The name is absent

28 The Rice Institute Pamphlet
psychological level because it values religion for its useful-
ness rather than for its ultimate truth. They argue that
significant religious genius seldom if ever remains disinter-
ested in ultimate meanings. It is clear that new and complex
difficulties as well as differences of interpretation emerge if
Dewey’s metaphysical agnosticism is rejected. However,
questions of meaning cannot be appraised either positively
or negatively unless the problems of faith are recognized as
authentic and allowing of some limited answer in their
context.

J. Paul Williams’ What Americans Believe and How They
Worship shows conclusively that religion has a more posi-
tive role in democracy than Dewey was prepared to allow.⁴
Wiffiams does not deny that the world’s great religions ante-
date the rise of modem democracy or that religious leaders
in many instances retarded rather than encouraged its de-
velopment and growth. Yet he does not believe that these
facts support a complete disjunction between democracy
and religion in either theory or practice. He argues rather
that the democratic way of life requires positive religious
affirmation for its preservation and continued existence. In
particular, a belief in the dignity of man is sustained in ad-
verse circumstances by religious commitment. Williams’
study itself is evidence that religion’s role has not been
simply one of preserving tradition but of creative renewal of
individual and community life.

A reappraisal of the place of religious values in democratic
society is of special importance in view of the contemporary
.revival of religion in America. It can hardly be denied that
there has been a widespread renewal of participation at
many different levels of church life. At present, it is im-
possible to judge accurately whether the basic concerns of

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