'Righteous: Dispatches'

Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement by Lauren Sandler is an important warning that the religious right has already captured the hearts and minds of much of the next generation and is using them as foot soldiers in their attempt to create a theocracy. Sandler traveled the country interviewing teens and young adults of various races, classes, and lifestyles who joined the movement in different ways, including hippies at a "Rock for Life" festival and professional skateboarders who evangelize their audiences after their shows.

"Prosperity gospel" preachers use hip-hop to tell Black audiences to donate money, pray for wealth, and vote Republican. In Seattle, Mars Hill Church is the hub of a cult-like community of nuclear families in which young parents have a hip, punk-rock appearance but where submissive wives breed as many "soldiers for Christ" as possible. The more formal but equally cult-like Patrick Henry College prepares students for government jobs by teaching them that American government is based on the Bible. Sandler even interviews public high school students who have been indoctrinated into political fundamentalism as a result of anti-evolution teaching in science classes.

The damage caused by this movement hits women and their children especially hard because of its message of submission to male authority and of constant childbearing. A young woman giving a workshop at "Rock for Life" says, "It all comes back to the idea that I'm a living sacrifice. If my sacrifice is that my uterus falls out, I'm willing to give that to the Lord." When women surrender control of their lives and bodies, it is only a small step towards every individual surrendering control of his or her mind.

Sandler says this movement's "rapid expansion is the secular world's own damn fault," citing longstanding anti-intellectualism and the lack of community in our society. The movement offers unconditional "agape" love and community to those who follow unquestioningly. Sandler tells the stories of youth in emotional crisis, such as the woman swayed by emotional rock music of an "Acquire the Fire" rally to give her life to Jesus. She was immediately funneled into the "Teen Mania" live-in indoctrination program. Young people's quest for meaning is often satisfied by being told that they are the "Last Generation" before the world-ending Second Coming of Jesus, which can only be ushered in by the creation of a worldwide Christian theocracy. This belief is even promoted in military youth prayer groups.

Sandler has optimism. She says we must copy the tactics of the religious right as they have copied the left. The left needs to recognize this horrific problem, then assert that leftist, feminist values are life-affirming. We need, she says, to create caring communities and more services for people in crisis as well as influence the culture with our values through magazines, newspapers, television shows, and universities.

--Adele

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