Two movements once at the center of our society—liberal politics and American Christianity—have gone astray, say Eric Alterman and Ross Douthat. On this edition of Moyers & Company, each meets separately with Moyers to discuss the implications of this for American democracy. Alterman describes the grand aspirations and historical ironies that prompted him to write The Cause: The Fight for American Liberalism from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama. He calls on liberals to regain “the fighting spirit” that characterized the New Deal. Douthat, the conservative op-ed columnist for The New York Times and author of Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, is just as candid about how institutional Christianity has declined from a mainstream and bipartisan force to a polarizing, heretical combatant in the culture war. And, in a new essay, Moyers talks about the federal appeals court decision to allow political and issue advertising on public TV and radio channels. Broadcast date: April 20, 2012. (57 minutes)