Christianity and American Democracy, Volume 2Exploring the tension at the heart of America’s culture wars, this is “a very fine book on a very important subject” (Mark A. Noll, author of The Civil War as a Theological Crisis). Christianity, not religion in general, has been important for American democracy. With this bold thesis, Hugh Heclo offers a panoramic view of how Christianity and democracy have shaped each other. Heclo shows that amid deeply felt religious differences, a Protestant colonial society gradually convinced itself of the truly Christian reasons for, as well as the enlightened political advantages of, religious liberty. By the mid-twentieth century, American democracy and Christianity appeared locked in a mutual embrace. But it was a problematic union vulnerable to fundamental challenge in the Sixties. Despite the subsequent rise of the religious right and glib talk of a conservative Republican theocracy, Heclo sees a longer-term, reciprocal estrangement between Christianity and American democracy. Responding to his challenging argument, Mary Jo Bane, Michael Kazin, and Alan Wolfe criticize, qualify, and amend it. Heclo’s rejoinder suggests why both secularists and Christians should worry about a coming rupture between the Christian and democratic faiths. The result is a lively debate about a momentous tension in American public life. |
From inside the book
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Page 8
... produced for classroom use, Tocqueville is frequently misinterpreted as viewing religion mainly as a device for maintaining democracy. This view makes no sense, since Tocqueville clearly considered democracy as an irresistible ...
... produced for classroom use, Tocqueville is frequently misinterpreted as viewing religion mainly as a device for maintaining democracy. This view makes no sense, since Tocqueville clearly considered democracy as an irresistible ...
Page 9
... produce , religion has the prior importance ; it shapes the kind of people who will act in all these venues . " There is hardly any human action , however private it may be , which does not result from some very general conception men ...
... produce , religion has the prior importance ; it shapes the kind of people who will act in all these venues . " There is hardly any human action , however private it may be , which does not result from some very general conception men ...
Page 15
... produced by Europe's sad history of religious entanglements with worldly instruments of power. Avoiding those entanglements in America has increased Christianity's enduring strength and public influence, rather than its illusory ...
... produced by Europe's sad history of religious entanglements with worldly instruments of power. Avoiding those entanglements in America has increased Christianity's enduring strength and public influence, rather than its illusory ...
Page 20
... produced the “twin tolerations” that we can now see are essential for modern democracy anywhere in the world—the political freedom of elected governments from control by religious authorities, and the religious freedom of individuals ...
... produced the “twin tolerations” that we can now see are essential for modern democracy anywhere in the world—the political freedom of elected governments from control by religious authorities, and the religious freedom of individuals ...
Page 27
... produces the right to religious liberty . Religion is an obligation produced by the fact of God's creative work ( " the duty which we owe to our Creator " ) . The right of reli- gious liberty follows from this duty . ( “ The Religion ...
... produces the right to religious liberty . Religion is an obligation produced by the fact of God's creative work ( " the duty which we owe to our Creator " ) . The right of reli- gious liberty follows from this duty . ( “ The Religion ...
Contents
Democracy and Catholic Christianity | 145 |
Pluralism Is Hard Workand the | 167 |
Whose Christianity? Whose Democracy? Alan Wolfe | 185 |
Reconsidering Christianity and | 209 |
Notes | 243 |
Acknowledgments | 284 |
Other editions - View all
Christianity and American Democracy Hugh Heclo,Mary Jo Bane,Michael Kazin,Alan Wolfe Limited preview - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
activists Alan Wolfe Amer Ameri American Catholic American Christianity American democracy American political development American Religion authority awakening believe Bible biblical called Catholic Catholicism Chicago Chris Christianity and Democracy Christianity’s citizens claims conflict Conservative Christians culture culture war decades democratic democratic faith denominations Denouement Deus Caritas Est discussion doctrine evangelical fundamentalists gion gious God’s Gospel Hugh Heclo human idea immigrants important individual intellectual issues Jesus John Jonathan Edwards lecture liberal living mainline man’s Mary Jo Bane mean ment Michael Kazin millennial modern moral movement nation Noonan one’s Party percent person political society Pope Pope Benedict XVI Protes Protestant establishment Protestant Reformation Protestantism Puritans reli religious freedom religious liberty Republican revival Richard Niebuhr schools secular sense Sixties social spiritual teaching theology thing tian tianity tion Tocqueville today’s traditional Christianity traditionalist truth twentieth century University Press Vatican Council II York
Popular passages
Page 38 - For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.
Page 248 - Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of 165 men and citizens.
Page 246 - That religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence ; and, therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience ; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity towards each other.
Page 246 - The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy, a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.
Page 248 - Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
Page 30 - The religion, then, of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right. It is unalienable because the opinions of men, depending only on the evidence contemplated by their own minds, cannot follow the dictates of other men. It is unalienable, also, because what is here a right towards men is a duty towards the Creator.
Page 79 - So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent — and often even vocal — sanction of things as they are.
Page 248 - Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.
Page 248 - Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity.
Page 27 - Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion...