The Rise and Fall of the Christian Coalition by Joel Vaughn is an insider's account of the political machine known as the Christian Coalition. The Coalition experienced a meteoric rise in popularity and power in the 1990's under the leadership of Ralph Reed and Pat Robertson. Vaughn's book is an insider's tale that is great for those who truly enjoy "inside baseball" in the world of politics and the Christian conservative movement.
I found this book to be not only engaging but it is replete with teachable moments in regards to a. anyone thinking of starting a political movement b. anyone who works in the grey areas of church and politics and c. yet another warning to anyone involved in an organization that is personality driven on the necessity for succession planning years in advance.
My two criticisms of this book are that there are numerous typo and editorial gaffes (one being the misspelling of my former senator Rod Grams' name) and that, while organized along a timeline, the book itself seems unfocused at times. Vaughn sometimes seems to have an anecdote that had to be in the book and so he squeezed it in disrupting the natural flow of the story itself.
That being said, I was interested to see just how political, rather than religious, the Christian Coalition was. It truly showed me that in politics, which is a zero sum game, often the teaching and life of Jesus are supplanted by "issues" based movements. I wonder if Jesus would have been able to write this book, or start this movement, with chapters detailing how big his movement had become, which famous names had signed on, and how much money was coming into the downstairs countroom on a daily basis.
Vaughn did not intend his book to be about the religious and theological importance of the Christian Coalition, but as a pastor I have to step back and wonder just how useful it is for the Church to become involved in politics at all? It seems to me that it is the Church that gets used in those moments (and I'm talking about the liberal AND conservative churches and politicians) and left behind for whatever the next hot-button issue is or whichever organization will attract money and votes.
Regardless, I do find that this book was moderately insightful and definitely informative. This book would be a good read in a political science course of an undergraduate institution or by any leader who is building a movement of his or her own.
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