Wuthnow, Robert. 2021. Why Religion is Good for American Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press

Is religion good for democracy? In posing this question, Robert Wuthnow takes on an age-old debate. Apologists for religion point to the civic engagement fostered by religious communities, and to historical examples of religious leaders advocating for righteous causes such as abolition and the civil rights movement. Critics stress the correlation between religious commitment and intolerance, and to other historical cases when religion has been used to justify decidedly unrighteous causes, most notably racial and gender oppression. Today, the question of whether religion helps or hinders American democracy has taken on a new urgency, as religion is implicated in the demise of democratic norms—as evidenced by the religious imagery on display as rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021—and the fact that many pastors have become vectors of anti-democratic disinformation.

Given the current political context, making the case that religion is indeed good for American democracy means that Wuthnow is stepping into the proverbial lions’ den, but he does so with an original argument. Past defenders of religion have often contended that it can be a unifying force by providing a moral vocabulary for common democratic norms. Wuthnow, though, highlights the lack of unity among and within American religions, and argues that this absence of agreement has proven vital for democratic discourse. As he puts it, “religious groups and their leaders have contributed to American democracy...not in spite of their diversity but because of it” (6).

The book takes the reader on a fascinating tour of some major issues in American public life, in each case noting how religious groups could be found on all sides of the issue in question. This includes past issues such as Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and the draft, to newer debates over immigration, economic inequality, and COVID-19. This book is a useful corrective to the popular notion that religion is inherently politically conservative. For each of these issues, there have been eloquent religious voices making arguments on both the left and right (and even in the center).

The book’s cases, however, are far from exhaustive, as they do not include a number of prominent issues over the past century in which religion has figured prominently, such as Prohibition, civil rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, opposition to LGBTQ rights—not to mention abortion, which more than any other subject has shaped our national politics for at least a half century. While one can always quibble over case selection, it seems odd to write a book about religion’s contributions to American democracy and omit the issues where religion has arguably played the largest role. The reader is left to wonder whether the faith-based disagreement on these issues resembles the debates featured in the book.

Nonetheless, the case studies are instructive. For example, consider the debate over the New Deal. While many readers will not be surprised to learn that plenty of clergy opposed Roosevelt’s expansion of the federal government, they—like me—may be interested to learn of the religious groups who lent their support to the New Deal. Just like Americans writ large, religious Americans differed on the merits of FDR’s actions—including those who worshipped at the same altar. “Denominational and interdenominational organizations supplied the mechanisms through which people with differing views convened to discuss their differences” (emphasis added, 50). Religious communities served as forums for deliberation, as they were host to debates over the Roosevelt administration’s policies.

In a subtle but significant shift, in the other case studies there is less debate within denominations, and more between them. Today, this debate among denominational leaders and other religious elites is often a proxy war for the battles between Democrats and Republicans. This is especially true on the political right, as Republicans often sound as much like pastors as politicians. But while religious leaders of different faiths contribute to the national political conversation “inside the Beltway,” fewer and fewer Americans have personal conversations across political lines within their own local congregations.

The reason for the dearth of debate at the personal level is that religion has not been immune to the political sorting that defines the contours of contemporary American culture. When it comes to where they worship, Americans vote with their feet—leaving and joining congregations in the search for political compatibility. In a backlash to the mixture of (some) religions with conservative politics, many Americans have abandoned religion altogether. As a result of all this sorting along political lines, clergy are often preaching to the political choir—reinforcing, and even deepening, partisan divides. This strikes me as bad for democracy.

It’s not as though Robert Wuthnow is unaware of these trends. Indeed, he knows better than anyone the cultural and political divides that define the contemporary religious landscape, as he presciently foresaw them in his seminal book The Restructuring of American Religion. Why Religion is Good for American Democracy, however, reminds us that religion need not always reinforce polarization, and can even help to ameliorate it—thus helping to revive American democracy. Let us all pray that America’s religious leaders take heed. The fate of the Republic may rest on it.