John W. De Gruchy points out in his Christianity and Democracy that nineteenth-century Anglican socialists were concerned equally for the possessive individualism of capitalism and liberal democracy, and the deletion of the individual in collectivism.
De Gruchy summarizes the views of William Temple: “respect for individual personality is the root of democracy, and the herd-instinct its greatest danger: an important reminder that the rejection of possessive individualism is not incompatible with respect for individual persons. If respect for the individual goes, organic societies degenerate into totalitarian Fascism.”
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Ethics of Rhetoric in Times of War
What we say matters. And the way we say it matters. This is especially true in times…
How the State Failed Noelia Castillo
On March 26, Noelia Castillo, a twenty-five-year-old Spanish woman, was killed by her doctors at her own…
The Mind’s Profane and Sacred Loves
The teachers you have make all the difference in your life. That they happened to come into…
