Religion: The Dimension of Faith

The new idolatry in the U.S. may be a blind, uncritical worship of democracy. So says hawk-nosed Reinhold Niebuhr, a topflight theologian who also takes a vigorous interest in politics. In the current issue of his fortnightly Christianity and Crisis, Editor Niebuhr writes:

"If one may judge by the various commencement utterances ... Americans have only one religion: devotion to democracy. They extol its virtues, are apprehensive about the perils to which it is exposed, pour maledictions upon its foes, rededicate themselves periodically to its purposes and claim unconditioned validity for its ideals.

"Does not the very extravagance of our devotion prove that...

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