Democracy Needs Religion—But Which?

German sociologist Hartmut Rosa characterizes modernity as the product of a triple acceleration. Technology speeds up movement and communication, technological change itself keeps accelerating, and, as a result, social life moves faster as generations shorten, families break up, and jobs last only a few years instead of developing into a career. Daily life turns frantic. Despite the flood of labor-saving devices, we don’t eat in a leisurely way. We eat more quickly, sleep less, communicate less with others. Acceleration subverts the political promise of modernity. For democracy to work well, we have to slow down, deliberate, consider, but modern acceleration won’t let us. Before leaders formulate a solution, the problems change. Modernity promises freedom but leaves us feeling like rats trapped on a spinning wheel.