Democracy and Christianity

Democracy imposes the views of the majority of people on the rest of the people. In reality, the way that party politics works means that the government often only represents a minority of the population. The system allows a minority with political power to impose their will on the majority of the people.

• This is a huge problem for Christians. Political power is coercive power. The state has the power to make people do things that they do not want to do. Christians are not interested in coercion, because God wants people to be free.

• When Christians held a majority position in society, they were quite happy to use democracy to impose their views on the rest of society. Now the boot is on the other foot, we do not like a secular majority imposing their ungodly laws on us. This sounds like sour grapes.

• Being in the minority is now giving us an understanding of what it felt like for people who disliked Christianity when they had Christian views imposed on them by Christians using democratic power.

• The only way back in a democratic system is for Christians is to win the struggle in the marketplace of ideas. If we could get back to where Christians are the majority of people in the society, then secular people in parliament would not be able to impose their views on us. However, we probably don’t want to go back there, as we understand now that it is not right for one group in society to impose their views on others. Now we know what it feels like, we should avoid a situation where we are imposing our views about how society should be organised on people who have different ideas (I suspect many Christians would still like to do that).

• The only solution to this conundrum is to find the lowest common denominator, ie set of ideas that everyone in society can agree on. Then no one will have rules that they do not agree with imposed on them.

• There are two principles that the majority of people in a society agree on.
  
  • Assaulting another person is wrong.
  • Stealing is wrong.
  These two principles represent a consensus on which everyone can agree. This means that human governments should limit themselves to dealing with assault and theft.

• Not surprisingly, these two principles are the heart of the laws for society that God gave to Moses.

See Political Space.

A Bit more WOT

Gene Redlin said,

I recognize that the Gospel is the weapon that will get us further than any bomb or force. I understand your idea of interchange and communication. I do think this is a war for the ideals good and bad of western civilization. Capitulation defeats us all.

My question of you, and what I wish you would blog on is this: Given that terrorism is a weapon. Given that the USA is not going to be a terrorist nation. Given that terrorism is rooted in a political/religious ideology called Islam (not many Lutherans Blowing themselves and others up) and given that we are not fighting a war that seems to get desired results, if you could have the Presidents ear and give him sound (even Biblical) advice on a strategy that does accomplishes the purpose for which he rules at this point, protecting the people under him, and pursuing the path of peace in the world, What would you advise him to do?

First of all, I need to point out that terror is the weapon. It is a weapon used by some Islamic groups, but the United States military also uses terror as a weapon. A one-ton bomb dropped from a B1 bomber causes just as much terror as bomb let off by a suicide bomber. The difference is that the B1 pilot has better technology than the suicide bomber, so he can cause terror without risking his life. If the latter had the technical ability to hit his target without risking his life, he would probably do so. However, they both cause terror to the people they target. Islam does not have a monopoly on terror.

Secondly, we need to understand that both Islam and Christianity are expansionist religions. They both claim to have a monopoly on truth. They both want the whole world to accept the truth that they hold. This fact puts them on a collision course. The key issue is how they spread their beliefs throughout the world. Will they work towards their goal by sharing ideas, or will they use military power to accept what they believe to be the truth.

Throughout most of history, Christians have used military force to support the spread of Christianity. We now seem to have gone beyond that and most Christians would now prefer that people freely accept the gospel. However, we need to understand that many people in the Middle East see the invasion of Iraq as another attempt by a Christian nation to conquer Islam. I presume they see US threats to bomb Iran in the same way.

Islam’s history is not much better, as Islam was also expanded by acts of war at times. Some Moslems may still want to spread Islam by force. However, it is unfair to dump that on all Moslems. Those who want to use military force are primarily interested in getting rid of invaders like the United States. I presume that you would do the same, if Saudi Arabia had a hundred thousand troops in New Mexico.

I am confident that in the end the gospel of Jesus will be successful, not because we have bigger guns, but because we have the Holy Spirit on our side.

More tomorrow.