Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy

The recent decline of Christianity poses a crisis for the religion and for American democracy, according to this stimulating if uneven treatise. Rauch (The Constitution of Knowledge), a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, contends that a mass “dechurching” over the past 25 years has left a “God-shaped hole” in American society that secularism has been unable to fill. At the same time, the remaining segment of Christianity has sharpened into “a divisive, fearful, partisan” movement that prizes “un-Christian” values like aggression and strength. (That shift has been driven in part by society’s increased secularization, Rauch suggests, as Christians are influenced by politicians and evangelical media personalities, resulting in a faith that’s radicalized and less spiritually fulfilling.) Rauch calls for a “positive realignment” between faith and liberalism, proposing that pastors preach an attitude “of care and stewardship for civic institutions” and that secular activists take more seriously concerns about religious freedoms. Unfortunately, there are gaps in Rauch’s argument for a supportive relationship between faith and liberalism—most notably, how other religions, especially non–Judeo-Christian ones, might fit into this supposedly pluralistic system. The result is an intriguing if incomplete analysis of faith’s complicated role in an increasingly secular society. (Feb.)