For most of my life, American Christians were cheerleaders for democracy. That’s when we were in charge of the democracy. Today, oddly, many conservative Christians no longer believe in or support democracy. They seem to favor a kind of theocracy…
Are our churches prepared for Christian autocracy?
A 1638 treatise titled A Discourse about Civil Government in a new Plantation whose design is Religion, written in response to the founding of New Haven, Conn., contained this definition of a properly Christianized government: Theocracy, or to make the…
Autocracy as heresy
During the social revolution in South Africa that brought an end to the era of apartheid and a government of white supremacy, Allan Boesak, a Black South African theologian, wrote, “Apartheid is heresy.” And not only that, he later wrote,…
Conservative Christianity as threat to democracy
Christians should support democracy. This should not be a shocking statement. It should not even need to be said. U.S. Baptists, at least, used to be fairly clear about it. But today, it is becoming increasingly clear from looking around…