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Raised Right

How I Untangled My Faith from Politics

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Meet the new breed of Christians shaping our culture.

Alisa Harris grew up in a family that actively fought injustice and moral decay in America. She spent much of her childhood picketing abortion clinics and being home-schooled in the ways of conservative-Republican Christianity. As a teen she firmly believed that putting the right people in power would save the nation.

But as she moved into adulthood, Alisa confronted unexpected complexities on issues that used to seem clear-cut. So, she set about evaluating the strident partisanship she had grown up with, considering other perspectives while staying true to the deep respect she held for her parents and for the Christian principles that had always motivated her.

Raised Right is not only an intriguing chronicle of Alisa’s personal journey; it also provides a fascinating glimpse into the worldview of a younger generation of faith––followers of Christ who believe that the term “Christian” is not synonymous with a single political party or cultural issue.

Whether you are moderate, conservative, or progressive, Raised Right will prompt you to consider more deeply what it means to affirm Christ-like justice, mercy, and righteousness in the current cultural landscape. And it will give you a deeper understanding of how the new generation of Christians approaches the intersection of faith and politics.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 8, 2011
      Authors and politicians have offered statistics and theories to try to understand the apathy of today’s youth. In this short memoir, journalist Harris gives a face and a voice to America’s younger generation, offering herself up as a case study of Christian youth caught in a partisan nation. Harris remembers an evangelical childhood spent attending political rallies, picketing abortion clinics, and idolizing Ronald Reagan. But as she grew older, she became troubled by questions of war and poverty; her outspoken patriotism slowly unraveled and her ideals began shifting. “I found myself taking up uneasy residence in a world where there were shades of gray.” Using criticisms similar to those in Myth of a Christian Nation by evangelical pastor Gregory Boyd, she paints herself as an educated woman who ultimately rejected evangelical politics and voted Democrat. Young Americans will identify with her coming-of-age struggles and passion for weeding out injustice. Right-wing politicians and older generations of Christians should pay close attention in order to understand, and perhaps empathize with, her demographic.

    • Booklist

      September 1, 2011
      The title of Harris' personal memoir carries a double meaning. First, she refers to her Christian upbringing, which provided a moral compass and fostered both a lifelong pursuit of truth and a commitment to social justice. Second, her title reflects how some evangelical Christians have intertwined their faith with conservative politics, believing a just and godly America is best achieved by success at the ballot box. Harris recounts her participation in conservative rallies, picketing abortion clinics, and political-organization efforts. She also tells of the poverty, disenfranchisement, and injustice she encountered; her growing sense that the world's problems were more complicated than she at first thought; and her belief that the solutions she was seeking were inadequate. Refusing to reject her Christian faith and its core principles of justice and love, she seeks a different application of them vis--vis the world's problems. Particularly poignant is the lack of any bitterness, demonstrating that comity in religion and politics is indeed possible. This is a hopeful book for politically divisive times.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

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  • English

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