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Souder: Democracy Without Judeo-Christian Basis Doomed to Fail

by Fred Jackson
January 7, 2005

(AgapePress) - An Indiana congressman is warning that an Iraqi-style democracy may not make much of a change there. Why? Because the Judeo-Christian ethic is critical to the success of such a venture, he says.

Earlier this week, Republican Mark Souder was one of the speakers at a bipartisan prayer service before the opening of the 109th session of Congress. He told the audience that religious faith is the conscience of democracy.

"The United States was at its founding, and still is, not only a religious nation but largely a Christian nation," Souder said. "Through Judeo-Christian beliefs that anchor our legal, our economic, our military, and our political system, the balance of powers and constraints upon the state -- and thus upon the majority -- assume the sinful nature of man and one that is not perfectable."

Without a faith grounded in such beliefs, the congressman said, democracy as it is known in the United States cannot work -- and he believes that could well be the case in Iraq.

"John Adams said, 'Our Constitution is made for a moral and religious people,'" Souder noted. "Does democracy in Iraq mean the majority Shia, upon winning, can deny rights to women and to religious minorities, not to mention exact revenge upon the Sunni? Why not do these things if the only standard is democracy?"

He offered a recent demonstration of the nation's morality, whose "premises rest at least upon the echoes and remnants of Judeo-Christian teaching," he says.

"Over 75 percent of the American people profess to be Christian, and an even higher percentage believe that they were created by God -- not some randomly evolving blob of amoeba," Souder stated. "So when a tragedy hits Asia, we don't say 'Tough luck. It's social Darwinism. The fittest will survive.'"

He continued: "They are fellow souls, each one fearfully and wonderfully made by God. Our hearts ache; our hearts cry out at the pain and suffering we see; our hearts bleed."

According to Souder, almost all social change in the history of the United States has been driven by people whose deep commitment to moral views is based upon their personal religious beliefs. "To take religion out of the public arena would leave us with the mean-spirited, survival-of-the-fittest, social Darwinism of evolution," he said.

He concluded by urging his fellow lawmakers to let faith guide their service in Congress. "We should not abandon faith at the door to the House floor. We should not leave the Holy Spirit in the cloakroom. We need to reflect upon this."

He then asked: "Do you really want a world dominated by a United States not anchored in a moral view?"

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