Democracy After Christendom

America fought a civil war so that “government of the people, by the people, for the people should not perish from the earth.” In these words, President Abraham Lincoln made “democracy” the cause for which the United States must survive. Now, over a third of the world’s people live in recognized democracies. But democracy’s advance is faltering. Three-quarters of Americans think their democracy is under threat. Just a third of British people think theirs is working well. What has gone wrong?

We have a problem. We have forgotten where today’s democracy came from. We no longer know what it means. The first modern democracy was a system “held by consent.” It meant individual self-government according to conscience. It was a political idea designed to replace Christendom and eliminate religious persecution. In this “democracy after Christendom,” American Christianity and American democracy both flourished. Now, “cultural war” is fought over demands for a new Christendom. In this war against democracy, freedom suffers. The evangelical founder of modern democracy did not call for consensus, nor for majority rule. He called for “mere civility.” It is time for a new generation to rediscover these roots, and to reinvent democracy.