Democracy highlights the significance of diversity and encourages us to see more fully the splendor of God’s diverse creation. Democracy has also illuminated human brokenness and our long history of stereotyping and exclusion. It has provided a minimal set of procedures for dealing with our important differences, though it is often more frustrating than fruitful. Neutral procedures by themselves will not right the wrongs of exclusionary practices. Righting wrongs is a necessary moral project and thereby requires a moral framework. Democracy has taken us on a journey, but when we have reached a fork in the road its only counsel has been, “You are free to choose whichever fork you prefer.” When the fork in the road is the choice between inclusion or exclusion, absolute freedom is not an adequate grounding for making a responsible choice. Responsible choices require morally responsible agents, and morally responsible agents require a moral framework to which they are accountable.
Where can we find the moral principles to deal with the underlying pathologies of discrimination and exclusion? It is not enough to say that we all know these actions are wrong. There must be a moral framework that explains why discrimination across certain kinds of differences is wrong. Defining ourselves outside of a moral tradition inevitably leads to arbitrary claims of victimhood or entitlement. Stripped of a moral tradition, biological or geographical or group identities will not satisfy the deep longings of the human heart for enduring significance and security.