The contributors to this volume address a question fundamental to political life in America: “Is religion healthy for democracy because it encourages civic participation and the expression of ideas or dangerous because it is associated with sectarianism and dogmatism?” (23). After an introductory essay by editor Alan Wolfe on the necessity of political scientists' considering religion a viable subject of study, John C. Green uses decades of polling data to argue that religious diversity has been a good thing for American democracy, although not every religious group has agreed with the curtailing of their own views for the sake of everyone's right to religious freedom. Such tensions over religious pluralism are currently front-and-center for Muslim Americans, the subject of Amaney Jamal's essay. Jamal's piece uses survey data to demonstrate that Muslims in America – whether first-generation immigrants or not – hold no monolithic or easily predictable view either of their role in the body politic or of Islam's role in shaping political opinion and loyalty. To the discussion of religious pluralism, Bette Novit Evans adds a necessary reminder that the First Amendment neither causes nor ensures religious tolerance; rather, it both sustains and coincides with the nation's complicated religious landscape, offering grounds for religious tolerance – and the adjudication of religious discrimination – when its citizens want it to do so.

Piggybacking on the matter of religious pluralism, the essays by James L. Gibson, Clyde Wilcox, and Geoffrey C. Layman examine the sources of “intolerant” religious politics. Gibson's data reveal that religious “traditionalism” encourages religious intolerance, although public intolerance of atheists tends to trump intolerance of nearly all religious groups. For Wilcox, the Christian right – often viewed by scholars and liberal pundits alike as the bastion of religious and political tolerance – has historically been internally divided and deliberate in political decision-making. As Layman shows, however, the appearance of hardened religious conservatives in the activist ranks of the GOP – and no less ardent secularists in the activist ranks of the Democratic Party – is clear, although it is unclear that the full “polarization” of American politics will become normative in the future.

Questions about religion and political identity direct essays by Fredrick C. Harris, Allison Calhoun-Brown, and David L. Leal. Harris examines the individualistic and materialistic “prosperity gospel” and its impact on African American political sensibilities, arguing that the communitarian, prophetic voice of black religion seems to now have a popular and politically important counternarrative. Still, Harris believes it “possible that believers may develop a mixed theological worldview” that may emphasize “individual transformation as well as the need for community transformation through social and political action” (276). Calhoun-Brown also notes the complexity and uncertainty of religiously inspired political engagement, looking at how faith affects women's understanding of democratic participation. “Does religiosity help or hurt the empowerment of women?” (299) she asks. Calhoun-Brown then shows that it does both, as religious institutions “can energize women politically … without necessarily empowering them individually” (297). The political lives of American Latinos direct Leal's essay. As a synthesis of available research, his nuanced take on the relationship between religion, grassroots organizing, ethnic identity, culture, and party politics is a must-read, especially for anyone teaching Latino politics.

The volume concludes with a treatment of religion in cultural politics. Though keenly aware of how religion has fueled the “culture wars” in America, Kenneth D. Wald and David C. Leege nevertheless conclude that the American political system and Americans' tendency to decry religious partisanship will prevent religious-based politics from radicalizing. Nancy L. Rosenblum's essay theorizes that American religious politics have been relatively “moderate,” primarily because room has been made for religious minorities and religious dissent. Such space should be encouraged in the future to ensure both the preservation of religious autonomy and the possibility of mutual respect, a perspective seconded by editor Ira Katznelson in his concluding essay on how religion might factor into a rereading of liberal theories of democracy.

All in all, Religion and Democracy in the United States does what the best essay collections do: lay out a central question and let each contributor answer it in their own way. No cut-and-dried answer to the main question – danger or opportunity? – is provided, but each essay points to the unavoidable conclusion that religion is a necessary part of how democracy works in the United States. This sensitivity to the multiple political functions of religion is commendable, making the volume a fine contribution to the field of political science and an excellent starting point for any scholar interested in past and present arrangements of public faith.