For too long, the advancement of democracy has been misunderstood as requiring the abandonment or privatization of Christianity and other religions. Religion, however, is not an isolable function that humans can marginalize or emphasize at will. The faiths, including the secular faiths, by which people live direct their lives and not only their modes of worship.

Working within an American context, James W. Skillen explores the implications of a Christian-democratic approach to the meaning of civil society. In a series of eight insightful essays on diverse public policy concerns, he asks: What does racial justice, or environmental protection, or family policy look like when approached from a Christian-democratic perspective? And what about questions of wel- fare, education, and political participation? Skillen argues that the roots of a Christian-democratic approach are neither liberal nor con- servative but pluralistic, opening the way to a healthy regard for both social complexity and government's responsibility to uphold political community.