How Media Shapes Faith and How We Learn to Walk Away
A conversation with The Exvangelicals author Sarah McCammon
Sarah McCammon, NPR’s National Politics Correspondent, represents what today might be seen as dueling experiences within American Christian evangelicalism. I’d argue her perspective is simply deeply informed.
She grew up a child of faith in a family that received James Dobson’s publications but also watched Meet the Press. She interned for Phyllis Schlafly when she was 16. During her time at a Christian college, McCammon began to struggle, witnessing the enthusiasm our evangelical president, George W. Bush, had over bombing Iraq. So began a theological fracture with her childhood ideology. Journalism became a place for her to seek objectivity.
Then she wound up reporting on the 2016 election, covering Donald Trump at a time when jeering at reporters was a fan-favorite activity at his rallies. Faithful people with whom McCammon would have identified as a kid, whose beliefs she understood in a fundamental way, could be skeptical of her. One-on-one some would talk to her, but others were angry, and as a group could wax disgusted with her kind — journalists.
Sarah McCammon recently published her book, The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church, which…
