Philos Epikoureios

Actually: If you're a dissenter in Switzerland under Calvin, you get burned at the stake!

"Perfection" (if we can say that, to borrow your word) is when you storm the Bastille and you tell the Chruch to eat crap, you issue the rights of man and citizen (Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen) and you don't have the right to throw the first stone when you feel righteous, you simply won't throw any stone no matter what your religion tells you. That is one step beyond Christianity.

Another step is that you ignore what Paul says against women, sex and homosexuals. Paul and whoever else. Modern Democracy is stepping away from whatever religion and stepping into secularity.

In short, I see democracy as stepping away from Christianity (and any other religion) and substituting it in legislature by reason. You can be Christian or Muslim or "none of the above". You can be gay. You can be a porn star (deputy Illona Staller in Italy, a.k.a "La Cicciolina"). No such thing as a sinner. That is not Christian. You didn't find that in Calvin's Geneva, in Puritan colonial America, in Cromwell's English Commonwealth or any other officially Christian state.* History confirms this... Facts, not political propaganda show us reality.

Now, if you do find something in modern liberal democracy that shows something distinctly Christian that was not developped by the application of secular values (philosophy, humanism, etc), please do so. I'm open to learn something today.

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*Note:
U.S.A.'s Constitution's First Amendment guarantees the country remains safely secular. See: http://www.religioustolerance.org/scs_intr.htm. This was possible because it was drafted by everybody, not only Protestants. There were Catholics, Freethinkers, Freemasons, etc.

freigeister

There are three essential forms of Christianity. The first is the Christianity of the masses, replete with miracles and wonders. This is relatively harmless folk religion. Then there is the Christianity of the enlightened elite. We have all heard that Einstein said that he believed in the God of Spinoza. Well, the enlightened elite believes in the Christ of Spinoza. This view is mystical without being super-naturalist. Lastly, there is the Christianity of the priestly caste. This is a moralizing, repressive monstrosity designed to keep both the enlightened elite and the masses in a state of terror. Why? Because cooperation between the spiritual elite and the masses leads to democratic emancipation and the elimination of repressive hierarchies, whether they be political, religious, academic, or journalistic. So democratic progress is a function of the cooperation of the spiritual elite and the masses against the various agencies of social repression. This is specifically Christian in that it was Christ himself who first formulated and implemented this strategy: he enlisted the am haaretz (common people) in his war against the theologico-political hierarchy.

Philos Epikoureios

1) The god of Spinoza is not biblical. By far. It is a purely philosophical conception brewed in the mind of a non-Christian Jew renegade of Judaism. Einstein was also a former Jew. Never a Christian either of them. They were as Christian as Golda Meyer.

Your "spiritual élite" is in great degree non-Christian. As an example, many of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence were non-Christians, the founders of French democracy were astoundingly outspoken against the church AND Christianity, democracy was born in a pagan context and democracy serves everyone. Democracy works in Japan, Korea, etc... No need for Christianity there!
I don't think you have considered most of the relevant data.

Sorry, as far as I know, Christ did not make one formulation of democracy. There is not a formulation of democracy in the whole Bible, from Genesis to Apocalypse, it's all monarchy and tyranny from "Holy Bible" to "Copyright 2002. Printed in the China".
And being rebellious (even if it is against a religious hierarchy) wasn't invented around 1CE, it's as old as humanity.

ninewands

... and I say that if it's a greenish pile of rounded pellets that lies steaming in a pasture on a frosty December morn, I don't have to smell it to know what it is, or what species produced it ...

Errrrmmmmm ... you're going to have to explain that in a little more detail than you did in this post. Calvin was, in essence, the dictator of Geneva. Dictatorships are NOT supportive of democracy.

Well, I don't deny the existence of Christ, but I certainly question it. Show me some objective historical evidence from outside the Bible that a rabbi named Yeshua bar Yusef ever lived during the period from oh ... about 4 BC to, let's say 33 AD. I am willing to be convinced, but I say show me unbiased evidence that has not already been debunked.

... an outcome that required Servetus to be convicted of the crime of heresy by the civil authorities and then remanded to the Church for execution. I might also add that Calvin was NOT part of the civil government of Geneva ... he merely threatened the civil authorities with re-examination of their positions as members of the "elect." Since the result of such an re-examination was almost a foregone conclusion the threat was tantamount to a threat of excommunication, thence eternal damnation. Doesn't sound very democratic to me.

Piffle ... the ONLY way true democracy as a "government of the people, by the people and for the people" will survive on this planet is if it is a SECULAR democracy. There is not now, nor, to the best of my knowledge, has there EVER been a "Christian Nation" (of the nature that the Radical Religious Right wants to establish in this country) that was truly democratic. Allow me to quote from Gary North ... "When we take power in the United States, only white, male members in good standing of approved Trinitarian Christian churches will have the vote." No Muslims (Islam is the fastest-growing religion in America), no Buddhists, no Unitarians, no Pagans, and "Praise Jeebus" no Atheists ... in short, some 25% of the people in the United States will be disenfranchised, after which the American Inquisition will begin ... . Does that sound very democratic to you?