Book Review: Be the People by Carol Swain



image from Amazon.com



As a conservative Christian myself, I was looking forward to sitting down and reading Be the People, by Carol Swain. Its subtitle reads: A call to reclaim America’s faith and promise. That is something I can definitely identify with.



But as I began reading it became clear that Ms. Swain’s opinions and ideas were extreme. She spends pages describing abortion procedures, an entire chapter bashing President Obama as a person- not his politics, and desperately tries to use scripture from the Bible to back her views on immigration.

As someone who believes that America could take a step back from the direction it’s headed, and take a look at many of these issues deeper, I feel like Ms. Swain is alienating those who might share some of her viewpoints. You don’t get people to change their minds on an issue by slamming them, telling them how wrong they are, or trying to disgust them or shame them.

The best way to try to change someone’s opinion about weighty matters, such as abortion, racism, and immigration, are to serve them, love them, and pray for them. You can’t “twist someone’s arm” to make them take your side.



Overall, the underlying ideas in the book are good: try to make America a better place; but the way she attempted to send this message is seriously flawed.

 disclaimer: the publisher has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book through BookSneeze®.