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Can Christianity Save the Country?

WikiMedia Commons

Author and journalist Jonathan Rauch is a Jewish atheist. And yet, he’s calling on Christians to remember their faith — and practice it the way Founding Father James Madison might have done.

Rauch says that you can’t separate a crisis of democracy in America from a crisis in Christianity. There’s a powerful strain of the faith that seeks power, is eager to wield it, but sees itself as under attack. Rauch sees that kind of Christianity as very different — and dangerous — than the civic religion that the Founding Fathers imagined would be an important support in public life. In a new book, Rauch charts a course forward for American Christians, one that could renew the faith, and save the nation. And the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints figures prominently in his vision, too.

GUEST —

Jonathan Rauch | Senior Fellow in the Governance Studies program at the Brookings Institution. His new book is “Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy” [Amazon|Bookshop].

Airdate: Wed. Feb. 19, 2025 at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.

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