The Need for a Christian Christianity with Jonathan Rauch

Jonathan Rauch is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a senior fellow in the Governance Studies program at the Brookings Institution. His most recent book, out this week, is called Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy. We speak with Jonathan about the book, about why he, as a non-Christian, self-identifying atheist, makes the claim that democracy in the United States is at risk if Christian faith is not sufficiently Christian.

Host Todd Wiebe is joined by friend of the show Spencer Capier for the interview. Spencer is a philosophy teacher and is currently the President of the West Vancouver Teachers Association. He is familiar with much of Rauch’s work and writing.

A brief glossary of terms:

Liberal - As in “Liberal Political Party” distinct from as in “Liberal Democracy”. The term “liberal democracy” refers to a form of governance defined by separation of powers. Here the word “liberal” might be considered in light of the aspect of freedom. Power is spread out. Checks and balances are in place and freedom/agency is emphasized alongside individual rights.

“Liberal” as a description of a political party or on the spectrum of “liberal vs. conservative” has a somewhat different meaning. Here it describes a political expression that can be based out of ideas of liberal democracy but can also come to be defined by being progressive or anti-conservative.

When “liberal” becomes an ideology, an “ism” it can become as totalizing as any other ideology. Here is an excerpt from the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities: “Liberalism is a version of progressivism: it perceives society as in the process of constant improvement (usually measured by the criterion of equality) and claims to possess the conceptual instruments that make such a change possible. Liberalism believes itself to be both the doer and the supervisor of progress.”