tocqueville today

I received a copy of Democracy in America during high school (as well as many a PoliSci lecture), and commentary referencing Tocqueville’s 19^th-century observations always piques my interest. This First Things article had a succinct description of what Tocqueville observed about religion’s role in the public square:

“Tocqueville calls religion “the first of their political institutions”—despite the fact that religion “never mixes directly in the government of society,” it “singularly facilitates their use of [freedom]” by making women and men moral.”

In large segments of the public square today, orthodox religion is seen as actually making men and women amoral and backward (there’s nothing worse than being called “traditional”). Morality is instead defined narrowly—and somewhat absolutely—by a set of politically-correct views. (“Politically-correct” is such a tired phrase, but I can’t think of how else to describe peer-pressured, media-sponsored public morality.)

“Separation of church and state” is quickly coming to mean “separation of religious-based morality and the public square.” In the process, we are losing our ability to “facilitate the use of our freedom” because politically-correct morality tells us we can define our own boundaries. But how are we to do so collectively, if each person’s views are equally valid? And how do we tackle societal ills, if we do not address moral choices? (see: “binge drinking, University of [X]”) Tocqueville realized how our country’s religious foundation—not an official church—enabled its citizens to use individual freedom constructively for the common good.

There’s so much more in this article—read the whole thing. (There’s a great section on what Tocqueville meant when he said American women were superior their European counterparts.)