Substack Theocracy
During my career at The Indianapolis Star, and after, I collaborated with an Iranian-American scholar on three projects: One was to interview him for a story related to Middle East conflicts; two, he asked me to proofread a speech or paper he was to present at a conference, and I accommodated him; and, three, I invited him to write a chapter for a journalism textbook I was Editing, which he did.
Our relationship was professional and good. What I remember most was asking him, during one phone conversation, if people should listen to the “laws of man” or the “laws of God.” I recalled the statement attributed to Jesus, which I paraphrase here, that we should give unto Rome what is Rome’s, and give unto God what is God’s. This advice – admonition? – always seemed a de facto endorsement of the separation of Church and State as we have it in America, even to have anticipated our US Constitution.
What was the response of my Iranian-American colleague? I also paraphrase here: ‘Of course we should listen to the laws of God first. My only objection is how some people on Earth can think God is speaking to them but not to the rest of us?’
The priority or ranking was clear – God trumps man. I think many people in the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) accept that principle or rule. Such a view is, unfortunately, a refutation of the separation of Church and State and I think it presents a real threat to democracy. I can’t go over European history much here, but democracy only grew as the influence of the Church in Rome was suppressed. And the US Constitution, of course, enshrined the separation of Church and State. Pray on Sunday, or Saturday or Friday, but get down to business on Monday.
My Iranian-American friend’s caveat is interesting, though. How can it be that God is speaking to some people, but not to others? How do we know those privileged persons are telling the truth – maybe God is not speaking to them exclusively?
Iran is a largely Shi’ite Muslim country, and it’s my understanding that the belief is that God can speak to a certain Elect but not necessarily to the general public in that faction or sect. I know very well that in Sunni Islam “the community” interprets God’s word, and no one individual or group can claim to have exclusive knowledge, other than Muhammad. This came up in my life during a graduate school course at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale on the Middle East conflict, which was largely attended by Muslim and Jewish students. A Palestinian activist asked me what Judaism says on this issue – who decides what is the true word and meaning of God, some individual or “Elect,” or “the community?”
I said that I was no expert on Judaism, but that he had asked me perhaps the easiest question of all. It is the community – for sure – that decides. I see some Jewish sects today as heretical for this very reason – individuals within the sects are perceived as having special knowledge and access to God’s meaning and that flies in the face of “the community.” I don’t know much about the conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism, but I think Martin Luther questioned how the Catholic clergy could somehow hold exclusive knowledge of God’s word or meaning, over and above what ordinary Believers might know. Certainly, the rift between these two major branches of Christianity is more complex than this, but I believe that what I’ve just written is at the core of their schism.
Back to my Iranian-American colleague. I don’t know if he was, or is, Shi’a or Sunni, but he sounded Sunni. I don’t think he would have spoken his mind so clearly inside Iran, which is a Shi’ite theocracy today. (People are being hung in Iran as I write this, in part for their political protests, and in part because of their “offenses against God,” i.e., not listening to the Elect in Shi’a Islam.)
We have to stay away from theocracy (including secular versions, where an elite class thinks it knows the truth and has the right to force their truths upon us). In religious theocracies, inevitably murder is justified because Believers will experience an afterlife, Paradise or Heaven, and everyone else will just be carrion, like roadkill on the highways or a dead horse rotting in the desert.
I’ll go further. When even secularists resort to murder to achieve their political ends – think Vladimir Putin today, whether you agree with his political aims or not, and whether you think he has some legitimate grievances against NATO and the West or not – resort to prayer and join hands with their churches (exactly what Putin has been doing with the Russian Orthodox Church) you know they’re claiming the murder of the new “infidels” is perfectly all right. People who can experience an afterlife, Paradise or Heaven ipso facto are superior to people who cannot, hence theocracy in any form is the most supremacist form of any supremacism of all.
Please take a look at the following link to learn more about my latest book, “Don’t Go,” a short story Collection from the Stephen F. Austin State University Press:
https://www.tamupress.com/book/9781622889297/dont-go/
It’s available directly from the press above, online sellers such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or order through your independent local bookstore. If you do buy it through Amazon, please leave a “verified purchase” review whether you love or hate the book, or anything in between.
Thanks,
Abraham (Abe) Aamidor