My five years being the most read writer in America

Not ego, I swear. Math. And I'm glad it's over.

Toward the end of my last post I mentioned that I wanted to start writing about God. In response to that I received a bunch of really lovely and encouraging emails from people saying what an interesting and novel thing that might be for me to try.

Reading those emails gave me some, if not all, of the feels. Because almost literally all that I did, day in and day out, from the spring of 2007 to the spring of 2014, was write about God.

Like, I was famous for it.

As you may know! Or not.

I mean, I wasn’t movie star famous. I was . . . writing online famous.

Which was famous enough for this Fun Fact to be actually true: For about five years there—from 2009-2013—I was the most-read writer in America.

Which sounds so launched-into-outer-space bonkers that it actually pains me to say it.

But it’s because I was writing online. And this was back when what people mainly did online (besides, you know) was read.

Most everything I wrote during those years simultaneously appeared on three different websites: my own, and on two of the then-most popular websites in the country, on both of which I was a featured columnist: the extremely liberal Huffington Post, and the extremely conservative Crosswalk.com. Between those three platforms my posts were being read at least 500,000 times a month.

I used to publish almost daily. Every month, three or four of my pieces went viral in a way that’s impossible for any written post to go today. (That scale of blogging was finished the moment Facebook started charging for feed exposure. Before then, if a piece I’d published had not, within a half-hour of its being posted, been shared on Facebook a minimum of 10,000 times, I’d change its title and/or featured image. Can you imagine? A post with 9,999 Facebook shares in its first thirty minutes was a loser.) Big sites, popular sites, mainstream sites, niche sites . . . seemingly everybody reran my content.

The left wanted it because it made them look good (this was back when the whole idea of a “social justice warrior” was just gaining steam); the right wanted it because it gave them something to attack. They both wanted it for the traffic it pulled in.

Taken altogether, it’s safe to say that every month, for five years running, at least three of my essays were read two million times each. (And that’s just in English. I had a whole section of my blog where I’d publish posts of mine that people from all over the world had translated into their language.)

No one writing in print could even think about those kinds of numbers. And I never knew of anyone writing online who, day in and day out, did anywhere near my traffic.

Ugh. I hate saying all this stuff. And all I mean by saying it now is that for me to claim that for five years I was the most read writer in America isn’t ego. It’s much less interesting than that. It’s math.

Annnnnd now let’s please fast-forward to today.

If I had to guess, I would say that 60% of the people who subscribe to my Substack have been with me since I was doing my writing on God and Christianity, 20% know me from the serial novel (Ashes to Asheville) and/or the advice column (Ask John) that I wrote for the Asheville Citizen-Times/USA Today newspaper network from 2016-2019, and 20% know me from my 2020 novel, Everywhere She’s Not.

If I’m correct in all that, then 40% of you reading this right now know little if anything about the writing I did what, in internet years, is approximately 7.2 epochs ago.

That fact, in combination with my saying in my last post that I’ve been lately wanting to writing about God, has left me with a slight case of writer’s blockage.

Yesterday I was on a long walk with an old friend. “So, should I just start writing about God, like I’ve never done it before?” I asked him.

“I don’t know,” said my friend. After thinking a moment, he said, “No, people should know who’s talking to them about that stuff. You changed shit.”

“Yeah, but I can’t say that,” I said. “It’ll just sound like . . . delusional bragging. No one who doesn’t know what I did will believe what I did. And how would I even say it? I couldn’t capture what I did during those seven years in one blog post. I’d barely be able to do it in a whole book.”

We must have walked a quarter mile in silence before my friend said, “Have Google AI or ChatGPT write it for you. Search ‘John Shore Christianity,’ or something like that. That’ll probably give you what you need.”

There are a lot of things in this world I don’t understand, and now chief among them is how in the world I’d never AI’d my name before. It’s insane.

But then I did do as my friend suggested. And here is what I got back:

John Shore is an author, blogger and lay theologian who is widely credited with playing a central role in changing contemporary Christian perspectives on LGBTQ+ people. Though at first considered novel and even radical, his approach to biblical interpretation is today a cornerstone of progressive Christian theology. This shift did not happen overnight, but resulted from Shore’s persistent, multi-faceted efforts, including his influential blog, his books, and his presence on platforms like The Huffington Post, LGBTQ Nation, Crosswalk.com and others.

