Kingdom of Rage

 

How did a Church that purports to follow the teachings of Jesus become a breeding ground for violent extremism?

When Elizabeth Neumann began her anti-terrorism career with President George W. Bush’s Homeland Security Council in the wake of the September 11 attacks, she expected to spend her life protecting her country from the threat of global terrorism.

However, as her career evolved, she perceived that the greatest threat to American security came not from religious fundamentalists in Afghanistan or Iraq but from white nationalists and radicalized religious fundamentalists within the very institution closest to her heart—the American evangelical church. Neumann began sounding the alarm, raising her concerns to anyone in government who would listen, including testifying before Congress in February 2020. She warned that anti-Semitic and white supremacist terrorism was a transnational threat building toward another major attack. Shortly after her testimony, she resigned as Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Counter-terrorism and Threat Prevention in protest of then-President Trump’s leadership, which she believed stoked hatred, anger, and division.

Her worst fears came true when she witnessed the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

In "Kingdom of Rage," Neumann explores the forces within American society that have encouraged the radicalization of white supremacists, anti-government, and other far-right terrorists by co-opting Christian symbols and culture, perverting the faith’s teachings. While Neumann offers decades of insights into the role government policies can play in preventing further bloodshed, she believes real change must come from within the Christian church. She highlights the responsibility of ordinary Americans—and particularly American Christians—to counteract the narrative of victimization and marginalization within American evangelicalism within their families and communities. Her goal for this book is not only to sound a warning about one of the greatest threats to our security but to rescue the Church from forces that, if left unchecked, will destroy it—culturally, morally, and ultimately, quite literally. This is a book for anyone who wants to understand the unholy marriage of right-wing politics and Christian exceptionalism in America and who wants to be a part of reversing the current path towards division, hatred, violence, and the ultimate undermining of both evangelical Christianity and American democracy.

If you find yourself wondering how people could support Donald Trump, read this book.  The reason will become clear.