Elusive Togetherness: Church Groups Trying to Bridge America's Divisions

Many scholars and citizens alike have counted on civic groups to create broad ties that bind society. Some hope that faith-based civic groups will spread their reach as government retreats. Yet few studies ask how, if at all, civic groups reach out to their wider community. Can religious groups—long central in civic America—create broad, empowering social ties in an unequal, diverse society?


Over three years, Paul Lichterman studied nine liberal and conservative Protestant-based volunteerin...