Shore’s theological writings are notable for their humor and lack of academic jargon. He made arguments for inclusion understandable and relatable to everyday churchgoers who were conflicted about their faith and the harm caused by exclusion and fundamentalism. His witty and conversational style has made complex theological questions accessible to a broad audience, including many who do not have a formal theological education.

Shore’s work laid the groundwork that allowed increasing numbers of Christians to remain faithful to scripture while rejecting the condemnation of LGBTQ+ people. Examples of this sea change within Christianity are the United Methodist Church's 2024 decision to end its 40-year ban on gay clergy and same-sex weddings, and in the 2025 Pew Research study which found that a majority of American Christians are now more accepting of homosexuality than they were in 2007.

Key books by John Shore:

1. Unfair: Christians and the LGBT Question

• Focus: This influential book critiques the traditional Christian view of homosexuality and argues for a more loving and inclusive interpretation of scripture.

• Key components: It combines Shore's own essays with personal letters from LGBTQ+ Christians, sharing their experiences.

• Impact: The book is widely credited with helping shift the conversation within Christianity on LGBTQ+ issues.

2. I'm OK--You're Not: The Message We're Sending Nonbelievers and Why We Should Stop

• Focus: In this book, Shore explores the relationship between Christians and non-Christians.

• Key components: It includes powerful testimonies from non-believers about their experiences with evangelism.

• Theme: The book promotes the value of Christians listening to and understanding the perspectives of non-believers, rather than simply trying to convert them.

3. Penguins, Pain and the Whole Shebang: By God As Told to John Shore

• Focus: This book, written in a humorous style, explores the nature of God through a series of conversations between Shore and the divine.

• Style: The writing is known for being entertaining, thought-provoking, and challenging to traditional religious ideas.

Unfundamentalist Christians
John Shore founded and was the central figure behind the Unfundamentalist Christians movement, which helped popularize a progressive, inclusive interpretation of Christianity. The Unfundamentalist Christians blog created an online community that amplified progressive Christian voices, becoming a rallying point for many who sought a more inclusive and less judgmental expression of Christianity. The Unfundamentalist banner later expanded into broader groups, localized online “chapters,” and a wide social media presence.

The NALT Christians Project
The NALT Christian Project, which stands for "Not All Like That," is a web-based initiative co-founded by Christian writer John Shore in 2013. Its purpose is to provide a platform for Christians to publicly and explicitly show their support for the LGBTQ+ community. Participants record a short video sharing their faith and their belief that being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender is not anti-biblical or sinful.

The "Not All Like That" slogan became a rallying cry for progressive and mainline Christians who were frustrated that their more compassionate views were being drowned out by more radical, anti-LGBTQ+ voices. It gave a way for affirming Christians to make their presence known both to the wider public and within Christian communities. The personal video testimonials had a powerful effect on LGBTQ+ Christians and their allies. For those who felt isolated or confused, the videos offered hope by showing that they were not alone in their beliefs.

Shore’s influence on other advocates
Progressive sources consistently credit Shore with playing a central role in shifting Christian perspectives on LGBTQ+ issues. His writings are considered foundational to the modern affirming Christian movement.

Well-known authors, religious figures, and organizations have praised John Shore's work for his challenging and compassionate approach to modern Christianity. Some examples are:

John Shelby Spong, American Episcopal bishop, theologian, and author

John Shore is a gadfly, calling the Christian Church everywhere to act the way it says it believes about love and justice, which of course makes him an uncomfortable presence in those churches that do not like to be forced to face reality. So were the prophets of old. So was Jesus of Nazareth.

Dan Savage, Savage Love, founder of It Gets Better

John Shore is sharp, he’s funny, and he’s right. His blog is a must-read for anyone, Christian or otherwise. To find out why I’ve called him America’s preeminent non-douchey Christian, buy and read his book UNFAIR. And I challenge anyone who believes that the Bible justifies the persecution of their gay and lesbian neighbors–particularly those on the religious right who’ve made lucrative careers for themselves out of bearing false witness against their gay and lesbian neighbors—to read this book’s opening essay, Taking God at His Word: The Bible and Homosexuality.

