The future of democracy

Our world is changing very quickly. Will democracy survive or be overtaken by events?

Lincoln's 'Gettysburg address' speaks of 'government of the people, by the people and for the people'. This we call democracy.
We could be forgiven for thinking that democracy is here to stay. This century it has survived two world wars and seen off communism. Francis Fukuyama has published his book which argues that liberal democracy represents The End of History. But this certainty in the continuance of democracy may be misplaced. The historian Herbert Butterfield said: 'the only absolute is change'. Viewing post-modern society we see every kind of institution dissolving. We should not think democracy will be exempt.
So here we will consider how democracy is under threat, and then consider what contribution Christianity made to the democratic idea.

Threats to democracy

It is not just political sleaze which makes people cynical and undermines democracy. Let me briefly sketch eight threats to democratic government in our contemporary world.

1. Media manipulation. There is an extreme concentration of media power in the hands of men like Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner of CNN. Such people can determine what we hear about, not just how it is reported. Many people also detect a rising arrogance among journalists with their own agendas. Objective and impartial reporting is hard to come by. Another problem is that news coverage has degenerated into 'infotainment' which trivialises serious public debate.

2. Technocratic government. We now live in an extremely complicated world. How many politicians, let alone us citizens, really understand the workings of the world money markets? Who is fully cognisant of the complexities of global warming or genetic engineering? We must face as a real danger a new technocratic class managing our fragile economies and making us dependent on them. Unelected Quangos are one sure sign of this technocracy.

3. Centralised government. A small example of this general trend in Britain is the creation of grant-maintained schools which are out of the hands of the local authority. Whether grant-maintained schools are good or bad is not the argument. The point is simply that the further away power is, the less accountable it is to us, the people. Many would argue that the same can be said about the EU's government from Brussels.

4. Dissolution of public spirit. For democracy to work people have to participate, but we see increasing apathy. For example, in Britain a group like 'Rock the Vote' are trying to interest young people in the next General Election. One source of this apathy is the liberal debunking of patriotism which then contributes to dissolution of public spirit. But if you have a democracy you need a public which cares about its country.

5. Collapse of the family. The family is essential to producing the self-reliant individuals a democracy requires. How-ever, everywhere we see its decay. All parties commit themselves to the family but do very little. The Labour party recently pledged its commitment to 'the family', but refused to define what a family is, saying it was a changing entity. This reduces such a pledge to nonsense.

6. Oligarchy in the courts. One particularly worrying trend in the USA is the way the Supreme Court has overruled the legislature. The 1973 abortion ruling really started this trend; this year the State of Colorado had a law, protecting objection to homosexuality struck down on the grounds of discrimination. Many in the UK are calling for a written constitution like the American one. Yet a real danger would be the way law started to be made by the courts regardless of Parliament.

7. Political correctness. This is an unhealthy influence which goes against the democratic spirit. Ironically, those who stand for political correctness claim to be libertarians, but it acts to gag people.

8. Inadequacy of secular foundations. For democracy to work we need to have a high view of man and an adequate moral framework. Secularism reduces man to a creature governed only by self-interest. This goes back to Enlightenment ideas of a social contract, which reduces democracy to pure consumerism. Whatever the majority wants at any particular time is 'right'.

Christianity and democracy

A fair account of the relationship between Christianity and democracy and an assessment of the Christian contribution to the democratic idea is to acknowledge much ambiguity. The mediaeval papacy did not exactly support democracy. In the Reformation, Luther's treatment of the peasants was harsh. In this century in South Africa, some Christians argued for apartheid. We have also to recognise that humanism has contributed much to democracy. There was a democracy of a kind (free men only) in 5th-century Athens. Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire campaigned vigorously for individual freedom, and the French Revolution (for all its horrors) did give us the democratic ideals of 'Liberty, Equality and Fraternity'. However, it is arguable that the contribution of Christianity has been decisive in establishing the democracy we enjoy in two main ways.

