The issues surrounding our political landscape are not black and white, no matter how much the mainstream media wants you to believe this. “
Raised Right: How I Untangled My Faith from Politics” by Alisa Harris is a great example showing how some within the conservative movement are struggling with their ideologies and what that means in our current political landscape.
I read this book because I was interested in how Harris’ story compared to my own. I consider myself raised conservative but now holding to progressive points of view. What I learned was that what was lacking from my own story, and I imagine from most evangelical Christians, is a strong stance politically. Harris shows in her book that for Culture Warriors of the 80s and 90s politics and Christianity are never separated.
The audience that Harris writes to is a generation of conservatives struggling to understand their stance in a post-Bush America. Conservative Christianity has always been a single-issue machine, they have always had their one “sin” that they have fought against. For Harris’ generation (and mine) that issue was abortion, before that it was divorce and today the issue is homosexuality. “Raised Right” works as an inside account into what it meant to be anti-abortion in the mid-90s.
Today however, more and more young conservative Christians are struggling to identify themselves through these single issues. Harris’ story shows how voting for a candidate simply because of the position on abortion is no longer a responsible decision.
Where Harris’ book falls short is in the details. “Raised Right” reads more like a collection of vague antidotes then a detailed account of her transition from conservative Christian politics. Not once does she name the Christian denominations that formed her ideologies nor does she discuss important theologies or doctrines important to her outside of the general political concerns that framed her life. While this does not render the book useless it does make it impractical outside of one’s personal library. There is nothing in this book that would add to an academic collection. Harris also has the tendency to quote things as if the reader already knew the source. Adding more context in the text itself would make the few footnotes she does use that much more valuable.
The book is also slow to get to the point. This is a book that is being marketed as a memoir of an ultra-conservative that has transitioned into a more moderate political position. However, she presents herself as more and more progressive with each chapter. If I knew where she was politically at the beginning of the book instead of needing to wait until the final chapter the rest of the book would have benefited. Instead, the way that she organized her story made for a bit of a confused and inconsistent mess by the end.
Even with all this being said, Harris came to some profound conclusions on many of the issues she described. The book is a quick read and is insightful. Transitioning one’s ideologies is not an easy task. For those struggling to understand their position in our current political landscape, especially if their background leans right, this is a good book to read. “Raised Right” is a great reminder that there are many issues outside of what the conservative Christian movement is attempting to market as the current “big issue”. Harris’ ability to interweave concerns for all Americans, no matter their political identification, is what helps keep this book relevant.
