The hijacking of Jesus : how the religious right distorts Christianity and promotes violence and hate

Summary: "Christianity in America has become almost synonymous with right-wing fanaticism, conservative politics, and - courtesy of Mel Gibson - a brutally sadistic version of the religious experience. Millions of devout Christians, like Dan Wakefield, are appalled by this distortion of their faith, which only three decades ago stood for peace, equality, healing, and compassion for society's outcasts - the issues that made up the ministry of Jesus." "How did it come to pass that the Jesus who preached the Sermon on the Mount has in effect been hijacked by right-wingers and the Republican Party? Dan Wakefield travels across America in search of answers, meeting evangelical Christians, visiting the new mega-churches, finding "a cultish kind of Christianity as dangerous as it is distorted," showing how right wingers supported by wealthy foundations are using "wedge issues" - homosexuality and abortion - to destroy the fabric of traditional mainline Protestantism."--BOOK JACKET.