Apr
8
2026

Democracy Dies in … Scenic Book Covers, I Guess

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Our Amazon Eye Candy du Jour is the cover of JD Vance's forthcoming book about his spiritual journey. Intrepid WaPo reporter Danielle Paquette smelled a rat, and traveled 331 miles southwest of DC, to Elk Creek, Virginia to un"cover" (heh) a scurrilous scandal: JD Vance’s new book has a photo of their church. They don’t know Vance. (WaPo gifted link)

They don't know him! Cue ominous music! Perhaps dink the lyrics to that old Lesley Gore song!

Danielle apparently attended a potluck dinner at the pictured Mount Zion United Methodist Church and brings the shocking news about it, and the local bumpkins:

The modest church on the cover of Vice President JD Vance’s new memoir unpacking his Catholic faith has a tiny but loyal congregation.

What it doesn’t have, members said: any connection to Vance or Catholicism.

Gasp! Just what are you trying to pull here, JD?

There are a couple dozen regulars at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in rural southwestern Virginia, according to one, 78-year-old Marshall Funk, who attended his first service there in his mother’s womb. As they gathered Thursday evening for a potluck at the brick building with a white steeple — a classic Methodist style — Funk heard not a peep about politics. As far as he knew, nobody was aware that the White House’s second-in-command had broadcast an image of what Funk called his “second home.”

Vance, to his knowledge, had never visited.

“I’d have to see it to believe it,” the retired dairy farmer said of the cover.

As congregants dug into broccoli casserole, the internet was chattering about Vance’s memoir cover art. Critics mocked the vice president for putting a United Methodist church on the front of a book tracing his road from loose evangelicalism to teenage Pentecostalism to atheism to Catholicism.

That link in the paragraph above goes to a Daily Beast article with the rather florid "gotcha" headline: Embarrassing Blunder on JD Vance’s Catholic Book Cover Exposed. Also see the even more deranged report at MSN: JD Vance humiliated after botching cover of new book on faith conversion with bizarre picture.

Egads. This is why words like "nothingburger" were coined. Even though the WaPo story claims that "Vance chose" the cover picture, there's no evidence provided for that, and I doubt it's true: I'd bet it was the publisher's pick. There is no reason to be embarrassed about putting a picture of a bucolic, albeit generic, Christian church on a book about the author's Christian faith.

Disclaimer: Goodness knows, I'm no JD fanboy. Although I thought his first book was pretty good, and I have no gripes with his religion, certain features of his political odyssey have been problematic at best.

But, in the spirit of Christian charity, he deserves better than this. So do, especially, the readers of the Washington Post.

Also of note:

  • Speaking of Christian charity… Christian Britschgi looks at Zoning's war on cuddly animals, cute kids, and Christian charity. Click through for the story on kids and animals, but here's the scoop on charity:

    This past week, an Ohio judge dismissed a civil lawsuit brought by the fire chief of Bryon, Ohio, against a local church that had been letting people stay on its property during its overnight ministry.

    Fire Chief Douglas Pool's suit argued that local church Dad's Place had converted its property to a residential use by allowing nightly stays without getting the proper zoning approvals or adopting all the fire safety measures required of residential properties.

    His lawsuit demanded that Dad's Place stop its nighttime ministry until it installed a sprinkler system.

    Dad's Place, and its pastor, Chris Avell, contended that the expense of installing a sprinkler system was cost-prohibitive for the church. The requirement to install one was thus an effective demand to shut down their nighttime ministry, which the church argued violated their Free Exercise rights.

    The case only got as far as that Ohio county judge, but Byron city officials are also warring with Dad's Place on non-zoning grounds.

  • "We didn't mean to" is not a good defense. Jacob Sullum has a story about applications of the Constitution's "Takings" clause in Indiana and California:

    In 2022, police caused extensive damage to Amy Hadley's home in South Bend, Indiana, because they mistakenly believed a fugitive was inside the house. That same year, a Los Angeles SWAT team wrecked Carlos Pena's print shop while trying to arrest a fugitive who had barricaded himself inside.

    Through no fault of their own, Hadley and Pena were stuck with the tab for the havoc wrought by police operations — a plainly unfair but increasingly common situation that could be rectified by the "just compensation" that the Fifth Amendment requires when property is "taken for public use." In petitions filed this week, Hadley and Pena are asking the Supreme Court to recognize that remedy.

    Hope that works out for them. (Click through for the horrific stories.)


Last Modified 2026-04-08 1:58 PM EDT