Axiological Foundation: Emancipation of Values, National Prayers, and Same-Sex Marriage

Abstract

Alexis de Tocqueville’s travels through America gave him greater appreciation for the political institutions and civic activism of its citizens. His critical insights revealed the presence of cultural influences having originated with the Protestant Reformation and Enlightenment, especially with regard to popular attitudes toward the role of religion in society. The axiological foundation of the religious axis had emerged from the dissolution of Roman Catholic hegemony, which in turn inspired novel rationales for moral and religious pluralism. Contemporaneously, the disentanglement of religious final causes or ends from theological speculation ushered in new scientific investigative techniques based on hypothetical-deductive methods. Built on the axiological foundation, the containment structure of American political architecture afforded protections for the competitive dynamics as well coalition building of diverse religious denominations and sects and opposing political interests. Evangelical Christianity and Mormon Christianity exemplify two Christianities with incompatible theologies yet compatible moral views in the culture wars.