Today, finished reading Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis, and wrote this review in Amazon:
Lewis writes well and is at his best in showing Elmer Gantry having a false faith, and consciously ruining the lives of the others. The novel's reputation for controversy seems to be centered on the character of Gantry. Somehow it seems by exposing the duplicity of one minister, Lewis implicated theologically conservative Protestants in general. When actually reading the novel though, it's clear that Lewis attempts to undermine Christianity in general, which is probably why the novel sparked such controversy in its day. The character of Frank Shallard is portrayed as a heroic martyr with his denials of Christ's deity, his uncertainty about an afterlife, and various other denials and questionings of Christianity. In the end, the novel is less about hypocritical fundamentalism than about an argument in favor of a secular, anti-supernatural version of Christianity based on vague sentiments of love. This is precisely the type of Christianity today's secular elite sanctions.