Reading John Shore is unlike reading any other author. He radiates brilliant intelligence and passion, yet is devastatingly funny. One of the first prominent Christians to challenge conventional Christian thought on homosexuality, his writings are widely recognized to have permanently changed the debate on that issue, and remain central to its ongoing conversation. UNFAIR offers the best of Shore's galvanizing essays on homosexuality and Christians/Christianity, interspersed between inspiring, heart-wrenchingly honest letters sent to Shore from gay people testifying about what it's like to grow up and live both gay and Christian. Its concluding essay, "Taking God at His Word: The Bible and Homosexuality," is an original, comprehensive, and masterful argument for why using the Bible as the basis for condemning "unrepentant" gay people is not only untenable and unscriptural, it's immoral. If you read only one book on the subject of gay people and Christianity, make it UNFAIR.
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"Should be required reading for any Christian who claims that gay people can't also be Christians ... . John Shore is smart, he's funny, and he's right. ... And I challenge anyone who believes that the Bible justifies the persecution of their gay and lesbian neighbors to read this book's concluding essay." - Dan Savage, It Gets Better
"For most of us, the fact that gay kids growing up in evangelical homes are made to feel worthless, unloved and unwanted is just plain depressing. For John Shore ... it's a challenge--an opportunity to teach, to preach, to gently mock, and, most importantly, to throw the love of Jesus right back at evangelicals." - Randy Roberts Potts
"Amen! A book that gives voice to the thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning people who have been told they must sacrifice their identity to be Christian" - Gwen Ashby, Associate Director, Believe Out Loud
About the Author
John Shore is an award-winning book author. His articles for The Huffington Post's Religion section are among its most popular. His blog, JohnShore.com, is one of the most read and commented upon in the blogosphere. He is the founder of the growing movement known as Unfundamentalist Christians.
John Shore is an award-winning book author and prominent blogger. He is the founder of Unfundamentalist Christians.
Praise for Mr. Shore:
"John Shore is America's preeminent non-douchey Christian. His blog is a must-read." -- Dan Savage, "Savage Love," founder of the It Gets Better Project.
"John Shore is awesome. The minute I started reading his stuff, I knew he was a brother from another mother." -- Rob Bell, author of "Love Wins," "Sex God," and "Velvet Elvis."
"John Shore is a gadfly, calling the Christian Church everywhere to act the way it says it believes about love and justice, which of course makes him an uncomfortable presence in those churches that do not like to be forced to face reality. So were the prophets of old. So was Jesus of Nazareth." -- John Shelby Spong. author of "Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World," "Why Christianity Must Change or Die," "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism," and others.
"Shore is a humorist whose work is more comedic than Donald Miller, and his appeal to Christians is more direct."-- Michael Spencer, a.k.a. The Internet Monk, and author of the bestseller "Mere Churchianity."
"John Shore is funny as hell and smart as hell, which is good because I've heard that we're both going to spend a long time there." -- Tony Jones, Theoblogy; The Tony Jones Blog; author of The New Christians; The Sacred Way; Postmodern Youth Ministry; Divine Intervention; Ask, Seek, Knock; and others.
"John Shore is a remarkably gifted writer who knows exactly what he is doing." -- Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of "The Deep End of the Ocean" (an Oprah's Book Club selection), "Twelve Times Blessed," and "The Breakdown Lane."
"John Shore is one of those rare writers who can make people laugh and think at the same time. He's one of the most talented, funny, and deeply thoughtful writers I know. He's a sincere pleasure to read."-- Richard Louv, author of international bestsellers "Last Child in the Woods," and "The Nature Principle."
"John Shore, the legitimate son of Kurt Vonnegut and Dave Barry, writes with a freaky energy and humor and imagination that illuminate his characters' and readers' hearts. He's the real thing."-- Richard Lederer, author of more than thirty books on the English language, including the bestselling "Anguished English" series and "The Miracle of Language."
"Shore is a madman and a genius."-- Eric Metaxas, author of bestsellers "Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery," and, "Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy," the Christian Booksellers Association 2011 Book of the Year.
"John Shore's unique, honest, and passionate writings draw us to dig a little deeper, to listen with the intention of truly hearing and understanding each other. He gives voice to those without a platform; he puts into words our latent questions/ observations about today's topics that are begging to be addressed from the viewpoint of an informed Christian"-- Spencer Burke, founder of TheOOZE.com
This book is a a beautifully agonizing read. If you are a person of Christian faith, don't read it unless you have a lot of courage. Those featured represent millions of people who suffer at the hands of our collective need to be "right". By sharing their experiences, they give us a gift that can't be measured and John's artful, insightful commentary glues their stories together in unforgettable ways.
You'll read this book and never be the same. May all of us who are religious be brave enough to let it. And for those in the GLBT community, I hope this in some way repairs the terrible damage we've done to you - to your community - to you as kids, to you now as adults. We've diminished you so terribly and ourselves in the process. "Sorry" will never be enough but I hope, I hope, I hope that this will ease the burden you carry of Christians telling your story without you even in it.
I haven't read the whole book, because I just purchased it this morning. However, I flipped to the last chapter, where John and his wife Catherine present the whole case: why Christians are wrong for persecuting gays, and the REASON Paul condemned homosexuality. All of this is BACKED UP BY SCRIPTURE, so if you want to say "That's not what the Bible says," then you are WRONG. The case presented here is so clear, so logical, it's impossible to argue. Christians like to cherry-pick their scriptures to fit their cause, but this essay makes you think of the Bible as a whole, and does NOT ALLOW you to do that. Incredible, really.
I'll update as I read from the beginning, but this book is SO WORTH your ten bucks, even if the only chapter you read is the last one.
John Shore gets right to the heart of this subject, reaffirming to all that God loves them and explains once and for all why the ones who use the Bible to condemn LGBT people are just plain mistaken. The personal essays written by a number of gay and lesbian Christians will touch your heart...unless your heart is missing or hard.
This is a must read for any LGBT Christian or any LGBT person who thinks they can't be both. I'd also recommend this book highly for any Christian trying to figure out what God really says about gays.
