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Summary: Incredible Review of Fundamentalism
Review: As the son of an Independant Fundamentalist Baptist Preacher I can only tell you that this book displays the most profound understanding I have seen of the fundamentalist jargon and theology that has captured generations and held them hostage through fear. Not only does Mr. Bawer have an incredible understanding of the surface issues and tactics but he illustrates a superb knowledge of theological traps such as dispensational doctrines. These teachings have held so many people hostage for so long that they have become an accepted dogma that is unparalleled with the possible exception of the Catholic church. I am proud to have read this important work. My only sadness is that many fundamentalists will stop reading once they find out the author is gay. This, of course, goes a long way toward demonstrating the extent of intellectual weakness and closed mindedness typical of, and encouraged by, fundamentalist followers. If you are questioning the motives and truths proclaimed by fundamentalism, this book will not only help address your questions, it will in fact broaden your inquirey to areas that you have been trained not to question. Think critically, and read on!
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Summary: A Reaction to Profanity
Review: Mr. Bawer has written a wonderfully fresh and articulate criticism of Christian Fundamentalism and it's origins. Fundamental zealots are not only revealed by their own words, but they are diminished by them. Bawer's book reveals the anti-intellectualism inherent to Fundamentalism and makes us listen very closely to their party jargon of intolerance, homophobia, scare tactics, and the often subtle stone throwing. Interestingly, those who champion biblical inerrancy are exposed as knowing shockingly little about the origins and depth of Christian scripture. Bawer's approach is sometimes emotional but never strays from rational and scrutinizing thought. Stealing Jesus reveals the urgent need to address the anti-intellectual tenets of fundamentalists and their political agendas. Maybe because they throw such large stones, boulders if you will, that most dismiss them. We ignore them at our peril. Bawer does not.
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Summary: Too much focus on the Gay agenda
Review: Bruce Bawer's discussion about fundamentalism unfortunately becomes more a tract for the gay agenda than an accurate account of fundamentalism. In spite of being a Roman Catholic priest who has preached several times in my short career against homophobia, I still found his gay lense when looking at fundamentalism just too distracting. Fundamentalists even within my tradition will condemn many types of people. They have condemned those who receive communion in the hand, the Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles, the Late Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago, Liberals, Catholics, Protestants, The Disney Company, etc. Yet, Bawer comes across as if the only concern worth investigating is their attitude toward gays. Bawer, who is up front from the beginning that he doesn't believe in the Bodily resurrection, the Virgin Birth nor the miracles of Jesus, focuses early in the book on Thomas Jefferson's Unitarianism. It seems his own expression of faith is rooted in that same tradition, despite his professed tradition as an Episcopalian. One positive note about the book is its emphasis on the need to love one another more than any form of legal conformism. Yet, he doesn't further define that love in light of the ancient tradition of Christianity. That presents a problem. He cites for example the challenge that both Dorothy Day and St. Francis of Assisi presented to the church in calling it to deepen its compassion. Yet, he neglects to point out that neither Day nor St. Francis considered homosexual behavior acceptable within the Christian tradition. Considering his intense focus on the gay issues this is a serious omission. Yet Bawer succeeds when he uses the gay agenda in an updated illustration of the words of Jesus in the Good Samaritan Story. Had he stopped there in his gay focus his point would have been more strongly received. Homosexuality and gay issues are valid issues to discuss. Yet, ultimately, the questions of the faith are how do I love both God and neighbor? To hate someone because they are gay or for any other reason is antithetical to Christianity. Yet, our reaction to a person's sexual orientation is not the defining point of holiness. The real problem with the book is that it was marketed wrong. It should have been presented as a gay critique of Fundamentalism. Yet his publishers give not a hint to this being the reality.
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Summary: A realistic perspective of religion in America
Review: It is a wonderful feeling to read a book and find someone articulating one's thoughts and beliefs. Reading this book one finds one is not alone being concerned and wondering why no one else is noticing the upturn of the movement toward a God of wrath and a dogma of law and not love. This book gives one hope that if enough people read it and recognize the message, we will bring christianity back to where we worship out of love of all and consider Jesus our mentor as well as our saviour. Recognition of the political aspect of the religious movement now taking place is another area the book has spoken out on and gives words to feelings that all is not right in the direction religion is going in politics. We need more writers and speakers to take a chance and articulate as Bawer has so those of us who recognize we are missing something are offered food for thought and are not left appearing to not be "real" christians.
