SEPARATION of CHURCH and HATE: A SANE PERSON'S GUIDE to TAKING BACK the BIBLE from FUNDAMENTALISTS, FASCISTS, and FLOCK-FLEECING FRAUDS (audiobook) by John Fugelsang


Published in August of 2025 by Simon and Schuster Audio.

Read by the author, John Fugelsang.

Duration: 9 hours, 24 minutes.

Unabridged.

John Fugelsang is seemingly omnipresent on the cable TV news/political talk show circuit. He is a talented debater because he knows how to bring the goods to an argument, especially when Christian Nationalism is involved.

Fugelsang had a unique upbringing in a super-Catholic household. Why was it unusual? His mother was a former nun and his father was a former Franciscan friar. They fell in love, had a bunch of kids, and made sure that they all went to church whenever it was having a service. 

In a a lot of ways, this felt a lot like my childhood. No - my parents weren't nuns or priests. But, I grew up in rural setting where my Lutheran church was one of the centers of my life. Church every weekend, most of the holiday services, Sunday school, Christmas programs, church youth group, vacation bible school, and I worked at a church summer camp for five years. 

The author, John Fugelsang
I had a "lite" version of what he experienced, but a heavy dose of Christian teaching compared to most people. The result is the same - we grew up steeped in church teachings and we know that the stuff we see on TV and from Christian Nationalists does not match what we were taught.

The first and last chapters are a general summary of the problem of Christian Nationalism and his reactions to it. I found these to be very powerful chapters. The story of his grandfather at the end was very touching.

The heart of the book is Fugelsang picking a hot culture war topic (immigration, trans people, abortion, etc.), presenting the Christian Nationalist perspective, and then demonstrating why it is not really a Christian perspective at all.

Fugelsang's choice to read the book himself was perfect.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: SEPARATION of CHURCH and HATE: A SANE PERSON'S GUIDE to TAKING BACK the BIBLE from FUNDAMENTALISTS, FASCISTS, and FLOCK-FLEECING FRAUDS by John Fugelsang.

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