Folks, I need your input on this

I have a reading assignment for you all and need your feedback as I work through my own response to this piece by Jonathan Rauch. Here’s the link: https://www.wayfaremagazine.org/p/how-latter-day-saints-can-save-america

Let me preface this by saying that I have met Rauch at an event my university hosted a few years back. He and I had a great chat over dinner, and I generally agree with him on some of his views in other contexts. Additionally, he was one of the early proponents of “apatheism,” a subject dear to my heart. So, my beef with Rauch is not personal, nor do I think he’s an unintelligent person. However, I think he’s missed the mark here.

The motivation for this article (and a talk he gave at BYU) seems to be one that a lot of political theorists have wrestled with since about the 1700s. To be brief, the problem is this: if you want a society that permits a lot of liberty, how do you get citizens to support that society without arbitrary force? One answer that has been floated (again, for 300 years) is that citizens need to adopt civic virtues that support their country. Things like civility and public reasoning are the kinds of virtues that many have argued for in the past. That leads to a further question, namely what vehicle you should use to promote those virtues. There are a host of options for that, too, but one strand of thought is that religion (or something like it) could be the mechanism to instill virtues. That’s the short version.

For my own part, I disagree with that strand of thought, but let’s assume that religion is a sensible path for making civic-minded citizens. Rauch has apparently decided that Mormonism is a model for instilling virtues like civility and public reasonableness in its members. And for this point he cites (of all people) Oaks.

For my part, I think his conclusion is just nuts. Granted, Rauch doesn’t have the benefit of the 30+ years of experience I had being raised in Mormonism, and maybe he’s coming at this having not sufficiently unpacked all of Oaks’ baggage. But from my vantage point, I can’t think of anything worse for a constitutional democracy than for citizens to follow the Mormon model.

Please take the time to read that article and get a sense of Rauch’s argument. But then come back here and tell me if I’m missing something. I’d especially like to hear from those of you who were knee-deep in the Mormon politics. Am I crazy?