Theory

Christian truth provides the vision and framework. The Bible teaches a high view of humanity as made in God's image. All people are equal and deserve to vote, with all the responsibility that entails. The doctrine of the Trinity provides the basis for difference and a diversity which does not threaten unity. Scripture also gives us a basic framework of morality in which democracy can operate and it inculcates a desire for justice. Further, it is realistic about human sin and helps people to recognise the necessity for law and order. Christianity also gives society a reason for hope, that good will ultimately triumph over evil and it is worth pursuing. Lastly, passages like Deuteronomy 17. 14-20, make it clear that rulers are under God and answerable to him, so curbing misuse of power.

Practice

Though there have been failures, many actions have flowed from these principles supportive of democracy. There is only space to mention a few here.
The Old Testament prophets denounced injustice among a complacent ruling class and warned of the judgment of God, e.g. Amos 5. The early church provides us with a model community where people were truly concerned about and cared for each other (see Acts 2 and Paul's letters). Even the medieval church placed limits on the power of kings. In the 16th century Luther's preaching of 'the priesthood of all believers' encouraged people to take themselves and their opinions seriously. Calvin and Beza (his successor at Geneva) taught the people's right to resist tyrants.
In the 17th century Samuel Rutherford's great book was entitled Lex Rex (Law is king), not Rex Lex (the king is law). In the 18th century, Puritan and Enlightenment ideas to combined to produce the American Revolution which thrived because rather than the 'social contract' idea only, there was the Puritan 'Covenant' idea of a people committed to each other under God. In the 19th century evangelicals in the UK helped to form the 'nonconformist conscience' which did so much to initiate social and political reform. In our own time Christians' involvement was crucial in bringing down the Marcos regime in the Philippines, communism in East Germany and Romania, and apartheid in the South Africa.

Preserving democracy

As we see democracy endangered in our day what can Christians do to preserve and indeed improve the democracy we enjoy?
First, we need to be aware of the threats to our democratic way of life which were pointed out above and do all we can to resist them. The power of the media is perhaps the greatest danger. Perhaps we should push governments to put a tax on advertising in order to rein in the media as well as being a useful tax on covetousness generally.
Secondly, I make three suggestions to build greater democracy in Britain.

1. We must practice democracy in the church. If, for example, the Church of England is to make a healthy contribution to democracy in the UK, then let local congregations elect their ministers and let ministers elect bishops. It is not appropriate for positions within the church to be given from the top downwards, nor, for instance, for unelected bishops to criticise elected politicians. And what is the state of democracy in institutions like the Evangelical Alliance and other such bodies?

2. We must seek to improve our economic system. It is true that great inequalities of wealth hinder democracy. The so-called 'stakeholder' economy has a lot in its favour. It encourages employee involvement and gives people a greater 'ownership' towards society generally.

3. There must be constitutional reform. Much power has gone to Europe and the Quangos and our constitution is demonstrably antique. It is not reformed in a good way, preserving its essentially Christian character, than those wanting a written constitution, which will give power to the judges and be completely secular, will win out.

To start with, we must scrap the House of Lords and replace it with an elected upper house, say, a House of Statesmen. Then we must go further and politely ask the Windsors to retire to private life. Being members or citizens of a 'commonwealth' in one thing, being their paltry 'subjects' is quite another.
Having carried out these reforms, we will then be in a good position to fight for a renewed democracy, retaining its Christian foundation.
Some people may wonder whether democracy is that important. Isn't God (rather than the people) sovereign, and isn't good government more important than democratic government? Well, certainly God is sovereign. But he has delegated power to human beings, and the question is how best is that power to be delegated? To the few or the many? To me, it seems that to be delegating power to all people by giving us all a vote, best expresses God's view of us all being made in his image. Then the standard of government will be the responsibility of us all. As Christians we need to be politically involved, value our heritage, and stand against the hollowing out of the democratic ideal which is taking place as never before. Remember, 'it's not democracy that makes men good, but good men who make democracy'.

Ian Cooper works with the L'Abri Fellowship, is a local CARE representative in Hampshire and a freelance writer.

The future of democracy

Threats to democracy in the modern world and a correct Christian response

Threats to democracy

Christianity and democracy

Theory

Practice

Preserving democracy

Main Articles

Other articles