Introduction The year 2024 saw a record number of elections throughout the world as over 60 countries voted in governments. [1] Two related topics discussed during the year were populism in response to existing governments and the problem of social cohesion. This essay explores these topics in regard to the place of Christians in society. The issues of that election are perhaps even more significant today. Populism One of the interesting topics in focus was, and continues to be, the opposing of people and movements to established governments and controlling elites. Populism arises for various reasons. One is a people's revolt against a government that disregards the people it governs . This also happens with regard to other institutions: the administration grows apart from and does not feel responsible to the people for whom it exists. People become wary of institutions and might even doubt their legitimacy. This can le...
On the Impossibility of Good Laws without Religious Devotion and Living according to Nature (Cicero)
We have reached a crisis of law in Western society, one predictable enough in light of the rejection of religion in one way or another. The crisis stems from not having an understanding of what stands over law. Lawmakers and judges often say, ‘We are a nation under the law?’, but what happens when the law itself is under nothing? This brief essay raises the question, ‘Can Western society actually be a society of good laws once it gives up respectfulness or even reverence for religion and nature/creation?’ The question is not only asked regarding Christianity, although as a question for Western society in the 21 st century, it is largely about the recently emerged, post-Christian context. The essay will explore the arguments of Marcus Tullius Cicero, a renowned Roman legislature in the first century BC. He argues that a society’s laws must fit into a wider cultural context that honours the gods and is willing to live according to nature, not against it. In ...