Super great question!

The short answer: Jesus never forced faith on anyone, so followers of Jesus have no basis for forcing faith on anyone, either.

Moral Obligation

The longer answer: Since Western Democracies are all based on specifically Judeo-Christian principles about human worth, holding onto those principles in the face of competing ideas is less Judeo-Christian opportunism than it is moral obligation. Why? Because understanding each person as created in God’s image and of sacred value means naming and defending individual people in the structures of civilization (regardless of whether the people being thus defended agree about that sacred value).

Judeo-Christian Worldview

This is not the same as advocating for a Christian theocracy, or even a specifically articulated Judeo-Christian legal code. Rather, this is about acknowledging the Judeo-Christian worldview that undergirds modern democratic principles.

What do I mean? Consider one example: Having the “imago dei” – the sacred image – means every person (regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or gender) is not just valuable but infinitely valuable. Murder is therefore the most heinous of crimes, and punished as such. Property crimes, such as theft, cannot be punished by mutilating a human body (such as cutting off the offending hand) – because human value is so much higher than any material good. Prioritizing human flourishing by protecting human life, while interpreted in diverse ways, is the common basis of political philosophies in all modern democracies.

Granted, this valuing of the imago dei gets distorted in practice, even when it is articulated as the goal. For example, one of the codified principles of American Constitutional law is that “all people are created equal.” Universal education, basic protections, social services and support – these aspects of secular civilization derive from the Judeo-Christian claim that people are made in the image of God, that people are worthy of good treatment simply by their virtue of being people.

Originally, however, the principle “all people are created equal” translated in application to mean “all white men are created equal.” Enslaved men were counted as “less than;” women and children were not counted at all.

Many founders of Western Democracy generally and America specifically were godly men – but they were fallible, and products of their historic context. Seeing the core truth of democratic principles of human value requires discerning and discarding errors in application of scriptural truth.

Christian History

Likewise, the inconsistent application of Christian truths in Christian history – the egregious distortion of gospel teaching to justify cruelty, avarice, and injustice – has to be acknowledged. God’s perfect law and character are never manifested perfectly in human beings. But this imperfect manifestation reflects the imperfect character of humanity rather than of God or God’s truth.

Further, Judeo-Christian historic infamy is based in a perversion / pollution of principles that point to the divine in all people, and has to be judged by that standard. Other cultures and belief systems operate in history and today based on other principles, and cannot logically be evaluated by the Judeo-Christian standard.

Other Faith Traditions

For example, some religious teachings differentiate human value according to categories of identity. In those faith traditions, some lives are seen as inherently more valuable than other lives – boys more than girls, for example, or members of upper castes over members of lower castes. Those differing understandings play out in codes of law that privilege men / denigrate women, making it illegal for women to study, drive, etc. Such legal codes are not perversions of religious teaching, but rather applications of them. Contrast that with America’s racist history, for example, which perverted the principles of justice on which America was founded.

Another example: codes of law based on religious embrace of reincarnation and caste can make it logical to criminalize helping suffering people. If assisting those who suffer interrupts the karmic cycle of reincarnation that will eventually purge them of sin from past lives and allow them to live into more elevated status, then that assistance actually prolongs suffering.

A recent demonstration of what this looks like in action: the Hindu Nationalist movement in India forced international aid organizations to leave the country. Compassion International, which sponsored 150,000 + children monthly – food, medicine, money for school – was sent packing. Western democracies interpreted this as cruel; the Hindu government interpreted this as a corrective to cruelty.

All are Imperfect

Important to note: just as Christians and Jews never perfectly live out the precepts of their faith, neither do believers of other faith traditions. The actions of a Hindu Nationalist government may appall a Hindu believer, just as the actions of a Western Democratic government may appall a Christian or a Jew.

Paradoxically, part of Jesus’s command to “love our neighbor” gets lived out in the way that we defend our neighbor’s freedom to reject Jesus. Fighting to preserve freedom – whether through military service or political activism – means fighting to preserve the right of others to disagree. Western Democracies do this imperfectly, but it remains the undisputed goal – at least, for now.

To reiterate: Christians should NEVER force Christianity onto anyone, because Jesus never did. But … Christians (and others) should remember that only in Western Democracies is that freedom of religious practice (like so many other freedoms based on the notion of human worth) sacrosanct.