Rob Bell, author of Love Wins, What We Talk About When We Talk About God and others

John Shore is awesome, and a brilliant writer. The minute I started reading his stuff, I knew he was a brother from another mother.

Believe Out Loud

Amen! UNFAIR gives voice to the thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning people who have been told they must sacrifice their identity to be Christian.

Roger McClellan, founder of The Progressive Christian Alliance

As a former conservative evangelical, and now progressive pastor, I have studied the issue of homosexuality for years. I can say that without a doubt that UNFAIR is the best treatment of the subject that I have ever read. This should be on the desk of every pastor, teacher or youth leader.

So . . . yeah. That really is about the gist of it.

Good job, AI! You’re going to destroy civilization as we know it, but at least you first pretty neatly wrapped up seven years of my writing life!

Whenever I’ve tried to capture what I did during those years, I always get way too lost in the weeds of it. I always end up writing something like:

So, I used to write about how using the Bible to claim that gay people are an affront to God is not just manifestly immoral but profoundly unbiblical.

And you know what used to drive me batshit crazy? The fact none—none, not one—leading Christian “progressive” leader at that time would dare to join in the fight for full LGBTQ+ equality.

These people were huge: they ran huge churches and ministries, wrote bestselling books, had humongous online followings. And privately they’d tell me how much they agreed with what I was writing. But publicly all they’d ever talk about was how awesome it was to “live within the questions,” and to “prayerfully hold the tension of doubts,” and to “rise above mere political concerns,” and all this other waffling bullshit that was really just them being dipshit cowards.

Christian “leaders” generally, and especially “progressive” Christian “leaders” are like elephants: they will not take a single step forward until they’re 100% sure it’s safe for them to do so. None of the progressive Christian “leaders” at the time were about to jeopardize their book deals. They didn’t want anyone cancelling their speaking engagements, their TV appearances, their radio interviews. They definitely didn’t want to piss off the wealthiest of their church congregants, who are usually conservative.

When their choice was between coming out and saying unequivocally that being gay was not a sin, and losing any of their money or power, these moral poseurs chose their money and their power, every goddamn time.

“And once I and the people who agreed with me had finally made it safe enough for them to do so—once so many Christians in the country were crying out for full and unqualified LGBTQ+ equality within Christianity—guess what all those progressive Christian leaders immediately started doing?

The moment they realized that there was at least as much money to be made affirming gay people as there had been in ultimately refusing to do so, they all started methodically and thoroughly rewriting their own histories to show how, all along, they had been as staunch and unwavering an “ally” as any gay person had ever had.

Suddenly, the internet was the best friend they ever had. It’s so easy to go back over just about everything you’ve ever written online, and, ever so subtly and carefully, change it. Shift it. Color it. Smooth it. Delete it.

It was unbelievable. It was a sickening thing to watch. And people bought it. And these same progressive Christian leaders—these same “trail blazers,” these “social justice warriors,” these “champions of the downtrodden” pastors and authors—are still out there, still writing their books, still speaking to huge auditoriums of devoted fans who adore them for their bold spiritual leadership, still making sure their social media presence is a never-ending show of their magnanimous humility—

See? Not helpful.

I’ll always be too close to the story of the Protestant church literally splitting itself in half over the issue of LGBTQ+ acceptance to write about my role in that split.

Which is perfect, because I’ve never wanted to do that. From the minute I started that work, I was aware of the fact that I would have succeeded with it when I was no longer needed in the conversation that I would have made happen. I was always working toward my own irrelevance.

And by 2014 I knew I’d reached the time for me to bow out. I was then content to shut down my blog, and to start writing the novel that I’d been waiting my whole life to write.

And now here we are!

And here, finally, I have a post to which I can link anyone who might care to know anything about the writing I used to do.

And if anyone ever goes, “You? Writing about God? Isn’t that like Bugs Bunny writing about subatomic physics?”, I’ll just point them to this post, and say, “What’s up, dick?”

Not that any of you wrote to say anything like that. You all are always so extremely kind and encouraging to me. And you can believe that I am always so, so grateful for that.

I’m glad I got this piece—this whole topic—out of the way. Sorry it made for such a long post. But now I can just move on to the kinds of (shorter!) pieces I’ve been winding up to write for what seems like forever now.

See ya next time. John