CHRISTIANIT Y A N D A MERICAN DE MO CR ACY Hugh Heclo The Alexis de Tocqueville Lectures on American Politics (cid:2)(cid:3) Christianity and American Democracy (cid:2)(cid:3) Hugh Heclo With responses by Mary Jo Bane Michael Kazin Alan Wolfe Harvard University Press Cambridge,Massachusetts London,England Copyright©2007bythe PresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollege Allrightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica FirstHarvardUniversityPresspaperbackedition,2009. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Heclo,Hugh. ChristianityandAmericandemocracy / HughHeclo ; withresponses byMaryJoBane,MichaelKazin,AlanWolfe. p. cm.—(TheAlexisdeTocquevillelecturesonAmericanpolitics) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-0-674-02514-1(cloth : alk.paper) ISBN978-0-674-03230-9(pbk.) 1.Democracy—Religiousaspects—Christianity. 2.Christianityandpolitics—UnitedStates. I.Bane,MaryJo. II.Kazin,Michael,1948– III.Wolfe,Alan,1942– IV.Title. V.Series. BR517.H45 2007 261.70973—dc22 2006052596 c o n t e n t s ForewordbyThedaR.Skocpol vii 1. Christianity and Democracy in America 1 HughHeclo 2. Democracy and Catholic Christianity 145 in America MaryJoBane 3. Pluralism Is Hard Work—and the 167 Work Is Never Done MichaelKazin 4. Whose Christianity? Whose Democracy? 185 AlanWolfe 5. Reconsidering Christianity and 209 American Democracy HughHeclo Notes 243 Acknowledgments 284 AbouttheAuthors 286 Index 289 f o r e w o r d In early March of 2006, an interdisciplinary group of students and faculty—political scientists, historians, so- ciologists, and others—assembled at Harvard University to dis- cussthemutualinterplayofChristianityanddemocracyinAmer- ican history. The focus was as much on the content of Christian beliefs as on the organization of religious institutions, and the principal lecturer, Hugh Heclo of George Mason University, ana- lyzednotjusthowChristiansandtheirbeliefsandpracticeshave contributed to society and politics in America, but also the ways inwhichAmericandemocracyhaschangedandchallengedChris- tianity. Ranging over many decades of the American past, Heclo portrayed an unprecedented rupture starting in the 1960s, when, he argued a “secular awakening” emerged, fueled by movements andactorswhohaveworkedtodisplaceChristianityfromthehe- gemonicculturalauthorityitpreviouslyenjoyed. Heclo’s lecture—witty, learned, and provocative—was deliv- eredinasemicircularconferenceroominthenewCenterforGov- ernmentandInternationalAffairsatHarvard,andafterwardsthe floor was opened for questions and debate from the surrounding audience.Thenextmorningeveryonereassembled,andthreedis- tinguished commentators explored new dimensions of the ques- tion and challenged Heclo’s thesis, before he rejoined the discus- sion and the audience jumped in once again. Deliberately drawn from different disciplines and points of view, the commentators weresociologistMaryJoBaneoftheKennedySchoolofGovern- mentatHarvard;historianMichaelKazinofGeorgetownUniver- vii Foreword sity; and sociologist Alan Wolfe of the Boisi Center for Religion andAmericanPublicLifeatBostonCollege. ThesepresentationsanddiscussionsconstitutedthesecondAlexis de Tocqueville Lecture on American Politics. Made possible by a generous gift from alumnus Terry Considine, the Tocqueville se- ries is an occasional set of debates sponsored roughly every year and a half by the Center for American Political Studies at Har- vard.FollowingfromtheMarch2006occasion,thisbookmakes Heclo’s lecture, the three commentaries, and Heclo’s rejoinder availabletoabroaderaudience.Itappearsataresonantjuncture, forweliveinatimewhenreligiouslymotivatedChristianactivists areplayingmajor,highlyvisible,andcontentiousrolesinshaping U.S. public debates, tipping electoral outcomes, and demanding shifts in public policy. Of course, as we are reminded by Heclo’s lecture and by the rich commentaries of Bane, Kazin, and Wolfe, Christian religion and believers have always been in the thick of cultural and political developments in America. From the first andsecondGreatAwakenings,throughthecrusadesagainstslav- ery, to the clashes of Protestants versus Catholics, down to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and early 1960s, Christians haveassertedthemselvesandremadeourdemocracy.Inturn,the dynamism of markets and the cacophony of civic participation in America have challenged and changed Christian practices and beliefs. Heclo offers a fresh perspective on the past—and breaks new ground by arguing that this long-term, complex symbiosis may be coming apart in our time, leading to deepening estrangements betweenbelievingChristiansandotherAmericanswhoaredeter- mined to promote fervently secular conceptions of public values. Heclo explores the possible consequences for government, poli- tics, and society—and for different groups of citizens. The com- mentators, in turn, take issue with important aspects of Heclo’s portrayal of American political and cultural development. Mary Jo Bane draws our attention to the distinct experiences and be- liefsofCatholicsinaProtestant-dominatednation,whileMichael viii Foreword Kazin further deepens our sense of conflict and diversity. And AlanWolfeoffersanalternativereadingofAmericanpoliticalcul- ture,especiallyinourowntime,suggestingthatHeclo’sprophecy ofa“comingrupture”maybetoodark.Hecloacknowledgesthe validity of much of what his critics have to say, yet reasserts and reinforceshisownmaintheses. Readers of these remarkable exchanges will decide for them- selves, bringing new insights to the dialogue. That is as it should be,andthebroadenedengagementwillfurtherrealizethepurpose of Harvard’s Alexis de Tocqueville lectures and books—to carry forward in our own time and through our own explorations the questioning about America that the namesake of the series so splendidly practiced when he visited these shores some eighteen decadesago. Theda R. Skocpol Director(throughJune2006),CenterforAmericanPolitical Studies,HarvardUniversity ix