Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy and Christianity

Found this in today's Washington Post. As usual, Cypress is disingenuous about wanting to discuss philosophy. His sole purpose is to preach his religion.

"Last month, he took to the pages of Chicago Catholic, the newspaper of his archdiocese, to address “young people” who “are becoming disenchanted with religion.” He posed the question: “What will become of our democracy if so many young people disengage from both religion and politics?”

He turned, as many have before him, to Alexis de Tocqueville, the brilliantly perceptive student of 19th-century America, for clues about what “religion contributes to democracy.” Cupich’s thesis is that “faith can have a moderating influence in a democratic state.” It’s a perspective I have long shared but have begun to question.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/25/can-religion-strengthen-democracy/
 
BidenPresident said:
Goodbye you fucking asshole.
Everyone on the forum thinks you are a jerkoff.
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Do you routinely make dubious and false statemts in real life too?

According to you, DU could be the most hated poster on the board, and I am the stupidest poster on the board.

DU is not a Saint and I am not a choir boy for that matter. But I like that DU contributes to the board, and I doubt I am the only one.

Tocqueville was writing in 1831, and he was not speaking to the hyperpolitical white Evangelical nationalists of the 21st century.

I have repeatedly maintained that Tocqueville was somewhat off track because I do not particularly see the social context of Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, or Coptic Christianity to be fertile ground for the germination of incipient democratic traditions.
 
Cypress said:
Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy and Christianity

Democracies are prone to changing values because of their majoritarian nature. Hence, an important question is: Where is the anchor of democracy to be found? For Tocqueville, the answer is in religion generally and Christianity specifically. Christian values are not subject to the whims of the majority; hence, they are essential for the functioning of American democracy. They also lead adherents beyond their desire for material prosperity and comfort. Tocqueville is convinced that despite its history, Christianity is, in its essence, supportive of democracy and its most essential principle, equality of conditions.

Tocqueville, however, posits that if churches become directly involved in politics, they will be subject to all of the “hardball politics” of other associations; thus, they will lose influence.

Tocqueville also proposes the counterintuitive belief that Catholicism is a better fit with democracy than various forms of Protestantism, including those that were present at the foundation of American society.

Tocqueville believed that, in its essence and despite its corruption in Europe, Christianity was compatible with, and supportive of, democracy, because Christ operated from the premise of the equality of conditions among humans.



Source credit: William Cook, PhD, State University of New York
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There is no anchor in democracy.
 
BidenPresident said:
Christianity is destructive of democracy. It should be outlawed. Teaches people to not trust government.
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Democracy is destructive of democracy. It usually dissolves into an oligarchy or dictatorship in a short time.
Democracy is government by popular vote. There is no other government.
 
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