Democracy and Christian Politics in Fiji

Fourth Quarter 2001

by Robert Wolfgramm

The fear has been raised in some quarters that Fijian Christian politics aims to put in place one-party, one-religion, one-race rule. In Fiji this is totally unrealistic and even mischievous in its hysteria. The idea behind democracy is to permit government by the people in open and uncoercive contests. Democracy thereby allows people to get together on the basis of their common interests. Thus, we see the formation of political parties based on similarity of interests such as status, class, old-school ties, ideology, morality, culture, ethnicity, and religious belief.

No one disagrees that it is perfectly democratic for persons to coalesce in parties aiming to improve the welfare of their class. Thus, we have in Fiji, as in Australia, a predominantly union-affiliated Labor Party and in Australia a predominantly business-affiliated Liberal Party. Voters in Australia's rural regions used to be supporters of a Country Party and a National Party. In Fiji, it would be perfectly appropriate if people chose to form a political party based, say, on traditional rank.

Democratic theory also allows people to form parties based on a common religious outlook. Those citizens who see Christianity as relevant to the national political agenda and who want to explicate a specifically 'Christian' policy position on matters are entitled to desire representation in the nation's parliament. In so doing, these citizens do not intend to denigrate the religion of others or the Christianity of those who form other parties based on other priorities. Rather, Christian politics is simply about asserting the right to articulate a Christian priority on policy issues.

That said, it is not an easy thing to put Christianity into political practice. Deciding what is the Christian political option on any single matter must involve research and informed debate, not just prayer and Bible study. This leaves the door open to a range of potential conflicts, possible schisms and potential failures. But that is a risk that must be taken. A Christian political party, guided by principle and values, stands a better chance of meeting the challenge of defining a more Christian political worldview than a party which, even if called 'Christian,' chooses to operate clearly on the basis of expedience and pragmatism.

One virtue a Christian political party has over other kinds of parties is that Christianity is not reducible to a particular expression of it. Neither is it congruent with a particular ethnic group, class, or gender. A Christian party has the potential to bridge religious, ethnic, economic, and social boundaries. The Christian church in Fiji is a rainbow of many ethnic groups and economic interests. It holds together peoples from a wide range of backgrounds. Christianity has the potential to free people from fear and superstition and to empower them for both moral and socio-economic improvement. Where other parties are practically, historically, and philosophically beholden to their particular interests—such as unions or business—a Christian party is obliged only to the values of Jesus Christ.

Moreover, a truly Christian party, operating in a democratic context, will not implement its values over the interests and will of others if it lacks the electoral mandate to do so. That would be a dictatorship and would contravene the Master's express command that service, not self-promotion, must characterize everything a Christian does.

In Fiji, the Christian political option for the forth-coming elections is, despite the complaints of its detractors, as valid as any other. Democracy permits it. And if it should garner sufficient support among the people, a Christian government would be duty-bound to act for all the people of Fiji, in the spirit of the Good Samaritan. More to the point, it would work in the shadow of the cross of Jesus Christ who was not an ethnic savior, but a universal one. That is fundamental to what it means to be a Christian. As such, Jesus Christ stands in stark contrast to the specifically ethno-nationalist gods of Britons, Germans, Indians, Chinese, and pre-Christian Fijians. That is why those who support a Fijian Christian political party are understandably proud of their heritage and committed to their position. Jesus, they say, is not only good for the individual; he will be good for the nation of Fiji and for the good of the world, which at this time could surely benefit from something like a genuine Christian democracy.

[Dr. Wolfgramm teaches sociology of religion, race, and minorities at Monash University near Melbourne, Australia.]