Asian American Apostate: Losing Religion and Finding Myself at an Evangelical University

by R. Scott Okamoto

Overview

"Asian American Apostate is a stunning contribution to the topic of deconstruction and leaving high-demand religion that for too long has been almost exclusively occupied by White voices."

-Bradley Onishi, host of Straight White American Jesus and author of Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism-and What Comes Next

R. Scott Okamoto had no idea that his job as an English teacher at an evangelical Christian college meant facing bigotry as an Asian American and faux intellectualism as a teacher-and what it would mean for his own journey.

Asian American Apostate is a wry and ironic story of leaving religion while teaching at an evangelical university. The often-chilling accounts Okamoto tells reveal that such schools, where prayer and trite theological debate erupt in any lecture, demonstrate anything but higher education. From a classroom declaration against interracial marriage because it causes painful pregnancies, to grading a paper entitled, "Why Obama Is a Nazi," and to the times Okamoto was disciplined by school officials for keeping standards for writing, you'll get the inside story of how America's evangelical schools encourage not a life of the mind but White cultural power. More than that, you'll see how Okamoto found clarity about who he was not, and who he was coming to be.

Read along as Okamoto recounts his difficult, unlikely, and ultimately encouraging journey, one that will immerse you in the search for a deeper and more expansive life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781957687148
Publisher:	Lake Drive Books, LLC
Publication date:	04/18/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

R. Scott Okamoto is a writer, musician, and podcaster. A fourth generation Japanese American (Yonsei) Okamoto holds an M.A. in writing, and much of his professional life involved teaching university level English. He is also the host of the series-based podcast Chapel Probation. Okamoto is an avid fisher, GenX guitar player, poet, and participant in the Asian American artist community in Southern California, where he lives with his wife and three kids. Find out more at rscottokamoto.com.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

1. Red Flags

2. Training Jedis in a Sith Academy

3. The Asian Awakens

4. The Personal is Political, But So Is Faith

5. The Alt-Right Infancy

6. There Really Are Angels

7. Jesus Saves, But So Does Art

8. A Brief Revolution

9. The Straight Agenda

10. It's Their House (But It's Our World)

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Editorial Reviews

04/24/2023

In this dark, unsparing debut, musician Okamoto recounts leaving behind his Christian faith while teaching at an evangelical university. Okamoto grew up firmly “indoctrinated into conservative fundamentalism” and consumed by the “euphoria” of worship songs at Christian retreats, but his faith began to wane in college, and when he landed a job teaching writing at an unnamed “flagship evangelical university,” he vowed to challenge students’ conservative worldviews. But many didn’t come to such places to have their views interrogated, he learned—only to be more “in love with Jesus”—and the on-campus culture was rife with homophobia, obsession with the prosperity gospel, and blatant racism, including a surreal moment in which a student’s mother argued against interracial marriage in the Japanese American author’s classroom. Okamoto stayed because he hoped to help those trying to “reconcile the irreconcilable values of evangelical Christianity,” but the 2000 presidential election spurred the collapse of his faith and his gradual transformation into an agnostic. Though his caustic tone sometimes becomes grating (“I walked around campus muttering under my breath, ‘Fuck you. You there, praying by the coffee shop.... Fuck you’ ”), Okamoto’s perspective on being Asian American in a white, insular Evangelical environment is fascinating and candidly expressed. Readers who can get past the off-putting narration will unearth some sharp insights. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Asian American Apostate is an invitation for society at large to grapple with the assertions on citizenry as dictated by systems and structures of power. Thank you, R. Scott Okamoto, for being the professor we all desperately need and desire."

traci kato-kiriyama, author of Navigating With(out) Instruments

"With irreverent humor and biting criticism, Scott takes us deep into the world of evangelical academics. His sharp writing style plies us with laughter . . ."

Keiko Agena, actress from Gilmore Girls and Prodigal Son

"As a Muslim American woman, I could relate to how a select few extremists in faith can manipulate people away from the critical thinking that all faith deserves. "

Tanzila Ahmed, political strategist, storyteller, and artist

"Scott Okamoto offers an unblinking look into some of the seamier aspects of evangelical higher education with special attention to the implicit and overt forms of bias; and his account explains why so many younger people are rejecting the so-called faith of their parents."

Craig A. Boyd, PhD, St. Louis University

"Incisive, wry, and compassionate, Asian American Apostate speaks to the unspoken racial and social tensions that exist under the surface on White evangelical Christian campuses. . ."

Blake Chastain, host of Exvangelical

"Scott Okamoto uses wit, humor, and creative insight to take his readers on a journey that touches every range of emotion."

Meghan Crozier, The Pursuing Life and co-host of Thereafter

"A deeply resonant chronicle of cultural shifts and personal awakenings, of losing faith and finding your place in the world-brave, brilliant, breathtaking."

Sarah Kuhn, author of the Heroine Complex series

"Scott Okamoto's harrowing and darkly funny account of the Christian evangelical sausage machine is an indictment of turning faith into political power rather than spiritual transformation. Okamoto's voice is necessary for times like these."

Naomi Hirahara, author of Clark and Division

"Scott Okamoto's book is a triumph for those of us who fought for an education at a religious university."

Josephine Jael Jimenez, host of Speaking in Church

"Okamoto's memoir is funny, punchy, and touches on a topic that Asian America typically does not cover-our relationship to evangelical Christianity. . . it is a story of ultimately staying true to one's convictions."

Naomi Ko, filmmaker, writer, actor

"Scott gifts us not only with his story, but also with the experience of an Asian American man in the US. With perspicuous vulnerability, and considerate humor he shares with us an account we all need to uncomfortably sit with."

Jo Luehmann, host of The Living Room and author of Predatory God (2024)

"A revealing look at how young evangelicals are educated and why so many find true racial equality and free inquiry abhorrent to their conception of America. Okamoto accomplishes all this with great intelligence, wit, and self-insight . . ."

David Mura, author of The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself

"As an exvangelical, I am deeply appreciative of Asian American Apostate's take-no-prisoners approach to exposing the toxic nature of American evangelicalism."

Chrissy Stroop, Senior Correspondent, Religion Dispatches and co-editor of Empty the Pews

"Scott's vulnerable and laugh-out-loud stories give us an insider's peek at the ironies and absurdities of American evangelical culture."

Jenny Yang, comedian and actor in The Brothers Sun

From the Publisher