Democracy

Democracy" — Greg Webster (11October 2026)

I want to introduce you firstly to one of my favorite foods. It's goingto come up on the screen: this is one of my favorite foods of all time. It'scalled the democracy sausage. It is a piece of charred, greasy minceserved on bread with caramelized onion and barbecue sauce. Usually there arevegetarian versions available, but this is pretty much the go-to version. Itmay not be the most sophisticated kind of eating, but it is hugely importantfor every Australian. These sausages are actually quite rare—in fact, you canwait quite a long time to see one—but then every few years the Prime Ministergoes to visit the Governor-General, and before long, there are democracysausages popping up at barbecues in polling booths all around the country.

The democracy sausage is only possible because Australians always vote onSaturday and voting is compulsory, so that it is actually highly unusual. A fewyears ago, I was in the United States, and I was there on election day. It hadbeen a heated campaign, and I was fascinated to see how it would turn out.During the day, I'd been in Hollywood just touring around, and I was catchingthe bus from Hollywood to Los Angeles when I stopped off to get some dinner. Istopped off, the bus stopped off at a street stall which was being run by somepeople from a different, perhaps a different ethnic country than the UnitedStates, a migrant community. The first thing I noticed was how hard it had beenfor them to vote, because it was a Tuesday, and it's very, very hard to votewhen you've got to work all day. They also told me the election was rigged.

But we are thinking about the Australian system today, because we areAustralian and it's the best system. If you're going to critique something,critique the best version of it, and Australia is just the best version of it,so that's mostly what we're going to be thinking about today. Judith Brett, whowas a former professor of politics at La Trobe / Melbourne, points out thatcompulsory voting, number one, pulls politics to the center—and you might thinkthat's boring, but it's also very stable, so extreme parties get pulled towardsthe center. Secondly, it represents the marginalized: you get one vote ifyou're the richest person in the country, and you get one vote if you're thepoorest person in the country, so it is going to represent the marginalizedbetter than anything. Thirdly, new migrants are drawn into the process; as soonas you become a citizen, you have to vote, so no one is left on the sidelines.

So today, we are thinking about democracy, and I've got to say straightup, personally I love democracy. I'm a self-confessed democracy nerd. I loveelection nights, especially federal election nights. It's like a big, complexsporting contest—doesn't go as long as Ashes test cricket, but it's longer thana rugby match—and I love sitting up and watching the numbers come in. It isexciting to see what is going to happen. I love seeing political opponentssitting on a panel trading jokes with each other and banter; such are the joysof living in a democratic country. And then one of the leaders of either of themajor parties will inevitably concede defeat, and the speech—some of them arebetter than others, but mostly they are heartfelt and generous and gracious,pointing to the bigger goal of us coming together as a country than necessarilyour political differences. And then begins the smooth exchange of power. Wedon't have riots in the streets, we don't have military coups, we don't havebloodshed—just an orderly handover of power. If it was somewhere else in theworld, it could be so different.

So democracy is boring in a good kind of way. And in many ways, democracyis quite consistent with Christian thinking because it accepts that we are allsinful people—there you go, I said that we are all sinful people, I used thatword—in a sinful world. Power corrupts, and as Lord Acton famously said,"Absolute power corrupts absolutely". Or the quote I really like isthis one: "There is no such thing as good and evil, only power, andthose too weak to grasp for it". That was Lord—anybodyknow?—Voldemort, Harry Potter's nemesis! So Lord Acton or Lord Voldemort, theyare on the same page.

And what democracy does is it limits power and allows for the peacefuland regulated change of government, so it's a good thing. Democracy has aninherent justice and fairness to it. The people who govern us are the people wechoose for government, so in theory anyway, society is ruled by the people, notsome elite. We're not ruled by a king or a queen, or those who were born to it;not by a dictator like a Robert Mugabe; not like a military leader who usurpspower, or a one-party regime where you really don't have any choice, like inNorth Korea or Russia or even China for that matter. We are governed by thepeople. Autocracy can be brutally efficient; democracy is messy and fair, andit's a good thing. It holds rulers accountable. There is an opposition that ismeant to give a coherent critique of what the government is doing. There is apress gallery that is free. There are political journalists whose job is to askthe hard questions and write about them.

