{"id":38203,"date":"2024-09-05T21:39:19","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T04:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=38203"},"modified":"2024-09-05T21:39:19","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T04:39:19","slug":"liberal-democracy-and-confident-pluralism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/liberal-democracy-and-confident-pluralism\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberal Democracy and Confident Pluralism"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week as I was reading Jesus and the Powers <\/em>by N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, I received a notification on my phone from 6abc Philadelphia:<\/p>\n

\u201cCausalities reported in shooting at Georgia high school, suspect in custody.\u201d1<\/sup><\/p>\n

My first response was, \u201cNo, no, no.\u201d Throughout the day, I was glued to my laptop waiting for more reports hoping the casualties\u2019 number was wrong and praying for the students, teachers, and their parents. In between my prayers I asked, \u201cIs this a wicked problem?\u201d Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth in their book, Exploring Wicked Problems<\/em>, write, \u201cThe types of problems on which there is no real progress are inherently wicked because they deal with societal problems; that is, problems created and exacerbated by people.\u201d2 <\/sup>The school shootings in America have gotten worse over time just like the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. People have become more cautious in life due to so much killing and pain. Even Wright and Bird mention this. \u201cThe 2020\u2019s appear to be the most precarious and perilous time in human history since the 1930\u2019s.\u201d3 <\/sup>With so many scandals, embezzlements, sex crimes, and other atrocities by those who have absolute power, \u201cthe Church\u2019s answer to the global crises of our day is, in sum, the kingdom of God…and the Church\u2019s vocation is to build for the kingdom\u201d4 <\/sup><\/p>\n

Speaking of building for the kingdom, Wright and Bird take on two major tasks: (1) to summarize the biblical data about political power and its spiritual components, and (2) to lay out a practical theology to guide Christians in making decisions about how to interact with the political sphere. I really like how Wright and Bird\u2019s approach builds upon a specific view of God\u2019s kingdom that has become mainstream among Christian scholars with a high view of Scripture. In the first couple of chapters, they make clear that the kingdom Jesus brought fulfills the hopes of Israel to restore her fortunes in the aftermath of exile and to defeat the evil that wreaks havoc upon the world. \u201cThe kingdom is about God\u2019s rescue and restoration of the entire creation.\u201d5 <\/sup>The authors emphasize the importance of building for the kingdom. A huge part of building for the kingdom is to think about how to confront the political powers. The book really shines with two ways of confronting the powers: liberal democracy and confident pluralism.<\/p>\n

Liberal Democracy<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is brilliant because a liberal democracy is a form of democracy in which elected representatives who hold power are limited by a constitution that emphasizes protecting individual liberties, equality and the rights of minority groups. Among the many liberties that might be protected are freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of religion, the right to private property and privacy as well as equality before the law and due process under the rule of law. Wright and Bird say, \u201cLiberal democracy is \u2018liberal\u2019 in the sense that it regards civic freedoms as an inherent good that should not be subject to limitations unless completely necessary, and it is \u2018democratic\u2019 in the sense that voting rights apply equally to all citizens and each citizen\u2019s vote should have the same weight.\u201d6 <\/sup>I see four important ways liberal democracy is beneficial.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Increased political stability<\/li>\n
  2. Lower corruption<\/li>\n
  3. Respect for human dignity<\/li>\n
  4. A safe and secure community<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As Christians we are to love our neighbors because all of us are created in the image of God. How would life be different if elected officials worked hard to make sure all organizations in their country respected all humans, worked hard to lower corruption, and committed financially to help communities be safe and secure. I wonder what if these school gunmen had received genuine love, safety, and care from their family, community, and school friends and teachers, if it would have made a difference. In a liberal democracy we look out for one another.<\/p>\n

    Confident Pluralism<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Confident Pluralism argues that we can and must live together peaceably in spite of deep and sometimes irresolvable differences over politics, religion, sexuality, and other important matters.<\/p>\n

    In confident pluralism it is important for governments to facilitate and enable dissent, disagreement, and diversity in public forums. \u201cConfident pluralism has a very simple premise, namely, that people have the right to be different, to think differently, to live differently, to worship differently without fear of reprisal.\u201d7 <\/sup>This speaks of tolerance, humility, and patience. Confident Pluralism suggests it is often better to tolerate than to protest, better to project humility than defensiveness, and better to wait patiently for the fruits of persuasion than to force the consequences of coercion. Confident Pluralism will not give us the American Dream. But it might help avoid the American Nightmare.<\/p>\n

    Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

    It is impossible to be at peace with others when we feel we are better than them are when we feel they are wrong and should not exist on this earth. The answer is not a Christian nation. Part of the answer lies in living out the guidelines of liberal democracy and confident pluralism along with loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. https:\/\/6abc.com\/videoClip\/apalachee-high-school-shooting-winder-georgia-in\/15267270\/<\/a><\/li>\n
    2. Jesus and the Powers. 3.<\/li>\n
    3. 5<\/li>\n
    4. 15.<\/li>\n
    5. 8.<\/li>\n
    6. 158.<\/li>\n
    7. 171.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      This week as I was reading Jesus and the Powers by N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, I received a notification on my phone from 6abc Philadelphia: \u201cCausalities reported in shooting at Georgia high school, suspect in custody.\u201d1 My first response was, \u201cNo, no, no.\u201d Throughout the day, I was glued to my laptop waiting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[3257],"class_list":["post-38203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02-wright-and-bird","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38204,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38203\/revisions\/38204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}