an Anglican, but became a Quaker in 1668. His Christian values and principles informed his decisions about how to govern the state, and for sixty years, he was successful.
He affirmed diversity, and set out to create a colony that was open to all. To achieve diversity, Penn began by recruiting settlers from Holland, England, Ireland, Wales, and Germany.
His new constitution promised full religious liberty to all. He said in his charter of “Laws, Concessions, and Agreements” that “no Men, nor number of Men upon Earth, hath Power or Authority to rule over Men’s consciences in religious Matters.”41 He wanted a government that would be contrary to war, selfishness, cruelty, suspicion, treason, judicial murder, greed, envy and betrayal, persecution, imprisonment, torture, and intolerance that existed in so many governments.42
He believed in the abiding principles of truth, love and equality, and applied them equally to the King and to the Native Americans, as well as to the many citizens of the state.
He called it his “Holy Experiment” because, as Benjamin Trueblood said, “it was founded in love, built up on the principles which love dictates and carried forward in the faith which is inspired and sustained by love.”43
He governed the colony with just rules, and opposed any economic oppression of the many by the few, including any oppression of the Native Americans. He laid out the city of Philadelphia at a place owned by the Native Americans, and, instead of forcibly taking their land as many other settlers did, he paid them for their land. Voltaire later wrote, this was “the only treaty between these people and the Native Americans that was … never broken.”
When the Native Americans met with Penn, they found no guns and laid down their own.44 He established political freedom, founded on the democratic principle of an election by the people, providing for an elected legislative assembly and a Council appointed by the Governor.
It was also a colony without an army, with only a small police force, and without war, for most of those years. It had few judges, but successfully settled disagreements through arbitration. Every country court had several Peacemakers or Arbitrators. They only turned to a court of law when all other methods of settling disputes had been tried. There were only two capital crimes—murder and treason—which was a departure from English law where even minor theft, such as stealing a loaf of bread, could be punishable by death.
Education was emphasized. Prisons were humane. There was only one witchcraft case during this time, which ended without a conviction, in contrast to the hysteria of the Salem witch trials of Massachusetts.45
The colony was socially progressive. Since it treated the Native Americans fairly, it sought to extend these equal and just rights to others. In 1688, one of the towns in Pennsylvania—Germantown—began to question whether owning slaves was consistent with Christian values. Their influence led to the abolitionist movement.
Pennsylvania became the most tolerant and most diverse state in the early years of America, establishing the concepts of democracy and freedom of religion that later became so important in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
William Penn showed that Christian principles could be put into action for the effective governing of a state. His particular Christian values were based on religious freedom and on governing through respect and justice.
Vote the Golden Rule
Many of us bring together our practice of religion and democracy by voting the Golden Rule. What we want for ourselves, we are also willing to give to others. We vote for the rights of others that we would also want for ourselves. We give the same protections, care, and respect to others that we would want for ourselves.
What would Jesus be doing in our society? As the Prince of Peace, he would be questioning our wars, which kill millions of civilians and leave millions of children homeless and as orphans.
As the One who accepts and loves, he would be rebuilding homes, instead of blowing up abortion clinics in the name of God. He’d be caring for AIDS victims instead of limiting the rights of homosexuals. He’d be volunteering at soup kitchens rather than cutting food stamps. He’d be planting trees instead of strip-mining public lands or creating policies that allow pollution. He’d be working to take care of those who have trouble surviving in our society, rather than rewarding the rich.
He would continue to question authority, knowing that power and privilege can easily corrupt.
Democracy asks us to debate and discuss issues to find the best solutions. It asks many of the same questions that Christianity asks:
What are the most important issues the government needs to address?
What is the goal of a Good Society?
What are the means to reach this goal?
How do we bring justice and mercy into a society, and create a society in which all of us, together, work for the Good?
Chapter Two
The Poor, the Needy, Widows, and Orphans
“The spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord.”
Luke 4:18–19
This was Jesus’ first mission statement. It is often called the Social Gospel, because it proclaims His intent to move people from captivity, oppression, and afflictions to freedom. This is not only spiritual freedom, but actualizing the Kingdom of God among us, within the society.
Many believe we create a Christian nation because most of the citizens are Christians, go to church, and believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. But the Bible does not limit religion to belief systems but calls on us to help liberate others from the burdens and trials that we and others endure. It asks us to consider the “least of these” and to make public policy with those who live on the margins of society always in mind. This has tended to be Democratic Party policy, and almost every Democratic candidate and every Democratic Party Platform pays attention to the needs of the poor, oppressed, and the disenfranchised.
The Republican candidates and platforms, fairly consistently, favor the wealthy and say little about the poor.
Many of us in America do not know people who are poor or destitute. If we do, we might believe their problems are of their own making and God really does help those who help themselves. Many Americans have lived in such privilege that we turn our eyes away from the homeless, blame the ill for their disease, try to justify why some live in poverty, and claim God’s blessing to explain why we’re so comfortable.
Our country is powerful and rich. We easily envy power and wealth, and try to get it for ourselves, forgetting that Jesus and the prophets ask us to change our perspective, and to take the side of the poor—to care about those without means, those who need healing.
The Command for Compassion
There is much disagreement about exactly what we, as Christians, should be changing in our nation. The Bible tells us nothing about many of the issues that confront us in contemporary society—whether we should talk to or negotiate with terrorists, what our energy policies should be, what kind of health care or educational system we should have. But there is one area in which the entire Bible is absolutely clear—we are to help the poor, the needy, the broken-hearted, the oppressed. It is the greatest litmus test we can apply to any governmental
