One of my favorite weekend readings is Lunch with the FT. Each week, the Financial Times (London) interviews a notable person over lunch. This past week, the FT interviewed Franklin Graham (Evangelical leader Franklin Graham: ‘Americans realize Trump is not pastor-in-chief,’ Derek Brower, July 26, 2024), the 72-year-old son of the late American evangelist Billy Graham. Franklin continues his father’s evangelical mission and is president of Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian charity that delivers aid to hurting people around the world. Franklin spoke during the final night of the recent Milwaukee Republican National Convention and is a supporter of former President Trump. “This country has given great freedom to people of faith. And we are losing that a little bit in this country. A little bit of our religious freedoms each year. I think they’re under attack by people that would be secularist, people that don’t believe in God … and people that hate God. They don’t believe God should have any say in daily life.”
When asked if the US should be a Christian country, Franklin flatly said no: “I don’t think any one culture should have the wherewithal to impose it on everybody else.” When Christians go vote, Franklin believes that “many Christians just take Christianity out of it.”
I introduced Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859), author of Democracy in America, in my last blog. His subject in Democracy is primarily political science. He compared the United States government during his 1831–2 travels around the US with the British/French political systems. In Part 1 – Chapter 9 (The Main Causes Which Tend to Maintain a Democratic Republic in the United States), Tocqueville discussed “the influence of customs on the maintenance of a democratic republic in the United States.” He defines customs as “mores; for I apply it not only to customs in the strict sense of what might be called the habits of the heart but also to the different concepts men adopt, the various opinions which prevail among them and to the whole collection of ideas which shape mental habits. Thus, I include in the use of this word the entire moral and intellectual state of a nation.” (p. 335-6)
Religion, Tocqueville premised, is “a political institution which powerfully supports the maintenance of a democratic republic among Americans.” (p. 336) He supports the US constitution’s separation of Church and State, especially after witnessing the tragedies of religious strife in France. Yet, he appreciates the political benefits of religion. “No group of men is more led by their beliefs than Catholics to transfer the concept of equality of social conditions into the world of politics.” (p. 337) Religion restrains political power. “America is still the country in the world where the Christian religion has retained the greatest real power over people’s souls and nothing shows better how useful and natural religion is to man, since the country where it exerts the greatest sway is also the most enlightened and free. … Thus, while the law allows the American people to do everything, religion prevents their imagining everything and forbids them from daring to do everything.” (p. 340–2)
Religion and the US government are separate, but the two are intertwined. “In the United States, religious zeal constantly gains vitality from the fires of patriotism. … Tyranny may be able to do without faith but freedom cannot. … How could society avoid destruction if, when political ties are relaxed, moral ties are not tightened?” (p. 343–4)
How does Tocqueville’s almost two hundred year old support for religion within a democracy cascade down into post-modern America? Reading Franklin Graham’s interview about his views on illegal immigration, the US economy, race relations, and the January 6th storming of the US Capital, I am struck with how much time a religion leader, most noted for converting non-believers into faithful Christians, spends on politics. His father was a counselor to both Republican and Democratic presidents, so perhaps Franklin is just carrying on the family tradition, although he skews towards conservative politicians; I doubt he will attend the August Democratic National Convention in Chicago. If he believes that the Democratic Party is composed of mostly secular voters, perhaps he should spend more time evangelizing them than focusing on steering the Republican Party faithful? His father evangelized in totalitarian countries; currently, there are increasing missionary opportunities inside the United States borders.
Statistically, US religion is declining, something that would worry Tocqueville about the future of US democracy. Perhaps this is why, for the first time in my life, I have heard both major political parties declaring that America’s democracy is at stake. The US is a country of laws, but the American customs bind our diverse society together. The early Christians did not work to change the Roman Empire into a Christian empire. They did refuse to practice pagan worship and would not serve in institutions that violated Christian customs.
Christians support both the Republican and Democratic parties. It is this dominant religion in America that forms the foundation of American customs and sets the moral path for the country. Franklin Graham would probably agree with Tocqueville’s writings about religion influencing democracy. However, I am reasonably confident that Tocqueville would not be pleased with Franklin’s interview statements. Political parties are a human creation. God isn’t a Republican nor a Democrat; God wants all to have freedom. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Exod. 20:2) Missionary work involves meeting all people where they are and healing them, both physically and spiritually. While America’s religious custom will help keep democracy from the forces of tyranny, religious leaders advocating one political party over another will likely not bring a divided America into common ground.
