This is a statement on the limitations of democracy taken from a 1981 paper on Christianity and Democracy issued by the Institute for Religion and Democracy. IRB was formed by a group of Roman Catholics and Protestants.

The paper can be accessed in FIRST THINGS archives at the following link:

http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9610/articles/documentation.html.

"We readily acknowledge that democratic governance is unsatisfactory. Everything short of the consummation of the rule of Christ is unsatisfactory. For Christians, it is precisely the merit of democracy that it reminds us of this truth and sustains the possibility of humane government in a necessarily unsatisfactory world. There are tensions and contradictions within democratic theory and practice. Especially problematic are relationships between the individual and the community, between formal process and substantive purpose, between popular participation and power elites. We do not deny these and other problems. Rather, believing that democratic theory and practice is still developing, we would encourage in the churches a lively examination of the problems and their possible resolutions. Such an examination only begins with the basic outline of democratic governance set forth in this statement and should be informed by the maxim framed by Reinhold Niebuhr: "Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary."'