Notes from an Evangelical Reject

White evangelicalism rejected him. The New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise tells the story of his exile from the movement that made him, and how that same tradition became one of the gravest threats to American democracy.

Jemar Tisby came to faith inside white evangelicalism. It formed his theology, shaped his convictions about race and religion, and told him he belonged. For a long time, he believed it was home.

A rising star, he founded a Christian nonprofit, hosted a popular podcast, and wrote for evangelical outlets. Then he began telling the truth about race, and the vitriol came from fellow Christians. He discovered that if you talk about racial justice in white spaces long enough, you either sell out, burn out, or get pushed out.

Notes from an Evangelical Reject is his story, but it may be yours too. If you have watched American Christianity trade the gospel for power, Tisby shows where it came from and how white Christian nationalism grew from the same soil. He shows that walking away from a community that merely tolerates you can be the truest act of faith. His story will affirm what you have long sensed and embolden you to act.

For the disillusioned believer wondering what waits on the other side, and for anyone alarmed by religion weaponized for power, here is a clear-eyed history of how the nation’s most influential religious movement captured democracy itself and a hope-filled guide to what you can build after rejection.