Raised Right: How I Untangled My Faith from Politics and Learned to Start Living the Gospel

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. (Sept.)