Democracy

The religious and philosophical conflicts in the previous period coalesced into the Cain-type and Abel-type views of life.

At the outset of this new period – the period of maturation of politics, economy and ideology – the two views of life matured, taking their separate paths. As they matured, they founded two different forms of society with distinct social structures: a Cain-type society and an Abel-type society. At the same time, politics, economy and ideology (the sphere of religion and philosophy) progressed to the stage just prior to the transition into the ideal world. This period lasted from the French Revolution, through the Industrial Revolution, to the end of the First World War.

The earlier discussion of democracy in the context of the progress of history was limited to the social changes which led to its emergence (cf. Parallels 7.2). Here, we will examine the internal developments behind the rise of today’s democracy, specifically the ideological tides on which it rose out of the swells and eddies of history.

In the period of the Christian empire of the ninth century, God had intended that the spiritual kingdom ruled by the papacy and the earthly kingdom ruled by the emperor unite to form a Christian monarchic society as a foundation for the messianic kingdom.

This would have established the foundation for the Messiah. A strong messianic kingdom would have brought an early end to feudalism in Europe. Yet because this providence was not realized, feudalism persisted, while Europe’s political, religious and economic histories took separate paths of development.

The political power of the feudal lords began to wane after the Crusades, declined further during the Renaissance and the Reformation, and became feeble by the time of the Enlightenment. By the seventeenth century, the feudal lords had yielded much of their political power to the kings, who built centralized nation-states and ruled them as absolute monarchs. The kings justified their supreme power by the doctrine of the divine right of kings.

The social causes of the rise of absolute monarchy included, first, the rise of new citizen classes which allied themselves with the kings to fight the feudal lords.

Second, in the economic sphere, there arose a need for powerful states with mercantilist economic policies which could protect and control trade to further their national economic interests. The powerful foundation of a nation-state was needed to overcome feudalism and dominate an economy based on trade.

The rise of absolute monarchy is also connected with the progress of providential history, which requires that feudalistic society consolidate into monarchy.

However, after God’s providence to establish His Kingdom in the Carolingian period failed because the popes and emperors at that time did not unite, the ensuing feudal society under papal rule became corrupt. Developing according to the course which Satan had preempted, it gave birth to monarchic societies on Satan’s side.

Let us now examine the ideological trends behind the demise of absolute monarchy with reference to the providence of restoration, which was headed toward the rise of the communist world based on the Cain-type view of life and the democratic world based on the Abel-type view of life.

Since medieval feudal society ran counter to both Hebraism and Hellenism, these two ideologies worked in tandem to tear it down as they established societies built upon the Cain-type and Abel-type views of life. Similarly, the absolute monarchies which followed the Protestant Reformation deprived people of freedom of faith, which was a value propounded by democratic Christianity. Absolute monarchy thus ran counter to the goal of the Abel-type view of life.

Moreover, the vestiges of feudalism in that society constrained the progress of the citizen class as advocated by leading atheists and materialists, thereby countering the goal of the Cain-type view of life. Therefore, these two views of life worked in tandem to tear down absolute monarchy. They established Cain-type and Abel-type democracies, which would eventually mature into the communist world and the democratic world.

Cain-type democracy arose out of the French Revolution. France at the time of the French Revolution was in the grip of the Enlightenment. The thought of the Enlightenment was rooted in the Cain-type view of life and was deviating into atheism and materialism. Swayed by the Enlightenment, French citizens were awakened to the flaws of absolute monarchy. There was also a widespread desire to tear down the remnants of the feudal system, which was still entrenched in the society.

The French Revolution was ignited in 1789 by popular calls for democracy from a citizenry schooled in the Enlightenment. They sought to overthrow the power of the ruling class, eradicate the remnants of feudalism, and establish freedom and equality for ordinary citizens, the Third Estate. The French Revolution established democracy with the proclamation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

Nonetheless, the democracy born out of the French Revolution was a Cain-type democracy. Although it destroyed absolutism, it sought to firmly secure the Cain-type view of life. The leading thinkers behind the French Revolution were Enlightenment figures such as Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and Jean Le Rond D’Alembert (1717-1783), who adhered to atheism or materialism. Furthermore, despite its ideals of individual freedom and equality, the actual course of French democracy in the years of the revolution and afterward tended toward totalitarianism.

In this way, those espousing the Cain-type view of life championed the Enlightenment and gave rise to the French Revolution, thus establishing Cain-type democracy. It completely blocked the inclination of the human spirit to seek for God. As it continued to develop with its sole focus on the external aspects of life, it would later be systematized into Marxism in Germany and Leninism in Russia, eventually forming the communist world.

From their very origins, the democracies which emerged in England and the United States were different from the democracy born out of the French Revolution.

The latter was a Cain-type democracy founded by atheists and materialists, who were raised in the Cain-type view of life, as they attempted to dismantle absolutism and feudalism. The English and American democracies, on the other hand, were founded by sincere Christians, the fruits of the Abel-type view of life, and were born out of their victorious fight with absolutism to win religious freedom. Hence, these are Abel-type democracies.

Let us examine how Abel-type democracy was established in England and the United States.

In England, James I (r. 1603-1625) strengthened absolute monarchy and the state church while persecuting Puritans and other dissenting Christians, many of whom fled to other European nations or to the American continent in search of religious freedom. His son Charles I (r. 1625-1649) was met with rebellion by the Presbyterians of Scotland, who rallied around the National Covenant in 1640. The Puritans, who formed the core membership of the English Parliament, then launched the Puritan Revolution under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell in 1642. Later, after Charles II (r. 1660-1685) restored absolute monarchy and strengthened the Anglican church against all other Christians, and his son James II (r. 1685-1688) declared himself a Catholic, Protestant leaders invited William of Orange (r. 1688-1702), his son-in-law, who was at that time Stadtholder of the Netherlands, to intervene. In 1688, William landed in England with his troops to defend religious freedom and civil rights. Upon his enthronement, William approved the Declaration of Rights offered to him by the Parliament, which recognized the Parliament’s independent rights. This became foundational for the English constitutional monarchy. Since the revolution of 1688 was accomplished without bloodshed, it came to be known as the Glorious Revolution.

Although there were external causes of these English revolutions, such as the citizens’ desire for political freedom from the ruling class including the nobility and the Anglican priesthood, the more internal cause was the drive to gain religious freedom.

Many Puritans and dissenting Christians who had been persecuted in England emigrated to the American continent to obtain religious freedom. They founded an independent nation in 1776 and established American democracy.

Born out of the Abel-type view of life, Abel-type democracy has developed from these beginnings into the democratic world of today.