Most people today believe that our modern democratic system came from the Greeks in Athens. It is true that the Athenians pioneered an early form of democratic government centuries before Christ, but it was only semi-democratic: women and slaves were not allowed to vote, and only a certain section of the men, amounting to about 10-20% of the population, could exercise their democratic rights. Furthermore, the democracy of Athens swayed back and forth between 508 and 322 BC, and came to a dramatic end with the rise of the political demagogues, and final suppression by the Macedonians in 322 BC. Plato, in his Republic, predicted what would happen to a secular democracy: ‘An excessive desire for liberty at the expense of everything else,’ he wrote, ‘is what undermines democracy and leads to the demand for tyranny.’
Although Athens had an influence on the development of modern democracy, the main thrust for this movement came from the Reformation. As the reformers wrestled with the corrupt hierarchy of the church, which had grown to reflect the Roman Empire in its pyramid-style control, they rediscovered the New Testament model in the 1520s. In the early church the people chose their leaders, and their leaders were the servants of the people, following Christ’s example. The Swiss reformers began to challenge the overbearing religious system of their time, and in turn this influenced the Scottish reformers. When Scotland left the papal structure, the fledgling Protestant church established the biblical understanding of the priesthood of all believers, and the democratic voting of the people for a plural eldership of servant leaders. This can clearly be seen in the 1560 First Book of Discipline, in which it is stated:
‘But this liberty with all care must be reserved to every several kirk [church] to have their votes and suffrages in election of their ministers… The election of elders and deacons ought to be… appointed yearly, by common and free election… How the votes and suffrages may be best received, so that every man may give his vote freely, every several church may take such order as best seems to them.’
It was Andrew Melville who pursued the Scottish reformers’ vision of a truly Presbyterian Church, fully establishing it in its democratic structure and plurality of leadership by 1578, thus rooting out any pyramid power system. Such ideas began to influence the Puritans in England, so that in the seventeenth century there became a widespread movement to a more democratic church and civil government, with Puritans like Edward Coke, John Hampden and John Pym, leading the way. It would, of course, take a few more centuries of reform, to see a truly democratic government emerge in Britain, which in turn would impact much of the world. It would be a fascinating history, full of twists and turns, but it would be the Christians who would be key influencers at every stage, for what became a Christian-based democratic nation. Today’s secular democracy is, however, moving down a different path, as predicted by Plato. Time will tell what we have done with our Christian heritage.
‘Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their company to Antioch’ (Acts 15:22, NKJV).
Image by kelvinhu, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons