NPR political writer Sarah McCammon shares her story of leaving the strict evangelical church and community she was brought up in as a child in Kansas City, Missouri. Throughout her childhood, her parents kept their distance from her grandfather, a neuroscientist who lived with a male roommate. Only later in life, did Sarah realize that her grandfather was gay and his roommate was his partner.

This revelation—combined with Sarah’s work as a Senate page and, more recently, the political rise of Donald Trump and his connection to the evangelical community—seems to have fueled her extraction from her church. Not only could she not reconcile the social beliefs of evangelicals with her feelings for her grandfather, she also learned just how isolated she was from secular society. Her church was her home, her school, her friends...her whole life. She wasn’t able to experience anything that was not related to her faith.

Sarah expands her study to include the role of evangelical Christianity in history, culture & politics. This part of the book was as intriguing as her personal story. While many, like Sarah, have been leaving the evangelical Christian church due to its beliefs about the LGBTQ+ community, its power over government and society has somehow increased.

I appreciated Sarah’s candor and the intellectual way she went about examining her family, religion, and life. This book was a helpful tool and provided food-for-thought for my own relationship with the church.