Democracy In America Analysis

Religion in Relation to Democracy In Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, Tocqueville says that religion is needed in democracy for a democracy to function well and not fall into tyranny. Although he says this, he makes the point to say that there are certain things about religion that will need to be changed before it is suitable for democracy. The first of his changes is as follows, “It is therefore particularly in centuries of democracy that it is important not to allow the homage rendered secondary agents to be confused with the worship that is due only the Creator” (Tocqueville, 421). Tocqueville explains that when one confuses the homage due to the Creator with secondary agents it is equivalent to the Roman empire, where they worshipped the emperor as if he was a god. One of the biggest issues with …show more content…
All of these combined take a toll on many of the more busy working class citizens and those who have more free time appear more zealous; this creates an appearance of inequality among men. The final change Tocqueville offers in a way to make religion work in democracy is, “As men become more alike and equal, it is more important that religions, while carefully putting themselves out of the way of the daily movements of affairs, not collide unnecessarily with the generally accepted ideas and permanent interests that reign among the mass” (Tocqueville, 422-423). Tocqueville is saying that the church should not purposefully try and go against what the government says. Tocqueville is saying in much more basic terms that the church should not interfere with government policies and dictates. Tocqueville also says that often times that democracies usually lean towards pantheism rather than monotheism. This is because the idea of equality is ingrained in democratic people that they desire something they believe in so much to be in everything and to be everywhere. So the idea of multiple gods being everywhere and in