Why Democracy Needs Christianity, with Jonathan Rauch

Does democracy need Christianity to survive? Jonathan Rauch — a gay, atheist, Jewish journalist at Brookings and The Atlantic — has concluded that it does. His 2025 book, Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy, argues that Christianity is a load-bearing wall in the American experiment, and that two decades of de-churching have left the whole structure sagging.As an outsider who once celebrated secularization as progress and watched what filled the vacuum, Rauch now claims that democracy needs Christianity. What he found is that when the church stopped carrying its load, toxic partisanship, tribal politics, and substitute religions rushed in to take its place.Host Doug Stuart talks with Rauch to work through why the founders counted on Christian virtue, which three teachings of Jesus underwrite liberal democracy, why compromise is a Christian act rather than a betrayal, and what the church has to recover to be worth listening to again.Chapters:0:00 Intro0:22 Guest Intro and Book Origins4:03 Christianity’s Civic Role7:28 Churches, Decline, and Politics12:23 Liberalism and Democracy Defined13:56 Founders on Virtue18:52 Jesus and Liberal Democracy25:10 Compromise as a Creative Process29:53 Congress and Political Cynicism32:50 Reforming a Broken System33:45 Christians and Culture War35:38 Freedom, Fear, and Public Faith38:10 Pseudo-Religions Fill the Void41:25 Libertarianism and Christianity45:39 Altruism, Virtue, and Freedom51:15 Latter-Day Saints and Agency59:18 Make Christianity Peculiar AgainAudio Production by Podsworth Media - https://podsworth.com Come meet fellow Christian libertarians, sharpen your thinking, and be part of a growing movement rooted in faith and freedom at the Christians for Liberty Conference.Lunch is included in the price of the ticket. We will send out a form ahead of the conference requesting dietary preferences and restrictions.Learn more here.Use code LCI50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings and also support LCI!Full Podsworth Ad Read BEFORE & AFTER processing:https://youtu.be/vbsOEODpQGs ★ Support this podcast ★