At a Political Crossroads: Study Excerpt

Second Quarter 2002

Several things strike us about the big picture [obtained from this study]. One is the extent to which Americans, including American Christians, choose to engage in practical problem-solving while giving relatively little thought to the strengths and weaknesses of the political system in which the problems arise. They may grumble about government red tape or distrust government generally, but for the most part they simply take the system for granted. This pragmatic habit or disposition induces historical forgetfulness or unconsciousness.

The second thing that stands out is the extent to which Christians, like other citizens, do not ask questions about the demands of justice, or about government's God-given calling, or about the distinguishable responsibilities that belong to citizenship in contrast to other arenas of moral responsibility. To ask about these matters sounds "abstract" and "theoretical" to many with whom we talked. The dominant concern [among Christians generally] is to promote good causes and behavior or to react to bad causes and behavior, presuming for the most part that people already know what is good and bad. But what is the proper thing for government to do about these matters and what should nongovernment institutions and organizations be called to do? Regardless of how direct and intensive a group's efforts to influence government, Citizenship remains a general term used to refer to a wide range of good behavior and support for good social causes rather than a term that clearly distinguishes political and governmental responsibilities from the responsibilities that belong to families, churches, schools, professional organizations, and so forth.

Moreover, the Christians who are involved in the organizations examined in this study often hold quite different views of what is right and good about abortion, about poverty relief, about environmental protection, or about civil rights. To sort out and clarify these differences among Christians will require discussion of political philosophy and not merely battles between liberals and conservatives over bills in Congress.

A third characteristic that stands out is how great the opportunity appears to be for Catholics, in particular, to coordinate a variety of civic education activities in their churches, schools, and community development organizations. It is true that many Catholics know little about Catholic social teaching; most do not use Catholic schools; and many do not attend church regularly. But for Protestants the situation is even more disconnected and incoherent. There is no single tradition of Christian social teaching among Protestants; fewer Protestants than Catholics use Christian schools; and many do not attend church regularly.

Finally, it is worth noting how little criticism of public education we found in our interviews and reading. Most Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, simply take for granted the system of tax-supported schools that excludes Christian and other independent schools from its orbit and displays relatively weak patterns of civic education. Although there is considerable political debate today over school-choice reforms, the question of how schooling fits into the civic education of today's youth is seldom broached. This matter is closely related to the first two points. When Americans think in terms of public action, or service to neighbors, or lobbying legislators, they do not typically think about those activities in relation to the kind of civic training they have received in the schools. If American Christians have concerns about hunger, racism, criminal justice, war and peace, taxes, family policies, and the environment, as reflections of how government is serving the common good, one would think that Christian citizens would be asking profoundly critical questions about how public education can be changed to prepare better citizens and public officials. At the very least one would imagine that these civic concerns would be very strong among Christian home schoolers and those who send their children to Christian schools. Yet that does not appear to be the case. If, therefore, Christian civic responsibility requires serious, sustained, and comprehensive Christian civic education, then Christians have a long way to go to reach the point where their churches, homes, schools, lobby groups, and mobilizing campaigns are connected more closely and engaged more intensively in such a cause.

We hope this study will serve as a springboard to creative ventures in comprehensive Christian civic education.