The Good News Club

The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children

By: Katherine Stewart

Narrated by: Joyce Feurring

In 2009, the Good News Club came to the public elementary school where journalist Katherine Stewart sent her children. The Club, which is sponsored by the Child Evangelism Fellowship, bills itself as an after-school program of "Bible study."

But Stewart soon discovered that the Club's real mission is to convert children to fundamentalist Christianity and encourage them to proselytize to their "unchurched" peers, all the while promoting the natural but false impression among the children that its activities are endorsed by the school.

Astonished to discover that the U.S. Supreme Court has deemed this - and other forms of religious activity in public schools - legal, Stewart set off on an investigative journey to dozens of cities and towns across the nation to document the impact. In this book she demonstrates that there is more religion in America's public schools today than there has been for the past 100 years. The movement driving this agenda is stealthy. It is aggressive. It has our children in its sights. And its ultimate aim is to destroy the system of public education as we know it.

©2012 Katherine Stewart (P)2013 Dogma Debate, LLC

What happened to public schools?

If you've wondered what has happened to public schooling in America, this book will explain step by infuriating step. We need to open more eyes if we want to save our schools.

Compelling text but bad narrator

Where does The Good News Club rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

As a teacher, this book resonates very strongly with me about the subversive waysI have first-hand witnessed that Good News Clubs use to proselytize and manipulate children.

How could the performance have been better?

The narrator is barely audible often and many names that we all have heard numerous times (such as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia) are horribly mispronounced. Anyone with a more lively delivery and attention to pronunciation would have done better

Outstanding

Katherine Stewart is an outstanding investigative reporter, and her writing/storytelling is sharp and keeps the reader coming back for another chapter.

I had already read her more recent offering "The Power Worshippers" and was looking forward to this one also. And I was not disappointed.

The only thing I would say about either of her books is they are not for the faint of heart. She exposes some things in politics, religion, and education that are simply disgusting (sad, evil, horrible, etc. etc.). Both of her books left me wanting to soak in a vat of bleach and scrub with a Brillo pad to get the filth off of me (in other words, they are both excellent and well worth the time to read or listen to).

My only critique would be with the narration. The narrator makes several unforced errors in pronouncing common (famous/newsy) names or references. A handful of standouts I remember off the cuff would be
Jay Sekulow is pronounced Sek-e-low,
Betsy DeVos turns into DaVose, and
Antonin Scalia becomes Scal-E-ah.

Also, the OT bible book of 2nd Kings gets the presidential treatment by becoming "Two Kings".

Even more annoying than the easy mispronunciations is the act of putting on voices for reading the featured quotes. The female narrator assumes a deeper, bass register when reading quotes from guys. She also assumes a sing-song, higher pitch when reading quotes from children. It all seemed to detract from the story. From Katherine's text I know when she is quoting a man or a kid as she is careful to identify her sources through the book, and I don't need the voice actor doing a forced attempt at making me think someone else is talking.

Exposes the hidden agenda against education.

Would you listen to The Good News Club again? Why?

Yes, I am going to have to. The author presented so much information of which I was unaware that I am going to have to go back to re-engage with the details.

What other book might you compare The Good News Club to and why?

Taking Liberties, by Robert Boston

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

I knew of the Good News club and I'm also well aware of the Religious Right's desire to undermine and eventually end public education. I just never knew how deeply rooted and insidious their effort are.

Any additional comments?

Every person interested in helping to maintain Jefferson's "wall of separation" should read this book in detail. Our secular public education system is failing terribly and our children are not being properly educated and this book details a big part of why that is.

Very eye opening!!

A must read for anyone who cares for public education and the future of this countries public educational system.

read don't listen

the narrator was the worst. she didn't pronounce name correctly. I grew up in Good News clubs. it was literally just me and my Principal's wife singing and practicing for AWANA the next night

Important topic, good book, poor performance.

I found it difficult to hear and understand the reader while driving in the car. Audio quality is inconsistent.

The content was great which makes the purchase worth it for me.

Scary and gripping, below par narration

A very insightful and frightening book. However I echo the views of other reviewers, narration is terrible. She often goes from speaking clearly to whispering, and one can often hear background interference happening, which is not ideal. My view would be buy the book and read yourself.

An important story

Thoroughly researched, totally believable and frightening. Anyway this book is a very entertaining read. I strongly recommend you read it.

Excellent writing - narrator problematic

Where does The Good News Club rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Excellent book. To the uninformed masses, the Good News Club, which inserts after-school evangelism in public schools, is a harmless expression of First Amendment Rights. Stewart, through her extensive research, shows that the GNC is, in fact, a Christian Nationalist organization that believes that most Christian adherents - Catholics, Presbyterians, and Methodists, to name a few, are going to Hell. GNC seeks to evangelize children ages 5- 14, even against their parents' own religons. Their deceptive practices are detailed in the book.

What didn’t you like about Joyce Feurring’s performance?

Ms. Feurring mis-pronounces numerous words, which is jarring! She mis-prounounced "Taoism" (Supreme Court Justice)"Scalia" and "ruse."