Lauren Sandler: Exploring How Youth Gets Righteous

by Donna Freitas, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 8/9/2006

"I always wanted to see something seize my generation," said Lauren Sandler, author of Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement (Viking, Sept.), when asked what inspired her road trip to some of the more extreme and young evangelical communities in America. She added, "I just never imagined it would be this."

Sandler expressed surprise over the fact that, when given the choice, many in this generation of Americans have chosen fundamentalist Christianity as their defining touchstone, rather than, say, the anti-war protests of the 1960s.

A career journalist, Sandler has reported from places far and wide, including the front lines of Iraq in 2003. An atheist herself, she never expected to travel the country in search of fervent Christian teens and twenty-somethings. "When I was originally given the assignment at NPR to produce a series on religion in America, I rolled my eyes. Religion was not something that interested me," Sandler said. "I went through my own conversion in terms of my fascination with the topic."

What prompted the change of heart? "The people I met showed me that the need for what they have—the rigid structure of the lifestyle, the intense community—is deep among this generation," said Sandler. "They want an alternative to mainstream culture, and they believe they are the true radicals out there. So Christianity spreads by being cool."

And through relationships. "These people couldn't believe I was around this movement without converting," Sandler said. "The way they evangelize is relational. [They believe] you just hang out enough with someone and they will convert."

Though Sandler wasn't tempted to join the movement herself, she struggled when her feminist values bumped up against the antifeminism of the communities she encountered. One person she can't forget is Judy, a woman she met at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Judy was saddled with caring for two young children, a task she did reluctantly. "She was so smart, fiercely independent, creative, and strong, and she ended up in this lifestyle, not because she wanted to be saved, but because this is what she felt called to do," Sandler said. In Righteous, Sandler writes with a combination of sympathy and sadness about Judy's "life of homebound wifely submission."

Reflecting on Judy and the movement as a whole, Sandler added, "A lot of people simply can't find what they are looking for in the secular world."

Sandler lives in New York City with her husband Justin Lane, who traveled with her for this project, taking photographs, including the cover shot. She now works for Salon.com as Life Editor.