Book Release: Christianity for the Rest of Us

By Diana Butler Bass

My just-released book, Christianity for the Rest of Us (Harper, September 2006), presents the stories and findings of a three-year grass-roots study of spiritually vital mainline churches that involved interviews with more than 350 people.  Although most media attention is directed toward evangelical megachurches and their political concerns, my research went the opposite direction: I was curious how moderate and liberal Protestants were renewing their old churches–and how their political and social views might be changing.

My just-released book, Christianity for the Rest of Us (Harper, September 2006), presents the stories and findings of a three-year grass-roots study of spiritually vital mainline churches that involved interviews with more than 350 people.  Although most media attention is directed toward evangelical megachurches and their political concerns, my research went the opposite direction: I was curious how moderate and liberal Protestants were renewing their old churches–and how their political and social views might be changing.

Of course, part of mainline tradition is civic involvement, and many mainline congregations are noted for their social justice activism and political involvement. But what I found surprised me:  mainline congregations are riddled with anxiety about the powerful voice of the Religious Right in politics and mainliners are seeking new ways of communicating their own public theologies.

(Excerpt: Christianity for the Rest of Us)

Many people shared their distaste for the way the political right has manipulated religion.  As one person put it, “I think that George Bush’s fundamental approach to his faith is dangerous.”  Or, as a 60-ish woman complained, “The Republicans insinuate that if you have different beliefs than theirs, that you are not a Christian.  In fact, a Christian friend of my daughter-in-law told her that if you were a Democrat, you couldn’t be a Christian since Democrats are ‘baby-killers.’  This black and white approach is part of the Republican message.  If you are a Democrat and support gay people and laws that give individual choices, you aren’t a Christian.”  A New England Congregationalist, a man who grew up in a conservative Christian home, referred to this as the ‘facilely Christian veneer of the current administration.”  He worried about people being “tarred as immoral” on the basis of their political opinions.  “The term, ‘moral issues,’ has been hijacked to refer to only a subset of issues without looking at the larger picture.”

Of the hundreds of people I interviewed, more than half were Democrats and many echoed sentiments like those above.  However much mainline Protestants worry about the Religious Right, some also worried about the Democratic Party and religion:

Many people criticized the Democratic Party for being “irreligious,” “too secular,” “having no room for people of faith,” and stating flatly, “they just don’t get it.”
“Getting it” means that church and state must stay separate but that politics may be a soul-making enterprise, as the nation needs moral grounding in broad faith principles (Christian, Jewish, and others). They believe that the teachings of Jesus have important social consequences-such as peacemaking, care for the poor, healing, and hospitality.  As one Nashville woman shared, “When I think of what Jesus taught, I am convinced that he would not want this country to attack another and kill at least 14,000 Iraqi citizens.  Jesus is the prince of peace, not war.  Jesus ministered to the poor and needy, but these people are rarely mentioned by this administration.”

One Virginia woman said that her Episcopal congregation “helped me to think theologically about the issues.”  Many people remarked that mainline religion had taught them that “all people are God’s children,” and learning to “honor people as unique” was an important political principle.

The political theology of the mainline churchgoers in my study tilted slightly toward the Democrats.  Their views broadly reflected those in national surveys.  Although mainline Protestants were split nearly equally between Bush and Kerry in 2004, mainline Protestants who attend church regularly showed a preference for Democrats. The active mainliners I interviewed largely supported this statistical profile.  This marks a change in mainline Protestant churches-for despite their historic civic involvement, they also tended to be registered Republicans.  Indeed, for most of the twentieth century, mainline churches were nicknamed “the Republican Party at prayer.”

Listening to the voices of people in the pews, the Republican hold on the mainline may be becoming a thing of the past.  If so, mainline political involvement could be a wildcard factor in the shifting role of religion in American public life-and might give their conservative evangelical kin a surprising rival in the debate over religion and politics.  They might not join the Democratic Party in droves, but mainliners are clearly searching for political expression of their commitment to Jesus’ teachings of peace and justice.  Any political party that responds to their yearning will find an open, thoughtful, and civic-minded audience.  Perhaps we will begin to hear more people saying, as one Lutheran gently confessed to me, “I was a Republican until I started attending church.”

Diana Butler Bass is the author of six books on American Protestantism including her latest, Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith (Harper San Francisco, September 2006).  She can be reached through her website, www.dianabutlerbass.com.