Craig T. Owens

…and Other Lies You’ve Been Told.

If this sounds like a provocative title, you’d be right. But Bradley R.E. Wright delivers with Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites. A sociologist professor, Dr. Wright digs into the numbers behind the headlines. Of course, you’ve heard the age-old cliché: Figures never lie, but liars figure. Sometimes headline writers can take some stats to say what they want to say about Christians and the church, but Dr. Wright shines a light on these tricks.

Dr. Wright looks at some of the headline-grabbing topics like:

• Is the church losing its young people?
• Are evangelicals uneducated and poor?
• Do Christians break the rules as much as non-churched people?
• Do Christians really love others?
• What do non-Christians think of Christians?

There are a ton of stats presented in this book. I happen to enjoy digging through the numbers, so there was just enough for me. But don’t worry, if you aren’t really a “numbers person,” there are some easy-to-read graphs and charts that make the numbers easier to digest.

My own slight hesitation with recommending this book is a slight sarcastic edge to Dr. Wright’s delivery. It’s not over-the-top, but at times I felt it was less than his best. But aside from this, I enjoyed getting a look behind the numbers.

I am a Bethany House book reviewer.