Jonathan Rauch — Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy - with McKay Coppins

This event is in partnership with The Atlantic.What happens to American democracy if Christianity is no longer able, or no longer willing, to perform the functions on which our constitutional order depends? In this provocative book, the award-winning journalist Jonathan Rauch--a lifelong atheist--reckons candidly with both the shortcomings of secularism and the corrosion of Christianity.Thin Christianity, as Rauch calls the mainline church, has been unable to inspire and retain believers. Worse, a Church of Fear has distorted white evangelicalism in ways that violate the tenets of both Jesus and James Madison. What to do? For answers, Rauch looks to a new generation of religious thinkers, as well as to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has placed the Constitution at the heart of its spiritual teachings.In this timely critique Rauch addresses secular Americans who think Christianity can be abandoned, and Christian Americans who blame secular culture for their grievances. The two must work together, he argues, to confront our present crisis. He calls on Christians to recommit to the teachings of their faith that align with Madison, not MAGA, and to understand that liberal democracy, far from being oppressive, is uniquely protective of religious freedom. At the same time, he calls on secular liberals to understand that healthy religious institutions are crucial to the survival of the liberal state.PURCHASE BOOK HERE: https://politics-prose.com/book/9780300273540?ic_referral=OpqVxPnD7alNfvGLDDX3Ruzwo5763SSDmXmvgXKibFUwMy2WoMVvosvRqdBeT-HiBdEKNrPWxJ24vVO7tKNZRUP-3udMpkVUN5x4ze3CIXkHAJ1fbIKTLlhcKDyv1R-rLok9gwJonathan Rauch is a senior fellow in the governance studies program at the Brookings Institution and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He is the recipient of a National Magazine Award. His books include The Constitution of Knowledge, The Happiness Curve, and Gay Marriage. He lives in northern Virginia.Rauch is in conversation with McKay Coppins, a staff writer at The Atlantic. In 2019, he received the Aldo Beckman Award from the White House Correspondents’ Association for his coverage of the Trump presidency; in 2021, he received a Wilbur Award for religion journalism. He is the author of The Wilderness, a book about the battle over the future of the Republican Party, and Romney: A Reckoning, a biography of Mitt Romney.*recorded 2/7/2025