Can Christianity be Democratic?
I recently read an article about how while everyone wants to know if Islam and democracy are compatible, everybody was asking the same thing about Catholicism a century ago. The implication being, of course, that since Catholicism can obviously be harmonized with democracy, so too can Islam.
But after reading this (German Language) article by Yale philosopher Seyla Benhabib (left), Cosmopolitanism and Democracy, I’m not so sure we’ve made the right conclusions. Not about Islam, or even Catholicism, but Christianity at large. We’ve just assumed Protestant democracy to be coherent.
I’m beginning to wonder if Christian democracy is only possible with a bridled Christianity. Benhabib’s essay barely touches on religion. It’s a talk given on the 80th birthday of Jürgen Habermas, one of the most important theorists of European unity.
Pointing out that democracy has always implied boundaries, while cosmopolitanism has always resisted boundaries, Benhabib concludes:
In an age of globalization, the inclusion of the other becomes a world-citizen’s duty, a duty extending beyond national boundaries. (my translation)
What she’s getting at is that human rights are more important than democracy. This is a fancy way of saying that the mob shouldn’t have the last word.
But as Christians, don’t we believe the same? Don’t we also believe, with the humanists, that majority opinion does not make something right or wrong, but that there’s a higher law? The reason Catholics in the early 20th century found democracy wanting is precisely because democracy puts right and wrong on the line in the interest of electing wisely.
This is not to say that democracy is not the best way of containing tyranny—although history can challenge that one, too. Hamas was elected fair and square, as were the Nazis in the late 20s and early 30s (before they tired of Democracy).
Finally, of course, the Bible presents a decidedly non-democratic version of the future, a monarchical rule by Jesus. So the question becomes: is democracy a value for Christians at all?
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While I don't presume to have the full answer to the questions you pose, I do want to point out that I see two of them very differently. The answer to "is democracy a value for Christians?" is probably no, at least in the sense that democracy is not intrinsic to Christianity. How else would we explain the first millenium and a half or so of Christianity having little to no democracy, or the fact that it doesn't seem to show up anywhere in scripture?
The question "can Christianity be democratic?" seems very different to me though. There are several aspects of democracy that seem to resonate strongly with Christian values, such as accountability for leaders and equality for all before the law. Exploring how we might answer this question seems most relevant to how we as Christians approach living in a democratic society.
Your reply reminds me of a book I've got waiting for me, some time next week: Translating the Message by Lamin Sanneh. One of Sanneh's points is that Christianity's success in spreading far beyond the cultural context of Jesus' Palestine lies in the flexibility the faith developed early on in adjusting to entirely different worlds.
One need only consider the distance between Christian farmers in Sweden and Christian rickshaw pullers in Bangladesh ... these have completely different concerns, yet the Christian faith is flexible enough to accommodate both. The same holds for democracy, as you so helpfully point out.