Friday, June 19, 2009

Fundamentalism and Theocracy - Entertainment for the weekend

by Dick Mac

I have always maintained that the most dangerous countries in the world are theocracies. Iran, The Vatican, and Israel, all nations built, to some degree or another, on religious tenets, have been the most difficult nations for the international community to deal with.

Afghanistan, under the Taliban, was as hideous as the other three, but we have successfully destabilized that nightmare. And although the killing in Afghanistan continues, it seems that a secular government will form and those people will be freed from theocratic tyranny.

My fear for the United States since the election of Ronald Reagan and the promotion and success of Christian fundamentalism, is that we are surging towards a theocratic structure that has not really been stemmed, yet. The election of a two Democrats since 1980 has done nothing to hamper the rise of American fundamentalism. in fact, the current American president invited a pro-theocracy (which is intrinsically anti-Democracy) bigoted minister to preside over his coronation.

Iran, though, remains the most dangerous theocracy, because unlike Israel and The Vatican, there are no Western powers keeping them in check. They are like the neighborhood bullies, henchmen, and thugs for the more respectable Arab nations in the Middle East. They do the dirty work that our "allies" in Saudi Arabia can't be seen doing: promoting terror, acquiring nuclear weapons, and the like. Iran is relied-upon by some of our allies to be the bully of the oil cartels.

American fundamentalists cannot be relied upon to stop Iran, because they are intrinsically prone to support religious-based rule, whether it is Christian, Muslim, or Jewish.

So, we sit and watch as the fundamentalists in Iran plan their next repressive move, which will likely come this weekend. Television commentators will feign shock, as if this is somehow out of the ordinary, that this is somehow not what Americans want. In reality, Americans don't care what happens to Iran, any more than they care what happens to the United States. The news from Iran is entertainment. The reassertion of fundamentalism in Iran will be a welcome sideshow to this week's College World Series and Major League baseball's ongoing steroids promotion.

Fundamentalism will assert itself anew in the Middle East and the American president will promote fundamentalism in the Untied States by ensuring further repression of the rights of homosexuals, and the Israelis will kill some more Muslims in Palestine or Lebanon.

Theocracy will continue to gain popularity and most Americans won't even pay any attention.

Theocracy and religious fundamentalism are the most dangerous socio-political movements in the world.

Pay attention.

Here's a hodge-podge of stuff I've read recently:

Iran’s Supreme Leader Warns Protesters

Conservative Christians: Obama's Gay Benefits Order Approximates Marriage

Israel garbled Lebanon phone networks

And there's always:

Left I on the News

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