Publishers Weekly
Journalist Stewart (Class Mothers) examines how Christian right groups infiltrate public schools with supposedly innocuous extracurricular Bible study clubs and other groups that have a fundamentalist approach, and whose leaders engage in proselytizing. Focusing on the Good News Club—a group sponsored by the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF)—she shows how its leaders see themselves as fighting for children’s souls and against the secular humanist forces of “Satan.” Currently in thousands of schools, the groups are protected under the mantle of “free speech” thanks to a 2001 Supreme Court decision. While evangelical proponents claim communities often welcome their entry into schools, Stewart argues that such activities are “the handiwork of well-funded and very well-connected Christian legal groups, and is imposed rather than demanded by communities.” Stewart introduces readers to CEF and other groups’ leaders, as well as volunteers, many of whom are proudly antigay, antichoice, and opposed to sex before marriage. While the research is thoughtful, the claims can seem hyperbolic, such as when Stewart writes, “the CEF moves with industrial precision over great swaths of the country like a multinational corporation homing in on a new market opportunity.” (Jan.)
The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children
by Katherine StewartIn 2009, the Good News Club came to the public elementary school where journalist Katherine Stewart sent her children. The Club, which is sponsored by the Child Evangelism Fellowship, bills itself as an after-school program of “Bible study.” But Stewart soon discovered that the Club's real mission is to convert children to fundamentalist
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Stewart is a gracious narrator, respectful of the religious and nonreligious participants she came across during her quite vast research. In sum, the book is an important work that reveals a movement little discussed in the mainstream media, one Stewart worries is poised to damage "a society as open and pluralistic as ours.”
DBC reads
“The reason the world perked up and paid attention to Sinclair’s The Jungle in 1906 is the same reason that the world should now, 105 years later, snap to attention and read Katherine Stewart’s latest nonfiction book, The Good News Club: it awakens us to something we may previously have known nothing about, but which is under our noses every day, is active in our communities nonstop, and is potentially damaging to us all, and well into the future, too, if gone unnoticed. Stewart’s findings can’t afford to be ignored, for the same simple fact that made Sinclair’s expose crucial: whether the book calls you to action or not, you are inarguably worse off not knowing what’s detailed within it.”
The Friendly Atheist
Kirkus Reviews
Investigation of Christian fundamentalist groups introducing religious doctrine into public schools across the United States. Freelance journalist and novelist Stewart (Class Mothers, 2006, etc.) became aware of the fundamentalist campaign when it entered her daughter's elementary school in California, and later, the school district in their new home in New York City. Stewart not only interviewed school officials, classroom teachers, constitutional-law experts and students, but she also attended training sessions sponsored by Christian fundamentalists. Despite what she assumed was an inviolable separation between church and state, Stewart discovered that the U.S. Supreme Court, led by justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, has been interpreting the Constitution to mandate taxpayer-financed public schools to open their buildings to evangelical missionaries. The author explains some of the court's rulings, including the leading case Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001). Although Stewart treats the missionaries fairly, the book is advocacy journalism at its strongest. The author does not mask her dismay at the success of the movement, and she is especially concerned that the evangelicals are laboring to skew textbooks so that all lessons revolve around the virtues of a Christian nation, and are pushing for the defunding of public education in favor of church-affiliated schools. At times Stewart's phrasing borders on alarmist, but she usually backs up the alarm with solid reporting. Some of the most poignant sections move away from policy debates to demonstrate how many evangelists have ripped the formerly positive fabric of student-teacher-administrator-parent cooperation, replacing it with warring camps--those who oppose the introduction of fundamentalist religion, those who favor it and those uncertain what to think. Compelling investigative journalism about an undercovered phenomenon.Product Details
- ISBN-13:
- 9781586488437
- Publisher:
- PublicAffairs
- Publication date:
- 01/24/2012
- Pages:
- 304
- Sales rank:
- 778,635
- Product dimensions:
- 6.20(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.20(d)
Meet the Author
Katherine Stewart was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She started her career in journalism working for investigative reporter Wayne Barrett at The Village Voice, and contributed to Newsweek International, the New York Observer, and Rolling Stone among others. She cowrote the book about the musical Rent and, after moving to Santa Barbara in 2005, published two novels about 21st century parenting. She is the author of The Good News Club (PublicAffairs, 2012), an investigative book about public education and religious fundamentalism in America. Most recently she has written for The New York Times, The Nation, The Atlantic, The Guardian.
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The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children
4.3 out of 5
based on
0 ratings.
4 reviews.
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Excellent! The author goes more or less under cover into the disturbing world of child evangelising. As a theocracy-phobic, I thought I was aware of what these people were up to. I had no idea that they were 'harvesting' pre-pubescent children from our public schools and enlisting them in 'God's army' as little junior prostrlyyizers. I logged onto most of the websites from her bibliography. We have much to fear.
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A well-written, well-researched book, often drawing upon first-hand information, about an organized, widespread movement that flies pretty much under the radar. Anyone who believes in America's founding principles, particularly freedom of religion, should be aware of the unfolding story that Ms. Stewart tells very well.
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This is a great book, the author talks about religion in public schools, giving a brief history and tons of details and statistics. It is well written and wash to read. The author shares information gained through research, interviews and personal experience. If you are interested in the effects of religion in public schools, this is a must read!
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As a secular parent whose own public school in which my children attend has been invaded by the good news club, i find this book very topical and informative - and eye opening. Now that i know the true intentions of the club i plan to fight them every step of the way.
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