About the Author
John Fugelsang is the New York Times bestselling author of Separation of Church and Hate and host of the acclaimed Tell Me Everything series on SiriusXM Progress. He is a Drama League-nominated actor, comedian, broadcaster, and TV host whose career highlights include being murdered on CSI, picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church, and getting George Harrison to give his final performance on VH1.
As the son of a former Catholic nun and a Franciscan brother, Fugelsang offers an informative and unique perspective on far-right groups and politicians use of Christianity to justify oppressive and unequal policies. Fugelsang takes readers through common fundamentalist arguments on abortion, immigration, LGBTQ rights, and more to expose their hypocrisy and inaccuracy through scripture, common sense, and humor. Told with Fugelsang’s trademark blend of radical honesty and deep political and religious knowledge, Separation of Church and Hate is a book for believers, atheists, agnostics, and anyone who’ll ever have to deal with a Christian nationalist.
Fugelsang challenges conventional wisdom on politics, media, religion, and pop culture on SiriusXM Insight, Channel 127. He is a regular on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, and has contributed to Huffington Post and Daily Kos. As an interviewer, he has spoken with renowned artists, actors, and political figures. He’s interviewed Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, Brian Wilson, Yoko Ono, Tony Bennett, Alan Rickman, Stevie Nicks, Ravi Shankar, Beyonce, Sen. Tom Daschle, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ethan Hawke, Terrence McNally, Stanley Tucci, Noel Gallagher, Jeff Daniels, Rita Moreno, & Carl Reiner. He got George Harrison to give his final televised performance on VH1.
His PBS road trip film, Dream On, directed by two-time Oscar nominee Roger Weisberg, was named Best Documentary at the New York Independent Film Festival. The film examines the current state of the American Dream while retracing the journey Alexis de Tocqueville made while writing Democracy in America. The film features 200 interviews in 55 cities in 17 states, including Mike Huckabee, Barney Frank & Paul Krugman.
Raves and Reviews
John Fugelsang nails this in his book, Separation of Church and Hate: The Bible says in 1 John 4:8 that ‘God Is Love.’ Period…end of story!”
—Willie Nelson
America’s soul needs scrubbing and here is a brush. Is this book the truth and the light? I can’t say, but it is certainly the hypocritical modern Christian’s worst nightmare.”
—Nick Offerman
God, I love this book. So brilliant and wise, rich in spiritual knowledge and humor, an exhilarating response to Christian nationalists, and a master class in Jesus, the true and Jesus-y Jesus, of love, caring and forgiveness.”
—Anne Lamott
Commentator and comedian Fugelsang invites readers into an openhearted conversation about the uneasy, unsavory union of politics and religion—not an easy conversation, he allows, but a necessary one. He invites laughter as he walks through scripture in order to reclaim it. . . . What’s a concerned, sane person to do when fundamentalists, frauds, and fascists become the face of a faith? In his first book, Fugelsang’s funny, everyman tone and commonsense approach deliver a compelling call to help fight back.”
—Booklist
Writing as a follower of Jesus steeped in the values of social justice, Fugelsang’s rebuttal to the depravity at the heart of the Christian nationalist project deftly exposes its leaders’ cynical exploitation of faith for politics and power. An absorbing call to action, and much needed at this perilous moment.”
—Katherine Stewart, New York Times bestselling author of Money, Lies, and God
Separation of Church and Hate is not just an extraordinarily enjoyable read—it is historically important. In an era where we experience seemingly nothing but religious extremism (impossibly all the way to our own Supreme Court!), this book is essential for both Christians and non-Christians to be reminded what Christianity is actually all about.”
—Stevie Van Zandt
This knife-sharp book speaks to everyone, regardless of what you know about Christianity—but what elevates it to something truly special is its commitment to love and empathy. John Fugelsang is tired of religion being used as a cover for meanness. He’s not alone. An important, illuminating work that proves no one owns religion and faith.”
—Brad Meltzer, New York Times bestselling author of Make Magic and The JFK Conspiracy
Fugelsang has discovered the Kryptonite to use against Christian fundamentalists—a deep, intelligent knowledge of the Bible.”
—Patton Oswalt
If there is one thing John Fugelsang is going to do, that is cut through all of the BS and speak truth, whether you like it or not. And he does that in this book. Repeatedly.”
—Roland S. Martin, author of White Fear: How the Browning of America Is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds
Fugelsang, drawing on his personal experience and careful research, emphasizes the love that Jesus Christ had for all God’s people in a way that’s both funny and informative. He deftly excoriates the arguments of the bigots that seek to divide us while injecting humor into a discussion of faith. Separation of Church and Hate is like attending bible study in a comedy club. It appeals to Christians, atheists, and agnostics. Nuggets for all.”
—Bonnie Watson Coleman, member of Congress
I laughed out loud. I paused to think. If so many of our nation’s wounds come from the weaponization of Christianity, John reminds us that holding onto faith, hope, and love is essential in our work to tend to our shared trauma. In Separation of Church and Hate, a comedian shall lead them—take and read.”
—Joel Edward Goza, author of Rebirth of a Nation: Reparations and Remaking America, and Professor of Ethics at the HBCU Simmons College of Kentucky
John Fugelsang’s careful reading of the Bible provides hundreds of examples of sacred text which deliver values and messages which diametrically contradict those preached by Christian nationalists. The same Jesus who taught ‘God is Love’ is unlikely to bless hatred, the death of empathy, and the abandonment of the least among us.”
—Don Beyer, member of Congress
