Religion and Democracy

So, I saw Thomas Frank who wrote "What's the Matter with Kansas" last week and he said at one point that someone should investigate what is going on with religion and the Republican party, but he just didn't feel qualified to write on it.

De Tocqueville had the great insight that religion flourishes in the United States because it is not state sponsored religion. But, I think the necessary next question is, what kind of religion flourishes here?

Historically, Christianity and specifically evangelical Christianity has done quite well. A lot of our mainline religions that aren't strictly speaking evangelical anymore (i.e. Methodists) were once upon a time in the not so distant past participants in religious revivals on a massive scale. After a couple great awakenings, certain areas of what was then the Midwest were referred to as the "burnt over counties." And of course there are the completely home grown versions of Christianity like the Mormons.

Some of these denominations have a church hierarchy and some don't, but they all feature an idea of individual salvation as the paramount thing. In a democracy, this makes sense. Because religion is not controlled by the state, people are free to find the version of Christianity that is most appealing to them. Most people think about themselves and their families far more than they think about world peace or humpback whales.

If the version of Christianity that people are following emphasizes the sinful nature of the world and the fallenness of humanity, then that kind of Christianity may to some extent act to de-democratize its believers. If a person believes that the most important choice he can make is a religious choice and that, in fact, all other choices should be in service of that religious choice, then there is a danger that he will lose interest in any choices that are purely secular and view many choices that are not religious in nature as religious tests. The logic is as follows. The world is sinful. Nothing I do in the world other than my religion matters. I guess I'll vote for George W. Bush. (Admittedly, the last one is a bit of logical leap)

The irony is that we have this kind of Christianity because we are a democracy and yet it may be one of the greatest threats facing our democracy. By that I mean that for many people, their social and democratic impulses are channeled into their religious lives--leaving little left over for improving the here and now. If they adhere to a particularly fundamentalist (usually individualistic) brand of Christianity, they may be trained to take the Bible literally and that training may carry over into the rest of their lives. They may have the twin handicaps of being unable to think socially and being unable to read beyond a literal interpretation.

The problem of Christianity and the state is not actually a new problem. A grandly oversimplified walk through history: Early Christians were perceived as a threat to the state. Early Christians were persecuted even though they just wanted to spread their religion and didn't have any designs on the government. Then, they were co-opted by the state. Then they broke free from the state. This resulted in a radical decline in religious observance in Europe and an uptick in religiosity in the United States. The Catch-22 for Christianity is that if it is involved in the world, it will be tainted by it. But if it fails to become involved in the world, then its adherents will suffer.

Interestingly, it is extremely impolite to say that particular sects of Christianity are dangerous. Because we are a democracy. Also, because although the right wing rails against relativism, they love it when it comes to religion. Why? Because if they were forced into theological discussions, the whole coalition would fracture. Which is my prediction for what will happen anyways. My other prediction is that one day, not too long from now, young Christians everywhere will wake up and realize that they have been duped by people who claimed to be god-fearing into killing and maiming and destroying life. And they will be angry about what this un-Christian president has done.