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Democracy is pretty cool. It's all about representative government, [A man wearing a suit in a political meeting]

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toga parties, and fun carnival games like the hat-into-the-ring toss. So where did

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democracy come from? Well, as cool as the founding fathers were, they didn't

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exactly pull the ideas behind the Constitution out of a hat. In fact, the [Founding father pulls the constitution out of a hat]

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notion that good people can form a good government has its roots in Judaism and

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in Christianity. That's right: when Jesus rose on the third day, he brought

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democracy back with him. He also brought t-shirts that said, "I rose from the dead [Jesus appears with a t-shirt]

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and all I got was this lousy t-shirt... and democracy." Well, according to the New

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Testament, Jesus frequently preached that all people are equal and that leaders [Man holding a Please Help sign and another man appears from a car]

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should take care of their followers, while followers should take care of each

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other regardless of social class. Pretty obvious idea, right? Well, back in the day

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that was crazy talk. Like saying my selfies are all saved in the cloud... it [A girl taking a selfie by a Greek building]

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just didn't make sense. In the centuries after Jesus popped down for a visit, left,

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came back, and then left again, Christianity clawed its way to the top

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of the heap to become the religion of the Western world. The influence of some

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Christian beliefs of this time can be found in current democratic political [An open book and a dollar bill appears]

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theory, and you don't even have to look too hard. Like, in Christianity, all souls

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are equal, right? And if every human being has value, every human being is entitled

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to the rights of life and liberty. Hm, where have heard that one before? And [A boy at the front of class discussing Christianity]

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because Christianity values the spiritual over the physical, the opinions of

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earthly rulers got trumped by scripture back in the day. Eventually, this led [A king hit in the face by the bible]

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people to think that one guy shouldn't get to keep all the lovely political

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power for himself and that there should be a clear separation between church and [A king and priest on opposite sides]

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state... and that was the day fences were invented... Kidding. Anyway, the Christian

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Church of olden times was seen as a check on government power, which led to

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the idea of a system of checks and balances in government. We knew our

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checkbooks would come in handy someday. So, by the time the 16th century rolled [A girl at her desk with a stash of checks]

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around, the Catholic Church had a monopoly on Christianity. The Catholic

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Church also had some problems. Enter reformers like John Calvin. His

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influential book, Institutes of the Christian Religion, first published in [John Calvin reading the Institutes of the Christian Religion book]

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1536, asked his readers to determine if they agreed with

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the tenants of Catholicism and, if not, to take a sledgehammer to conformity. Calvin [A sledgehammer smashing a TV]

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believed that people should be free to choose between and petition ruling

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bodies when those bodies do something naughty... and give them coal for Christmas. [A priest carrying coal up his sleeve]

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Well, Calvin also used his book to outline the relationship between church

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and state and the duties governments have toward their citizens and vice

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versa. Hey, duties... sorry. Anyway, besides all of that, Institute's of the Christian [Restroom cubicles and toilet flushes]

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Religion was also frequently used during the 16th century as a cure for insomnia...

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Get it? Because it was so boring it put people to sleep? All right, moving on. The theology Calvin [A woman falling asleep reading about Christian religion]

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developed, aptly called calvinism, went on to play a central role in the

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formulation of American democracy. Church and state are super duper separate, right?

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Yeah, check. Free enterprise and capitalism go hand-in-hand with

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democracy, right? Yep, check. Representative and limited government? Yep, check. Oh,

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sorry, we're not asking for the check, we're just teaching here. All right, guess [Waiter appears with a check and walks away]

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that's what happens when you try to educate in Applebee's. Hey, are those onion rings?

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