[ExI] iranian riots all a huge mistake

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2009/7/13 spike <spike66 at att.net>:
> ...On Behalf Of Stathis Papaioannou
>>
>> They are guilty of the crime of apostasy, which like sodomy,
>> warrants the death penalty in the Abrahamic religions. As it
>> says in Deuteronomy 13:6-10:
> ...
>> ...But the Mullahs in Iran and several
>> other Middle eastern states *take their religion seriously*,
>> which means you can't ignore the parts which you don't like... Stathis
>
>
> Stathis, this comment gets part of the way there, but misses something
> really important.  Most people have long ago recognized that church and
> state must be kept strictly separate.  The religion that must not be named
> not only rejects that notion, it specifically insists that church and state
> be unified.

It's a problem when the religion itself says you have to kill
apostates or homosexuals, for example. As discussed previously, until
very recently in many Western countries sodomy was a crime punishable
with long prison terms or even death. This was despite either de facto
or constitutionally guaranteed separation of church and state. The
religious laws had been so thoroughly assimilated into the legal
system that they weren't even recognised as such! You could look at
the history of European politics as a gradual dissolution of a system
of Christian theocracies started by the emperor Constantine.

> The ongoing Iranian riots are not so much about support for the losing
> candidate, but rather that the Iranian election is only a show, and that it
> is really a theocracy.  The young people of Iran do not want to be ruled by
> religion.  We should be supporting them.

If in fact the election was fair, we would be supporting something
undemocratic. Still, that's not enough reason not to support the
rebels. In a democracy, 51% could vote to kill and eat the other 49%,
and it would be perfectly legal.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou