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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kumar who wrote (5522)	4/25/2003 7:38:22 AM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

Think Pakistan. or maybe Indonesia. Where christian churches are bombed?? Or like Christian East Timor, which fought to secede from its muslim oppressor?? You can refuse to accept it if you wish Kumar. But a clergy is seldom democratic. They are a totalitarian system where a select few makes the rules for the rest of society. And more wars have been fought over religion than they have over oil. I certainly cannot imagine a theocratic government, once having achieved power, being willing to give up such power through an electoral process. It would be tantamount to acknowleging that their religion is derelict, unable to compete against other value systems, including secularism. Religious political parties?? Maybe.. But if they are not willing to respect the political institutions that enabled them to obtain power, then they should not be part of the political process. Let the clergy lobby to have representation for their values within the process such as they do in the US or other western democracies. But a religion is not a democracy.. It is an ideology that cannot tolerate rivals once in control. Furthermore, religious practioners tend to have a myopic view of right and wrong, not normally shared by the whole of society. And few people want to be accused of being party with the devil or the forces of evil, merely because they oppose the theocracy. Instead, they will suppress their own dissent, or find themselves being "re-educated". And bear in mind, I'm not an atheist.. I have my beliefs, but the only reason I feel secure in holding those beliefs is because I have the security of a secular political system that prevents someone else from forcing me to convert, or adopt their value system. Hawk