And yet, democracy can be the tyranny of the majority. I used to live inan electorate where my vote really didn't count. I lived in a blue-ribbon seat,so it didn't matter who I voted for—the person who was the incumbent was goingto be voted back. If you're part of a minority group within the nation andyou're not part of the majority, it's easy to feel disenfranchised. If you'repart of a minority that is ethnic or cultural or political or religious, well,who cares about your view? It's really the view of the majority that counts.Some people in minorities feel this very personally; they feel undervalued,they feel unwanted. This can be very depressing and can become the tinderbox ofrevolution and violence. If you feel marginalized and your voice cannot beheard, you'll do anything to make it heard.

And then democracy does not have a moral compass. It has no inherentsense of what is right or wrong. People might, but democracy itselfdoesn't—it's just a machine, it's an institution. Inevitably, democracy electspopular politicians to power. Sometimes they're popular because of the way theylook or their ability to present themselves well in the media—the two-minutegrab, to be able to stay on message no matter what the questions are, to saysomething that is going to fit with the 24-hour news cycle. Often it is becausethey have polled the electorate, so they know what the majority want, so thatleaders are able to lead where the people want to be led—which is a funny sortof leadership when you think about it. "Where do the sheep want to go? Well,I'll try and stay out in front of them if I can".

So if we are inherently selfish, and we are, democracy is going to leadus in directions of self-interest. Selfish people are not going to pursuewhat's right for its own sake, but only if it protects their interests. If theelectorate has a very short attention span and wants immediate gratification,then there's no sense in forming long-term policies. And sinful people are notgoing to be concerned with the weak and the vulnerable in society.

Let me give you an example. Take gambling, for example. Gambling isunquestionably harmful to society. It's a business model that is built onaddiction. It's an unfair taxation system that exploits the weak and the poor.It brings untold harm to the problem gambler—the problem gambler is the one whomakes most money for the industry—it gives untold harm to them, but also totheir partners and their children and their siblings and their neighbors andtheir employers and their fellow workers. It opens society to corruption atevery level. But our society wants the right to have a punt, and so gamblinghas steadily increased, so much so that the New South Wales government can'tmanage without the tax revenue. A closed casino would put 20,000 people out ofwork; which government is going to have the courage to do that? See, democraticgovernment will only take care of the majority, not what is right or even goodfor society. And we know that governments have been brought down by policylobbyists in this area.

As we look back on history, we stand baffled at the immorality of peoplein past times. How could they have entered into the slave trade, forexample—the idea that a society could think it was okay to buy, to purchasepeople as labor devices? How could society put little children into factoriesand mines for 12 hours a day knowing that they were going to be treatedshamefully? Well, the answer is the majority thought it was okay to do so. Thefact that the majority says they saw nothing wrong with it should warn us notto trust the majority as guardians of morality. And don't get me wrong,democracy is something precious, and we should cherish and protect it. But it'sfraught in the same way that we are. Democratic governments are good at workingout the details and implementing policy, but not as good at providingprincipled leadership. That's got to come from people like us, from people likeyou and me.

So what does the Bible say? What light could the Bible possibly shed onthis particular topic? Well, I've got a couple of points to make here. Thefirst point is this one: Jesus spoke about love for God and love forneighbor—the two great loves. In fact, very often in a communion service, wemention that particular line from Jesus: "Love the Lord your God withall your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor asyourself". Must be important, we say it often enough—love for God,love for neighbor.

Let me start briefly and just say something about love for God. Jesussaid in that passage that was read to us, when he was shown the coin,"Should we pay taxes to Caesar?". Jesus said, "Give to Godwhat is God's, and to Caesar what is Caesar's". If you are to takeJesus' word seriously, it's to have a higher allegiance than just thegovernment. It's an allegiance to God higher than just democracy. Sometimes inthe past, Christians have tried to attach a particular political stance to God.It's always been a disaster—it's always been a disaster historically and evencurrently. Sure, Christian people and people who trust in God can work inpolitics and work in the very machine of democracy, but to attach God to apolitical stance is always a disaster. Your allegiance goes higher if you'retrusting Jesus seriously.

