Reconsidering the Role of Mainline Churches in Public Life

Recent sociological research suggests that the typical narrative of the “collapse” of mainline Protestantism's influence in American public life is misleading; rather than disappearing from public life altogether, the mainline churches are “quietly influential,” serving more as stewards of civil society and sites of potential civic engagement. As social scientists have shown time and again, in serving this role the churches remain of foundational importance for American public life. However, the churches could do much better in their direct engagement of public concerns, particularly in the messages that they send concerning economic and family life and regarding issues of race. They would do better to bring into richer communion their “spiritual” and “material” messages, and to argue more convincingly that, in all aspects of our lives, we are responding to God. The mainline churches could do this if they were to build on the theological insights of H. Richard and Reinhold Niebuhr. The author doubts that such a ressourcement will be forthcoming, but he nonetheless argues that the mainline churches remain the most promising religious resource for American public life, and that they are well worth fighting for.