But when people become prideful and self-satisfied about their morals and values, and as a consequence become prejudiced against others with different beliefs, they have crossed the line into sinfulness. Such sin divides people. It divides the world, nations, and even the Christian community. (Through the Year with Jimmy Carter, page 309).
As often happens, Jimmy Carter has given me something to think about today. Though I appreciate the multiple harmonic chords mutually struck by Christianity and democracy, today’s meditation reminded me that the most populated democracy (India) is primarily Hindu and that the third most populated democracy (Indonesia) is overwhelmingly Muslim. Thus, though we can enumerate the synthetic chords played by various religions to help sustain the democratic form of government, it is arrogant for any one religion to assert exclusivity in provision of a trenchant spiritual climate or in providing the dynamic underpinnings for requisite human values.
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