I was intrigued to hear an argument that American democracy needs Christianity, and I was especially intrigued to hear it from an openly gay atheist. In all, the book is interesting. The argument basically goes like this: There are things that the U.S. constitution does not deal with (morality, ethics), and there need to be other institutions that step in to handle those things. The bargain between Christianity and the U.S. form of government has been that each will handle what it does best. Of course, that bargain has broken down. The church has become a political entity, and American politics has taken on the look of religious institutions (people worshiping at the alter of red and blue).

Two things Rauch assumes in this book (unsurprisingly, given that he works at a Washington thinktank): that liberalism is a desirable political system/ideology; that capitalism is a desirable economic arrangement. I think if he were to question those two terms, the argument might have to be rethought.

But also: I am not convinced that Christianity is the only way to fill the gap here. There are other ways that people can choose to organize themselves and address questions of morals and ethics. He might agree with this argument, but I think he's taking a pragmatic approach: Christianity is so big and powerful that we should look for ways to persuade Christians to change the church.