Brian Kaylor – författare

Exposing the dangerous misinterpretations that fuel Christian Nationalism, The Bible According to Christian Nationalists reveals how scripture is twisted to justify politics of hate and division. Learn how to recognize these manipulations—and discover a more faithful way to read the Bible through the lens of Jesus’ love and justice. While Brian Kaylor’s previous book, Baptizing America, explored the origins of Christian Nationalism, The Bible According to Christian Nationalists explores how certain political figures twist scripture to serve as a political tool and their own agendas, from misapplying passages to promoting violence. This book unpacks the techniques behind the misuse of biblical texts like numerology, selective key words, and rewriting scripture, showing how these misinterpretations distort the teachings of Jesus. Kaylor also offers an antidote to this trend—an approach to reading the Bible that centers love, justice, and the true message of Christ, challenging the exploitation of faith for political power. Through his humor and sarcasm, Kaylor takes seriously the threat Christian Nationalism poses to minorities, to civil liberties, especially the freedom of religion, and to democracy itself.

Religion and politics have often been called taboo topics for polite dinner conversation, but in political campaigns and religious services, the two often mix. This book looks at how religious worship remains embedded with inherent political messages and behaviors, showing that conflicts between church and state exist not just in the public arena, but in each sanctuary and house of worship. To explore this religious-political tension, the book first examines more obvious examples of worship as political action, such as when candidates speak during church services or when political parties hold prayer services at party events. The initial analysis acts as a foundation for the idea of worship serving a political purpose, and is followed by analysis of non-partisan and less obvious political worship services. Religious sacraments (such as baptism, confirmation, communion/mass, and confession) function as key moments in which religious participants pledge allegiance to a power that resides outside Washington, D.C. or statehouses, thus highlighting the alternative political messages and space carved out through worship.