Raised Right by Alisa Harris

If I could chat with Alisa Harris, I'd ask her why she chose to subtitle her book "How I Untangled My Faith from Politics." The process she describes doesn't sound like an untangling as much as it does a reconciliation. She doesn't throw Christianity in the trash when she learns about the poor, but learns the true meaning of Matthew's gospel. She doesn't put her Bible on the shelf when she learns how corrupt politicians can be, but rather becomes as "shrewd as a snake." Still, she insists on delineating her faith (a socially conservative Pentecostalism) as something provincial and outgrown while only thinking about the Faith, the timeless and universal truth of which her parents were a variation, in doubtful language.

Alisa's story is a common one; she grew up buying into the unthinking fundamentalism of her church and friends, believing her little congregation privy to all truth. She traveled, and realized the world was a bigger place than she had originally suspected. Her story is printable largely because of the stringency of her particular background--a simplified version of Christianity with all the peripheral and minor doctrines magnified to distortion--and because of her ardent and over-susceptible childhood, which she paints as rather tragicomic.

I'm still not sure why the book, in the end, was necessary. Alisa becomes a Democrat, which is a perfectly normal and reasonable thing to do; but it doesn't sound like her decision was a reasoned one. She records no arguments or debates; she unveils no revelations. She simply finds the world big, weeps a bit, and then, apologetically, votes for Obama. She finds that the litmus tests of homosexuality and abortion are insufficient to keep her voting red; but says anything about homosexuality or abortion beyond "I once was much more sure about these issues." It's fine to doubt, and indeed, better to doubt honestly than to be stupidly sure. But did young Christians need another book of heartfelt doubts? I believe Ms. Harris to be a talented writer. Perhaps in her next book we'll hear some development on these doubts as she makes her way through the wide world.