Can Christianity Save Democracy? Os Guinness v Jonathan Rauch hosted by Vince Vitale

Unbelievable?

Premier Unbelievable?

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2025

⏱️ 85 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Can Christianity save democracy? Vince Vitale hosts a frank, generous exchange between social critic Os Guinness and author Jonathan Rauch about faith’s civic foundations, liberalism, and power. This is one we’ve been looking forward to! Rauch, a scientific materialist, argues that democracy needs Christianity’s deepest teachings; Guinness locates America’s virtues in the Hebrew–Christian tradition. Don’t miss the most moving moment: around the hour mark, Guinness turns to Rauch and apologises without caveat for the ways Christians have treated gay people like him. Rauch receives it with grace, and the room changes. It’s a rare, exemplary act of repentance that models the public virtue both men commend. Is religion necessary for public virtue? What happens when politics replaces moral conviction? And how can Christians engage civically without being captured by partisan extremes? From the founding ideals of democracy to the spiritual crises of modern secularism, this discussion asks whether Christianity’s values of conscience, humility, and truth are exactly what our societies need most. For Jonathan Rauch Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonrauch.bsky.social Jonathan Rauch's Books NEW Cross Purposes: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300273540/cross-purposes/ and here: https://amzn.to/47laSQC For Os Guinness: https://osguinness.com/ Os Guinness' Books: Guinness' America Agonistes: https://amzn.to/4hmnzzj Our Civilizational Moment: https://amzn.to/4qlqHPV SOCIAL LINKS Twitter: https://twitter.com/unbelievablefe Facebook: / https://facebook.com/premierunbelievable Instagram: / https://instagram.com/premierunbelievable Tik Tok: / https://tiktok.com/@premier.unbelievable 👉 Get bonus content, updates, fascinating articles, and early access to new episodes - absolutely free! Join now at www.premierunbelievable.com 🎉📢 • Subscribe to the Unbelievable? podcast: https://www.premier.plus/unbelievable • Support us: https://www.premierunbelievable.com/geolink/donate

Transcript

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0:29.6	Welcome to Premier Unbelievable, where we tackle like's biggest questions from every angle. I'm Vince Vitale,
0:38.7	and today we're diving into one of the most pressing cultural questions of our time, a question
0:43.1	that seems to get more urgent with each passing day. Can Christianity save democracy?
0:49.5	In an age of rising populism, polarization, and the erosion of public trust, some say religion is the
0:55.3	primary problem, while others believe it is essential to the solution. That's the tension we're
1:00.8	exploring today prompted by a provocative new book by Jonathan Rauch, who's a returning guest
1:05.8	to the show. His new book is titled Cross Purpurposes, Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy. To respond and
1:12.8	engage, we're also joined by one of today's leading Christian public intellectuals, Oz
1:17.9	Guinness. Here's a bit more background on each of today's guests. Jonathan Roush is a graduate
1:23.6	of Yale University, a prolific author, a contributing editor to the Atlantic, and a
1:29.0	winner of the National Magazine Award, among others. He is now senior fellow at the Brookings
1:34.2	institutions, and in cross-purposes, which was published this year, he critiques what he calls
1:38.9	the politicization of white evangelicalism and calls for a reformation of Christianity's role in democratic life.
1:46.9	Oz Guinness, likewise a renowned author and social critic, spent his childhood in China,
1:52.0	where he witnessed the climax of the Chinese Revolution in 1949.
	...

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