On Fire for God: Fear, Shame, Poverty, and the Making of the Christian Right - a Personal History

Hillbilly Elegy meets Educated in this powerful hybrid of memoir and sociopolitical observation that explores the ways evangelical Christianity has preyed upon its followers while galvanizing them into the political force known today as the Christian right.

Written in vivid prose, On Fire For God is a stirring and urgent examination of the far-reaching emotional, political, and sociological effects of the Christian Right. With unflinching honesty, exvaneglical journalist Josiah Hesse shares his personal journey from the stifling working class town of Mason City, Iowa, through the institutions of the Christian a toxic mixture of schools, ministries, and Christian camps that taught creationism, foretold horrific stories of the rapture, instilled sexual shame, and fearmongered followers into believing ceaseless agony was awaiting sinners in the afterlife. At the same time, greedy preachers siphoned his community’s wealth while preaching a doctrine of prosperity and humiliating the poor. Hesse reveals how this brand of Christian conservativism traps working-class believers into an isolated bubble of racism, xenophobia, martyrdom, and self-loathing—turning them into passive, low-wage workers who would never dare to ask for higher wages or utter the word “union.” Like many of his peers, Hesse eventually escaped his hometown a high-school dropout, ultimately finding himself squatting in Denver where, for the first time, he truly considered that perhaps God doesn’t exist, the world wasn’t going to end, and that he was woefully unprepared for a future he never thought would arrive.

While prevailing theories about the disappearing working class point to opioids, automation, or globalism as the culprits, Hesse’s story of awakening and escape exposes how conservative Christian conmen routinely strip communities, such as Hesse’s hometown of Mason City, Iowa, of their wealth, rationality, and self-esteem. His story goes far beyond that often-asked “Why did 81% of evangelical voters—the majority of them poor and working class—support Donald Trump?” Instead, Hesse brings deep feeling and piercing immediacy to what he describes as the socioeconomic tragedy of the American working class.

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