What Is a Multi-Religion Election System?

A multi-religion election system is a democratic model that gives different religious communities a formal role in political decision‑making. Instead of treating religion only as a private matter, it recognizes that faith can strongly influence how people vote, and it builds this reality into the design of elections and representation.

The multi-religious electoral system is a reaction to the incomplete separation between state and church, and between religion and politics. It is presented as a conflict resolution model primarily aimed at the complicated and intractable 77‑year‑old conflict between Israel and Palestine. It asks why none of the UN Secretaries‑General, popes, American presidents, kings, politicians, mediators or Nobel Peace Prize laureates have succeeded in resolving this conflict so that it is not passed down from one generation to the next.

To understand the idea behind this project, read our main explainer: What is a multi-religion election system?

The multi-religious electoral system is a theoretical model that describes the background to, and offers an analysis of, the incomplete separation between state and church and between religion and politics – a separation that helps prevent the conflict between Israel and Palestine from being resolved.

Historical and modern examples of religious conflict

The model is illustrated through typical cases from both ancient and modern wars, where religion and politics are tightly connected:

• The assassination of a former prime minister, Jew and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who participated in the Oslo Accords – a murder carried out by religious Jewish extremists. Here the religious motive deters even those who work for peace.
• The conflict in Northern Ireland between Catholics and Protestants, a religiously coloured conflict that lasted about 30 years but was eventually resolved.
• The Thirty Years’ War in Europe, where Sweden as a Protestant power and parts of Germany as Catholic powers fought a long religious conflict that was also eventually resolved.

A reaction to unequal democracy in religious communities

The multi-religious electoral system is also a reaction to why the Nordic countries have introduced democracy into their Protestant religious communities through church elections, while many other countries have not done so.

Within the European Union, only three countries – Sweden, Denmark and Finland – have introduced democracy in their religious communities in the form of church elections. The other EU member states have not given their religious communities the same democratic structures.

The model also reacts to the fact that young Protestants who have reached the age of 16 are allowed to practice democracy two years before the general election, by voting in church elections. Young people belonging to other religious communities – including Catholics and Orthodox Christians as well as Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus – are not given the same democratic opportunity in their communities.

Gender and leadership in religious democracy

The multi-religious electoral system is further a reaction to why the papacy always goes to a man, and why only men are allowed to elect the pope. This stands in contrast to church elections in some Protestant contexts, where a woman can become an archbishop.

It raises questions such as: Can a woman be a chaplain or priest in the American Congress? Will Americans introduce democracy into their religious communities in a way that treats men and women equally and gives believers a direct democratic voice?

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The multi-religion election system is thus both a theoretical framework and a criticism of current relationships between religion and politics. It suggests that durable peace – especially in long‑running conflicts like Israel–Palestine – requires new democratic structures that take religious communities seriously while fully protecting individual human rights.

This page is part of the Multireligionvalsystem project. You can find more background material and examples on the main site: https://multireligionvalsystem.eu.org/