power generally perceived by white evangelicals, and how tribalism will trade allegiance to the group for truth. It's playing to win for winning's sake. It's our side or nothing. It's white nationalism and Jan 6 and if you're not for Trump, you're not a Christian. And truth is always sacrificed on the altar of power. Moore's recommendations are all, ultimately, individual: pay attention; tell the truth; avoid foolish controversies; don't self-censor; question authority; inhabit the Bible. These are all good things, wise advice, and Scripturally grounded counsel. I am left wondering, though, whether Moore has a vision for resisting the toxicity that has encompassed, e.g. his old denomination of the SBC, with anything more or different than individualism.

Identity discusses the issue of Christianity and White Nationalism, and the way in which identity movements co-opt traditional, historic, orthodox Christianity and turn it into a sign and symbol for what is really blood-and-soil racist nationalism, aka Christian nationalism. There are a number of good works exploring this issue from a much more critical perspective, but I appreciate that Moore is a voice that still has some traction, who can stand up and say something like "I'm a conservative white evangelical, and here's what's deeply, deeply wrong about so-called Christian Nationalism, which is an evil philosophy that cannibalises Christianity for its own purposes". His analysis has its own depth:

>> Christian nationalism is not a politically enthusiastic version of Christianity, nor is it a religiously informed patriotism. Christian nationalism is a prosperity gospel for nation-states, a liberation theology for white people. p117

Integrity treats with morality vs hypocrisy, issues of personal morality and social justice, and the jettisoning by white american evangelicals of any sense that we ought to hold leaders to account for their personal conduct. This is dramatically illustrated, of course, in the way that Bill Clinton was absolutely castigated for his personal failures in sexual fidelity, whereas Trump has been excused and exonerated at every step. It is tragically repeated in the regular rehabilitations of church leaders to positions of prominence after a brief, stage-managed, absence.

Stability contrasts nostalgia and revival. I'm not sure this is the most successful chapter of his book, but what Moore is opposed to is a harkening for 'the good ol' days', aka MAGA, which wants life to go back to a time when white evangelicals where in the ascendancy in a Christian nation. Those days were never as good as contemporary rhetoric makes them out to be, least of all for non-white non-males. What we need is genuine revival. Not even the hokey revival of revivalism. Moore is well aware of the dangers of even invoking this word. But his hope is for a work of healing in the church through the resurrection power of the Spirit. And that's worth something.

Russell Moore isn't my hope for the American Church. But people like Moore remind me that there still is hope, that even if some 80% of white evangelicals continue to endorse and support Trump, the Holy Spirit is at work in his church, and God's purposes are bigger and better and more glorious than white american evangelicalism.