God Arises
Review
~ 51 ~
the basis of whatever common denominators
present themselves, the image which will emerge,
rather than being crystal clear, will be like muddied
water stirred up by some floundering animal.
Democracy, as a term, will then be meaningless.
Consider the democracies of Britain, America,
China and Egypt. Do they really have anything in
common? In what way is the democracy of India
similar to the democracy of Pakistan? The term
democracy becomes even more confusing if all the
varieties of democracy in the world today are
placed within an evolutionary framework. A study
of the development of democracy in France—its
very birthplace—will show that at a later stage of its
evolution, it was synonymous with the military
dictatorship of General de Gaulle (1890-1970).
Such a study of religion, in which the process of
induction is unlikely to yield correct results, might
well bring one to the conclusion that the idea of
God can be dispensed with, because the history of
religion presents the example of Buddhism—a
religion without a God. Today, the idea is widely
advocated that religion should be studied, but that
God, as a possibility, should be excluded.
