Why Should Christians Value Democracy?

It's not the kingdom of God, but it is a good thing

I appreciate all the positive feedback on Tuesday’s post, one that was challenging to write and unnerving to publish. But I can also appreciate why it bothered other readers, like the one who was both unconvinced by its argument and disturbed by its “apocalyptic tone.”

I understand that choice of word. After all, I was describing an “existential” crisis that risked the “death of democracy.” And I stand by that description. Both as a patriotic American who admires the best of our nation’s complicated politics and as a historian of modern Europe who knows how fragile democracies have been in other countries, I don’t want the reelection of Donald Trump to explode our system.

But I never framed the problem as being “apocalyptic” in anything like that word’s biblical or theological sense. The 2024 election could lead to the end of democracy as Americans have known it; it will not lead to the end of all things. Whether or not Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office, the Lord Jesus Christ will still be seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And while no one knows the day or hour of Christ’s return to judge the living and the dead, I doubt that anything that happens on November 5, 2024 will determine the timing of the eschaton.

Which is why I went out of my way to make Tuesday’s argument in non-religious terms.

I’m a Christian who loves his country, but I’m not a Christian nationalist. I don’t believe (to use Paul Miller’s definition of that vexing term) that “the American nation is defined by Christianity” or “that the government should take active steps to keep it that way.” I don’t believe that God has specially blessed this nation or made a covenant with it. Whatever its advantages and disadvantages, our constitutional democracy is ultimately just one version of the kingdom of the world, never to be equated with the kingdom of God.¹

So how I do put all that together? If I’m right that a second Trump victory will replace one earthly form of government with another, should Christians even care about that outcome? “If you value American democracy,” I argued, “there is no real choice in this year’s presidential election.” But that begs the question:

Should Christians value democracy?

Of course, I think they should. But let me start by playing devil’s advocate.

A statue of the Roman emperor Constantine I in York, England - CC BY-SA 4.0 (Chabe01)