Breaking Baptist

For those wondering why fundamentalist and evangelical leaders are often immersed in scandal, how seemingly pious members of the Christian right can vote for immoral con artists and how America keeps moving further to the right while economic inequality soars, Breaking Baptist helps answer those questions. Author Peter Spicer grew up in a Wisconsin fundamentalist church (IFB), attended a cult-like IFB college in the state, has family ties to infamous politician Joe McCarthy and was a long-time evangelical before rejecting the Christian right. Yet those he left behind helped create our current society. The rise of Donald Trump did not surprise Spicer, a former journalist who saw it all in the Christian right: authoritarian spiritual leaders, racism, conspiracy theories and a hatred of government. He watched those at his scandal-plagued alma mater, Maranatha Baptist University, assist the Tea Party uprising in Wisconsin. This book is an eye-opening inside look at the Christian right and a call to action for those who support the working class, accept science, want to preserve the planet, believe in public schools and understand the need for good government.