“Playing God is an important book…McConahay excels in lining out the players, the money flow, and their interaction with politics and beyond.” — National Catholic Reporter
“The conservative nature of the Catholic Church has long posed a challenge for postwar American Catholic liberals…McConahay admires Francis, who stands for the possibility that the church might gradually become, if not liberal, at least less conservative.” — The New York Times
“…comprehensive and unsparing indictment…persuasive…This is an intriguing and often distressing study of forces encroaching on the separation between church and state in America.” — Publishers Weekly
“[a] searching investigation…Dark money meets medieval thought in this intriguing expose of American Catholicism and its right discontents.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Playing God is a fascinating, investigative dive into a realm of politics that is too often overlooked: the increasingly reactionary figures who dominate American Catholicism. Mary Jo McConahay, a veteran reporter who is herself Catholic, reveals her co-religionists’ deep-pocketed donors, detailing how they exert a rightward pull on both the church, and on American politics at large. The story she tells is both alarming and enlightening.” — Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.
“American democracy helped inspire a Catholic reform at the Second Vatican Council. Now reactionary American Catholics who reject that reform quicken an assault on American democracy itself – and on authentic faith. No one has explained that paradox – that danger – better than Mary Jo McConahay. Her elegant deconstruction of this political and moral tragedy is convincing and deeply alarming. A book for every Catholic concerned for faith, and for every American concerned for democracy.” —James Carroll, author of The Truth at the Heart of the Lie
“In clear-eyed prose and marshaling an army of facts, McConahay shows how radical Catholic clerics, political operatives, and businessmen have insinuated their reactionary beliefs into the mainstream. A must-read for all those who seek to understand why religious extremism is flourishing in America.” — Jake Bernstein, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Laundromat: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite
“A trenchant and necessary addition to the growing body of literature on religious extremism in the United States. Mary Jo McConahay, a concerned Catholic, shows how a cadre of conservative Catholic bishops have pushed the American Church away from the mainstream and the humane teachings of Pope Francis, and into the toxic operations of the Religious Right.” — Anne Nelson, author of Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right
“Through extraordinary research and eye-opening stories, McConahay offers a complex, comprehensive inquiry into the U.S. Catholic bishops’ support for Christian nationalism. Playing God is a provocative, prophetic and courageous work that speaks truth to power.” — Jean Molesky-Poz, Graduate Program of Pastoral Ministries faculty member, Santa Clara University, and author of Contemporary Maya Spirituality
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