Why American evangelicals are big believers in democracy -- until it reaches Arab world

[Bucky]

from Foreign Policy magazine:

Brothers' Keepers
BY MOLLY WORTHEN | AUGUST 2, 2011

Most American evangelicals view democracy much like Yankees fans view their beloved Bronx Bombers: as a human institution that has its flaws, but one that God clearly prefers to the alternatives and has destined for world domination. No less an authority than Billy Graham called free elections a "blessing from God."

Yet the Arab Spring has caught them up short. The editors at the evangelical magazine Christianity Today are biting their nails over what will happen if the Syrians topple Assad; to the Baptist Press News, things don't look so rosy in newly liberated Egypt. In World, a Christian magazine, Editor in Chief Marvin Olasky warned that the region may be headed not for a new era of freedom, but smack into "a different tyranny."

Given many evangelicals' commitment to baptizing the Founding Fathers and praising the cross as a "statue of liberty," it may seem strange that they have greeted the pro-democracy movements agitating the Middle East and North Africa with distinct ambivalence. But if it's surprising, that's only because so many observers of American politics are out of touch with the evangelical worldview, particularly evangelicals' understanding of themselves as embattled outsiders who have much to lose when democracy doesn't go their way.

I'm not so sure they're that wild about democracy in America either, depending on how the latest election might've gone.

[stopbush]

1. Er, if democracy is the system "that God clearly prefers to the alternatives,"

then why did god set up heaven to be a kingdom, not a democracy?

If Xians are so enamored of democracy, why do they spend their lives yearning for an eternity of serfdom in a (benign?) dictatorship?

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. You see, heaven is sort of like England.

It IS a democracy where God's the King, and he can't be voted out, but he really doesn't DO anything.

As evidence, just look around.

[stopbush]

3. Good to know heaven is like England, what with all the nudity on Brit TV.

:)

[Mariana]

4. Because everyone there will be exactly like them.

They'll all have the same opinions and views and they'll all be in total agreement with the dictator. Everyone who thinks differently will have been excluded, to be tortured for eternity for having the wrong ideas. You really don't need democracy when everyone in the place agrees about everything all the time.

[Maru Kitteh]

5. It doesn't really matter what country or region - Democracy is for white people.

Yeah. I think that covers it.