Democracy in America — Volume 1 eBook

Such are the opinions of the Americans, and if any hold that the religious spirit which I admire is the very thing most amiss in America, and that the only element wanting to the freedom and happiness of the human race is to believe in some blind cosmogony, or to assert with Cabanis the secretion of thought by the brain, I can only reply that those who hold this language have never been in America, and that they have never seen a religious or a free nation.  When they return from their expedition, we shall hear what they have to say.

There are persons in France who look upon republican institutions as a temporary means of power, of wealth, and distinction; men who are the condottieri of liberty, and who fight for their own advantage, whatever be the colors they wear:  it is not to these that I address myself.  But there are others who look forward to the republican form of government as a tranquil and lasting state, towards which modern society is daily impelled by the ideas and manners of the time, and who sincerely desire to prepare men to be free.  When these men attack religious opinions, they obey the dictates of their passions to the prejudice of their interests.  Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.  Religion is much more necessary in the republic which they set forth in glowing colors than in the monarchy which they attack; and it is more needed in democratic republics than in any others.  How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie be not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? and what can be done with a people which is its own master, if it be not submissive to the Divinity?

Chapter XVII:  Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic Republic—­Part III

Principal Causes Which Render Religion Powerful In America Care taken by the Americans to separate the Church from the State—­The laws, public opinion, and even the exertions of the clergy concur to promote this end—­Influence of religion upon the mind in the United States attributable to this cause—­Reason of this—­What is the natural state of men with regard to religion at the present time—­What are the peculiar and incidental causes which prevent men, in certain countries, from arriving at this state.

The philosophers of the eighteenth century explained the gradual decay of religious faith in a very simple manner.  Religious zeal, said they, must necessarily fail, the more generally liberty is established and knowledge diffused.  Unfortunately, facts are by no means in accordance with their theory.  There are certain populations in Europe whose unbelief is only equalled by their ignorance and their debasement, whilst in America one of the freest and most enlightened nations in the world fulfils all the outward duties of religious fervor.