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Summary: Excellent Summary of Fundamentalist Theology.
Review: Having escaped fundamentalism and now a Christian, it was wonderful to read a book that expresses the theological extremism of American fundamentalism.
Rating: 
Summary: An important subject, but author gets carried away.
Review: I approached this book as a member of the choir Bawer was preaching to, so I was surprised by my increasingly negative feelings the more I read. I believe, as does Bawer, that many, if not most, Fundamentalists are narrow-minded, ill-informed, and as un-loving a group as ever called themselves Christian. But Bawer's heartfelt screed eventually becomes as intolerant as those he fulminates against. I feel he could have made a much better case if he had stuck to the historical ignorance (both religious and secular) that his subjects evince. He also could have made strong points against a group that give voice to wanting better education, but does so at the expense of having their children LEARN anything other than the 'three Rs'. But by clouding the waters with homosexuality and a confusing discourse on popular films, Bawer hurts his case badly. However one feels about gays in our society (and I'm much closer to Bawer's point of view than the Christian Right's), there are a lot of well-meaning non-fundamentalists who have problems with gay marriage or with films like "Priest." To seem to pretend, as Bawer does, that all fundamentalists damn gays and all non-fundamentalists embrace them, is exactly the kind of black or white position that Bawer condemns in the Christian Right. To question one Christian writer's tying AIDS to promiscuous behavior seems ingenuous at best. I also had problems with Bawer's trying to make the film of the "Sound of Music" some kind of failed attempt at showing religion honestly--it's a musical comedy for Pete's sake--even the Nazis are fairly sugar-coated. All in all, I'd say this is an important subject that needs to be tackled by someone with less of an axe to grind.
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Summary: A superb and important book
Review: As an Anglican priest who has served in England, Scotland and the United States for the past 40 years, I can only rejoice that this book has been published. That it has been written by an Episcopalian is to me a source of great pride. Bruce Bawer is to be congratulated for exposing fundamentalism for what it is -- an erroneous belief system founded on ignorance. In a word, the loveless, judgemental God whom fundamentalists acknowledge and proclaim simply does not exist. Despite the flaws noted in the Kirkus review, which are minor, the message comes through loud and clear and Bawer should be commended for bringing this information before us in such a knowledgeable and eloquent manner. He has done us a great service by writing this book and I shall commend it to others without reservation. The Reverend F. Hugh Magee Vicar, St. James Episcopal Church, Cashmere, WA (Dean of Wenatchee)
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Summary: Bawer renews my faith in Christianity
Review: I am grateful to Bruce Bawer for writing this book. His historical analysis of legalistic vs. nonlegalistic Christianity enlightens us to a deeper understanding of the rhetoric surrounding the "culture war" (declared, not surprisingly once you read Bawer, by the legalist Pat Buchanan). The book also inspired me to renew my understanding of Jesus and of Christianity, and the bibliography Bawer provides is an excellent starting point. My only criticism is that Bawer doesn't share more of his own theology, beyond references to "immanence" and other spiritual terms that he does not explore. This would have provided a stronger counterbalance to the fundamentalist viewpoint that we are coming to understand all too well.
Rating:
Summary: At last a coherent argument against fundamentalism.
Review: Bawer methodically explains how the Christ of the gospels has been excluded from the fundamentalist movement which has mobilized and has wreaked its loveless dogma on the American political landscape. It's about time. An important read that you won't be able to put down.
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Summary: Smashing, tremendous, accurate, definitive!!
Review: This is one the most important books of the past several years. I was raised Primitive Baptist in the South --and escaped. As I raised my children, I was very concerned to watch the tactics of fundamentalists trying to trap them into a number of supposed athletic organizations, and then into fundmentalist movements. I was further amazed when other members of our church did not understand the potential for ill which the fundamentalists (the really legalistic types) might bring -- even when their children took off on campus crusades, etc. I also remember as a lad, waiting upon the ladies in my grandmother's church circle and hearing the invited speaker viciously malign all other sects, religions, etc., to which all the nice ladies agreed totally. I remember giving to missions in Africa and Asia, but not being allowed to discuss the plight of blacks and poor whites. Bruce Bawer lays it out well, but could have gone further yet. Most do not understand the political threats from and potential impact of legalistic Christianity on our most basic rights and representation. Bawer has redefined the framework of how these issues will be discussed. He is to be congratulated. Someone send Robertson, Reed and Schlafly copies, quickly.
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