The Danger of Democracy – The Law of God and Public Policy

The Danger of Democracy
The Law of God and Public Policy

“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them…” Deuteronomy 17:18, 19

Democracy can be a particularly dangerous form of government, especially, as in our day, when what Christopher Lasch described as a “culture of narcissism” has become the dominant culture and mindset. “All through the day—I, me, mine; I, me, mine; I, me, mine.…” The Beatles, back in the early 70s, observed this trend and celebrated (lamented?) it in song. People want what people want, and democratic governments know that the way to stay in power is either to give the people what they want or convince them that you are doing so.

Not only does this represent an inversion of the proper leadership roles of a nation—governments are supposed to lead, not follow—but it is also a perversion of the divine standard for good public policy. Unless God has the last word on what government needs to implement in the way of laws, regulations, and so forth, all laws become subject to whim and the shifting foci of power politics. Governments govern well when they enact policies which promote what is good—what is in line with God’s view of how the world should be (cf. Genesis 1 and the frequently repeated, “God saw that it was good”).

This is why familiarity with God’s Law and Word is so important, beginning among the members of the Christian community. How shall we weigh the demands of the people and decide what are the true needs of the day? Not, as we have seen, in a way that merely benefits those who hold public office. And not in a way that panders to the whims and fancies of the populace. Christians will insist that all matters of public policy are to be guided, shaped, and conformed to the teaching of God’s standards of goodness. Government cannot fulfill the requirements of its good purpose apart from familiarity with and input from the good Law of God. It is thus the duty of those who have been entrusted with the Law of God to make its good teaching and blessings known to those who are called as His servants for good.

Doubtless this position will seem untenable to many and likely to elicit cries of “Theocracy!” from those who prefer to make public policy according to the temper of the times. But if the Law of God were removed from the Western legal tradition, including the legal foundations of our own nation, much that is stable and good about law and public policy in the present would cease to exist.

Christians must demonstrate the value of God’s Law in their own lives and communities. And they must patiently work to persuade their neighbors of the benefits God’s Law—again, the spirit rather than the letter of the Law—can bring to the nation as a whole. Then they must take up the difficult work of helping to shape public policy according to the teachings of God’s Law, concerning which we shall have more to say in subsequent installments in this series.

The second law of the logic of public policy can thus be simply phrased: Those policies are good which conform to the teaching of God’s Law and Word. Period.

Visit our website, www.ailbe.org, and sign up to receive our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell, featuring writers from the period of the Celtic Revival and T. M.’s reflections on Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition. Does the Law of God still apply today? Order a copy of T. M.’s book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, and study the question for yourself.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.