"Killing the Buddha" reviews "This Little Light"

“If religion matters at all, it matters enough to be taken to task.”

That quote is from the manifesto of Killing the Buddha. It’s “a religion magazine for people made anxious by churches.”

I’m honored that Killing the Buddha chose to review my book, This Little Light. The review, written by Josh Garrett-Davis, is titled "All Part of His Plan." Here are some excerpts, and you can read the entirety of his review at Killing the Buddha.

“Christa Brown’s book, This Little Light: Beyond a Baptist Predator Preacher and His Gang, is a powerful document . . . . Brown recounts her own abuse at age sixteen by the youth and education minister at the First Baptist Church of Farmers Branch, Texas. Then, in Baptist style, she moves from testimony to evangelism, detailing her struggles to convince the church establishment to try to prevent future abuse by other ministers. The book is well written, clear-eyed, and honest.”

“There is nothing to suggest that sexual abuse is more or less common in the Baptist Church than in the Catholic Church or Hasidic Jewish communities, or even the Boy Scouts. But particularities of Baptist doctrine and culture have allowed the problem to remain invisible longer. . . . Like states’ rights, congregational autonomy turns out to be conveniently useful for protecting the powerful.”

“The other striking thing about the Baptist case . . . is the rather blatant misogyny she encounters among the clergy — not just sexism but actual contempt for women. For Brown, this began with her abuser, who, presumably feeling ambivalent about cheating on his wife by raping a sixteen-year-old, tells Christa she is a temptress, a “serpent,” and “Satan’s ally.” Before he leaves for another church, he makes Christa apologize to his eight-months-pregnant wife for leading him astray. The assumption is that a man is pure and tempted by evil, whereas a woman, once she reaches any level of sexual maturity, is at heart an evil seductress who must check herself.”

“… Perhaps it is the church’s nearly all-male clergy that steels the resistance to act against child abuse. Women are to submit graciously, are not to speak in church. The men seem to have little concern for protecting the weak.”