Christianity, Pluralism, and Public Life

particular, don’t have a political vision…Some of it’s been bad teaching, and some of it’s just been no teaching for 70-someodd
years, and so they have no idea how the Gospel informs politics.”
Most of the time Christian leaders mentioned fear, it was to reject it. But we also heard earnest concerns that the public
environment was growing increasingly inhospitable to certain expressions of religiosity. Earlier in her life and career,
Frederica Matthewes-Green said that she thought “public life was arranged so that everyone has a right, if they can speak
well, if they can speak with civility, to enter the public space and stand in the public arena and speak out.” She continued,
“But I found, increasingly and through the oughts, that just being a Christian disqualified me from speaking. I had thought
that if I could qualify myself, then I could speak about Christianity. It was like they perceived the Christianity, and that
disqualified me from speaking about anything. I think even that just showing up as a person of faith is enough for them to
take the microphone away...There’s just an underlying hostility there. I think we shouldn’t underestimate the depth of that
desire to hurt Christians as hard as it is to explain.”
Our Takeaways:
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There is significant concern about the role of Christianity in public life across Christian denominations,
across race and the political and theological spectrums.
Politics—as a cultural force, not just through public policy—is unquestionably affecting Christianity and
Christian institutions in America.
The increasing influence and presence of various non-Christian influences and centers of power, and
the reality that Christianity is no longer assumed in public discourse, complicates how Christians
navigate public life. They must be attentive to “inside” and “outside” forces and disagreements to a
greater degree than ever before.
Are Christian Leaders and Lay People Aligned?
When asked if they see any gaps between religious leaders and the laity, the leaders we interviewed answered with a
resounding “yes.” Most notably, respondents from a wide range of theological and denominational backgrounds said
religious leaders were at times out of touch with their congregants.
One common theme was that some leaders were not aware enough of the real needs and concerns in the communities they
serve. Sister Simone offered this blunt assessment: “In our tradition, many of the leadership don’t have a clue about the lived
experience of say, folks at the economic margins or the challenge of families or, just kind of everyday life.” Other interviewees
raised similar concerns about leaders not knowing enough about their congregants and their experiences. Dana Corsello
warned against the dangers of pastors assuming to know what people are thinking: “We can’t make any assumptions about
where people are on certain issues, we just can’t. We need to be talking and having discussion.” She offered a practical charge
to herself and other pastors to help them stay in touch with what is happening on the ground: “I think that we just have to get
out of those pulpits sometimes and get with our people and figure out, really, what’s going on.”
Many of those we interviewed also raised concerns about a gap between the views of clergy and laity on pressing issues of
the day. Some raised concerns about clergy staking out positions that are too definite or too extreme for their congregations.
Samuel Rodriguez described it this way: “I think religious leaders, pastors from the pulpit, I think they really do believe that
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