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 we live in a religiously vapid age, in which even Christians fail to penetrate to the more ultimate issues of life? . . .

"Democracy is certainly a better form of society than totalitarianism. But many proponents of it share one mistake of communists at least: they know no other dimension of existence except the social one.

"Another peril of democracy as a religion is that, without a more inclusive religious faith, we identify our particular brand of democracy with the ultimate values of life. This is a sin to which Americans are particularly prone. . . . There are no historic institutions, whether political, economic or religious, which can survive a too uncritical devotion. . . . But even if our democracy were more perfect than it is ... devotion to democracy would still be false as a religion. It tempts us ... to give a false and idolatrous religious note to the conflict between democracy and communism, for instance.

"We have to make the best defense we can of our most cherished social and historical values against ruthless foes. But from the standpoint of our Christian faith we have to view such struggles in another dimension. ... A contest of power between two great blocs of power in the world obscures the moral issues involved in the struggle and creates a vicious circle of mutual fear, from which there is no easy escape. We do not suggest that there is some simple pacifist solution for these mutual fears, created by power contests.

"But neither must we fall into the illusion that the foe alone is responsible for the fears and that we are merely virtuous defenders of a great cause, beset by scoundrels. There must be a dimension of faith in which, whatever our loyalties and however justified our defense of them, we recognize the tragic character of the human drama, including the particular drama of our own day, and call upon the mercy of God to redeem us not from the predicament of democracy but from the human predicament."

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