eBook - ePub
Gods of the Smoke Machine
Power, Pain, and the Rise of Christian Nationalism in the Megachurch
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Gods of the Smoke Machine
Power, Pain, and the Rise of Christian Nationalism in the Megachurch
About this book
We are entering a new era of religion in America: For the first time, fewer than half the country belongs to a church.
But within that group, growing numbers are consolidating in megachurches, which are amassing social and political power in our age of convenience and easy celebrity.
Megachurch pastors have never been more influentialâwith media empires, networks, and entire colleges under their control. But their churches have also never been more prone to abuse and hurt. Gods of the Smoke Machine goes inside America's largest churches to uncover the hidden stories of trauma happening within our most powerful Christian institutions and meet the survivors, attorneys, and advocates fighting for accountability. It is a cloaked world of sex, power, politics, and money, but also a human story of pain, betrayal, and resilience.
Combining personal storytelling and original reporting, author Scott Latta pulls back the curtain on a dangerously insular institution of more than seventeen hundred churches nationwide that is answerable to almost no outside accountability.
Even those who have never set foot in a church can feel the implications of this societal shift. Megachurch pastors were the kingmakers of Donald Trump and drove the rhetoric behind the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. For decades, they have crafted their own laws even as they fought to influence ours.
Gods of the Smoke Machine tells a sweeping story of those who commoditized our search for meaning into a machine that preserves privilege, profit, and power at the cost of those it wounds along the way.
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But within that group, growing numbers are consolidating in megachurches, which are amassing social and political power in our age of convenience and easy celebrity.
Megachurch pastors have never been more influentialâwith media empires, networks, and entire colleges under their control. But their churches have also never been more prone to abuse and hurt. Gods of the Smoke Machine goes inside America's largest churches to uncover the hidden stories of trauma happening within our most powerful Christian institutions and meet the survivors, attorneys, and advocates fighting for accountability. It is a cloaked world of sex, power, politics, and money, but also a human story of pain, betrayal, and resilience.
Combining personal storytelling and original reporting, author Scott Latta pulls back the curtain on a dangerously insular institution of more than seventeen hundred churches nationwide that is answerable to almost no outside accountability.
Even those who have never set foot in a church can feel the implications of this societal shift. Megachurch pastors were the kingmakers of Donald Trump and drove the rhetoric behind the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. For decades, they have crafted their own laws even as they fought to influence ours.
Gods of the Smoke Machine tells a sweeping story of those who commoditized our search for meaning into a machine that preserves privilege, profit, and power at the cost of those it wounds along the way.
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Yes, you can access Gods of the Smoke Machine by Scott Latta in PDF and/or ePUB format. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Publisher
Chicago Review PressYear
2025eBook ISBN
9798890680143Subtopic
SociologyTable of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Dedication Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Introduction
- Part I - âIt's Like All These Pastors Had Circled Around Himâ
- Part II - âIt's Come to My Attention That You Need Something from Meâ
- Part III - âWe Didn't Come Here to Have a Cute Little Timeâ
- Acknowledgments
- Sources