Bad Religion, Good News: An Honest Guide for the Spiritually Disappointed

By Scott A Bessenecker

It's time for the church to confront its checkered past--and present.

Christians have vigorously upheld the evil of slavery in the Americas, apartheid in South Africa, the Crusades, and internment camps. Religious wrongdoing is more than just history. Many today have suffered church-related trauma or have seen loved ones hurt by believers. Some of us have distanced ourselves from the church as a result. Others who have remained, perhaps reluctantly, may feel spiritually depressed from constant disappointment with religious people and institutions. Does admitting this make us bad Christians?

As someone who has spent 40 years working for a Christian organization and attending the same local church, author Scott A. Bessenecker has faced plenty of disappointment with the church--yet has experienced a richer spirituality by honestly facing the harms done by people who profess to follow Jesus. In Bad Religion, Good News, he offers a pathway for holding the historical and ongoing sins of the church alongside our conviction that God is good. Speaking openly about the sins of the church can lead everyday Christians to examine our own entanglement with a spirit of empire and domination and bring recovery from the ways we've been wounded and have wounded others.

Healing begins with an honest confrontation of the church's sins--and our complicity in them. This invitational guide will not only help you overcome disappointment with the church, but will invite you to embody the prophetic alternative to power and control that the church was always meant to be.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1513817647
• ISBN13: 9781513817644
• Release Date: May 2026
• Publisher: Herald Press (VA)
• Length: 208 Pages