Kevin Roose

A fascinating little book about an undergrad who enrolled for a semester at infamous Liberty University.

The author did a good job acknowledging the flaws in his undercover experiment (he's a straight white cis dude, so it was easy for him to feel comfortable in that environment). His description of becoming emotionally invested in evangelical culture makes for an interesting read. There's also the voyeuristic appeal of finding out what extreme evangelical college students are "really" like (the answer: well-meaning if deluded).… (mere)

My main issue with Roose's mission is that he makes a common mistake of modern journalism - in an effort to be fair-minded and to not offend anyone, he does not take a stand on anything. He comes across as someone who lacks strong beliefs - for example, being able to sit through classes on pseudoscience and listening to hate-filled rants are mitigated by the openness and friendliness of the student body. There is a reason that people are so open and friendly - they drank the Kool Aid and now they have no reason (in fact they are discouraged from) questioning or developing an intellectual life. Which I thought was the purpose of a college education.

It would be like attending a radical muslim school that preached death to infidels and encouraged suicide bombing, and ended with the conclusion that "it wasn't so bad, the people were nice, I made some good friends". Roose tries to address this conflict, but in the end he seems to be more concerned with selling books than taking a stand.

That being said, The Unlikely Disciple is an engaging read and does a good job of showing what life is like at Liberty U.… (mere)