Second, he talks about love of neighbor as self. Well, who is myneighbor? And of course, when I ask that question, you immediately think ofJesus in his parable of the Good Samaritan, where Jesus says that neighborcrosses all divides. It crosses cultural divides, it crosses racial divides, itcrosses religion to take care of even the enemy. The enemy can be the neighbor.The Bible speaks about dignity and respect for people who are made in the imageof God—that's why we should love the neighbor. Humans are created in God'simage; the great Latin theologians called it the Imago Dei, the image ofGod.

David Brooks, writing his farewell column in The New York Times inJanuary of this year, spoke lamenting the decline in his country, the US, infaith—the decline in religious faith, faith in institutions, trust indemocracy. He said he had noted a decade-long trend that's produced a kind ofnihilistic cynicism, making his country sadder, meaner, and more pessimistic.You might notice yourself in this country and certainly in geopolitics thissort of hyper-individualism, a decline of interest in the things that arebeautiful and good, difficulty in trying to establish in the public square whatwe can agree on. And the 24-hour news cycle elevates the dramatic and thehostile because that gets eyeballs on screens and eyeballs on newspapers, andcan hyper-polarize us as well.

Australia's best democratic achievements, I would suggest to you, havebeen bipartisan, and that happens in side rooms and places in parliament whichis not even noticed. But a love for neighbor as self—a treatment of theopponent with respect, not just tolerance, but with respect, respect for theirviews.

And then we are to seek the welfare of the city. When God's people wereexiled in Babylon in Jeremiah 29, they were told: "You're exiles inthis foreign country; seek the welfare of the city, seek to do good to thesociety you've been placed in, do good to your world". In 1 Peter, inthe passage that Anne read for us, God's people again are described as exiles,for the whole earth is foreign to them, they are away from their ultimatehomeland. To be in the world is to be a little bit like an exile. But this iswhat he says in 1 Peter 2:13–17, let me read it to you:

"Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority institutedamong men, whether the king as supreme authority or the governors who are sentby him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For itis God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk offoolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up;show proper respect to everyone, love the brotherhood of believers, fear God,honor the King."

There is a sense in which we are to do good to the world we findourselves in. Sometimes that may involve asking questions of where the world isheading; sometimes it might involve asking questions of where democracy isheading. That's all fine and good. There's a man called Max Jeganathan whowrites—he's written some very helpful things for the Centre for PublicChristianity, you can have a look at some of the things he's written. He saysthis:

"We need to be more occupied with furthering that which we considergood than enraged by that which we consider bad. When we limit our thinking towhat we're against, we deal in the diminished currency of the negative. Thejourney from outrage to hope is not an easy one, but it begins with focusing onwhat we love rather than being enraged by what we hate."

We've built societies in which meaningful connections and authenticrelationships of trust are increasingly rare, especially with those who aredifferent from us. We need to do good to the world we find ourselves in.

And lastly, Christians don't have to play "knock thegovernment" games. Romans 13, for example—and it's also mentioned in 1Peter—says, "The governments are put in place by God". It'svery interesting to me that the very first followers of Jesus were born intothe Roman world, probably not the warmest and kindest regime to live under.They didn't choose that government; it was chosen for them because they wereoccupied, and yet the New Testament writings are largely positive aboutgovernment. They say things like this: "Show proper respect toeveryone, fear God, honor the emperor; pray for all people, for kings and allin high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life". Ifthey can be positive about Rome, how much more should I be about the democracyI live under?

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the world You placed us in.We thank You for the good order of this country in particular, we thank You forthe commonwealth that we share here in this land of Australia, and we pray,Heavenly Father, that we might have the sort of respect and love for the peoplearound us—a love that seeks to want to do good for them, to create a world thatwill do good for them, a country that will do good for them. And we also thankYou that there is a higher allegiance that we can have, a higher allegianceabove all to You, and we pray that that might be so, that we might have thislove for You and love for neighbor. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.

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