Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Westminster John Knox Press, and John Pavlovitz for the advanced reader copy of the book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

So much more than a multi-million-dollar ad campaign, this book shows that not only does John Pavlovitz gets us, he also makes the case that God does too.

I’ve followed John Pavlovitz for many years on social media, and read a few of his books. In many ways, he is a breath of fresh air in the religious landscape. As a progressive Christian, I’ve struggled over the years with the version of Christianity the media pushes to the forefront. It does not represent what I believe. It does not represent the Church I knew growing up. Worth Fighting For is a book for those of us who are among the faithful who have felt the disillusionment of organized religion over the years, especially in the last eight years or so. I highly recommend it to people who are struggling with their faith and feel that there is no place for them in the church in this country.

The world can use more tender-hearted humans, doing what they can to live selflessly, gently, and focused on others – and that’s probably the highest spiritual aspiration we can have: leaving people more loved than we found them.

I immediately felt heard in this book. Having been active politically since I was young, I have felt tired and burned out over the last decade. Pavlovitz gets to the heart of that feeling. He tells me it’s okay to feel that way and it’s okay to need a rest from all of the hatred that seems to permeate our lives these days.

I have often said that we have stopped appreciating the concept of rest. We take vacations where we have to be doing something all the time, instead of giving our bodies and brains a chance to rest.

People who are assailed by the storms of this life don’t need any more heartless, loveless, joyless self-identified saints claiming they’re Christian while beating the hell out of them.

I’ve seen this on social media where people who claim to be Christian verbally assault those who need support, instead of showing compassion. Isn’t Jesus all about compassion? Doesn’t he even plead for his Father to show compassion to those who crucified him? That is what we are called to do. It’s not easy. I find myself having a hard time with it at times. That’s why reading a book where the author confronts those feelings head-on is so important.

Pavlovitz has no problem pointing out the hypocrisy of these Christians as they advocate shooting immigrants all the while claiming to be “pro-life.” He gets to the heart of what causes problems for so many people of faith who truly do believe “all lives matter” in this current climate.

They want to change gay couples and transgender teenagers themselves, because they don’t trust God to work within people as God desires.

He brings up important points I hadn’t thought of. If we truly believe “God is in control” then who are we to question how people see themselves? Aren’t they the best authority on their existence as a child of God?

The book is a series of essays that conveys the current climate exceptionally well. He touches on the divisions between family and neighbors and how it’s important to try to still have a dialogue with people when it’s possible. He sets ground rules for that, which might be a problem for many. It’s hard to invite someone to the table when they devalue someone’s humanity. He acknowledges that having the dialogue means people have to be open and affirm everyone’s humanity.

People deserve a God who so loved the world, not a God who chooses America First; whose creation begins without divides and borders and walls, because there is only a single, interdependent community.

For God so loved the world…. Not the United States. Not the white world. The entire world. Pavlovitz aptly compares the religious right to those who executed Jesus almost 2,000 years ago. He spells it out quite simply and understandably. At the same time, he doesn’t condemn them. He thinks it’s important to try to reach them, even if not all of us have the strength to do it.

The American Bible Belt evangelical church has become the greatest argument for someone not becoming a Christian, for them rejecting organized religion and never looking back.

This is the truth and is hard for someone like me to reconcile myself with. I keep reminding myself that we have free will and we get to choose for ourselves how we live our lives and how our faith guides our lives. My church is pretty progressive, but I haven’t even been back in a long time, mainly because I don’t feel God there. Is that the church’s fault? I don’t think so. I think it is myself being challenged as to what it all means and not having the answers, especially with what American Christianity looks like for the most part. Pavlovitz affirms that it’s okay to feel this way.

Progressive Christianity is not the path of least resistance, but often the road of greatest turbulence.

Pavlovitz brings up his own encounters on social media as examples of the turbulence Progressive Christians face when trying to advocate for compassion. It’s not an easy thing to deal with, and he acknowledges it’s not for everyone. Pavlovitz calls it “The Church of Not Being Horrible” and it seems to be what so many people hunger for in the current climate.

Past progress was made because of ordinary people who would not allow themselves to become so despondentor so weary in their circumstance that they stopped giving a damn or making a life or bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice in any way they were able.

While Pavlovitz allows us to feel overwhelmed and like we want to just give up, he also calls us not to. We can all do our own small part to make the world a better place, even in the face of incredible obstacles. He’s calling us to battle, of a sort, but a battle where the weapons are compassion and love and standing up for what we believe in.

You are living proof that hatred is not winning. In the story you are writing here – good, compassionate, openhearted people still walk the planet.

The affirmation that God sees us and believes in us is here. Pavlovitz allows us to feel overwhelmed and feel like giving up, while at the same time saying we can’t just do that.

I loved Worth Fighting For. It was exactly what I needed to read. It is affirming for Progressive Christians and for other marginalized people in the current political climate. Pavlovitz reinforces many of my own beliefs and gives me plenty more to think about, while at the same time pointing out that we need to see each others’ humanity, even those we see as the enemy.