LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

What is theocracy? And why is it important to resist it as a means of governance?

Wikipedia has an extensive entry about the subject, along with some good definitions and examples of governments with theocratic elements.

But essentially, a theocracy is a form of government that derives its power from God- through either an individual acting in proxy (rare), or from a religious institution and its interpretations of Scripture (more common).

Bottom line: the rule of law, created through lots of trial(s) and error, revision, refinement and upgrades, is replaced with the rule of Scripture (which is a stand-in for God), interpreted by a (self) chosen few.

The United States of America is currently entangled in a slow strangulation, a death of a thousand cuts, from political forces wrapped in religious rhetoric and deception who are intent on destroying what our Founders created. They believe that we are a "Christian Nation", and want to return us to a mythical Golden Era where God was in charge, and ruled through interpretaions of Scripture. The laws of people would be replaced by the laws of God, which were set in stone and not to be revised, rewritten, and certainly not revoked.

In the colonial days of the US, the colonies were all theocracies of one sort or another. Their laws varied greatly on what was an offense and what was not. It is these elements that have Christian historical revisionists claiming that the US was originally a "Christian Nation". No, it was a motley collection of squabbling religious-run colonies, some of whom considered other colonies deadly enemies. In order for the original Union to be formed, these individual theocracies had to surrender their constitutions and adapt the more open and secular Constitution of the United States. Frederick Clarkson goes into more detail:

For over 150 years of the colonial era, there were established churches, just as there had been in Europe for centuries before. In different colonies, there were different established churches. In Massachusetts it was the Congregational Church. In Virginia, it was the Anglican Church. As a general rule during this period, you had to be a member in good standing of the established church to vote and hold public office. What's more, one had to swear a Christian oath, of one sort or another. Details varied and changed over time. But the framers of the Constitution had some knotty problems to resolve. They were well aware of the history of religious warfare in Europe, and indeed, of the religious persecution and bigotry in the colonies. One of the formative experiences of the young James Madison was witnessing the beating and jailing of a Baptist minister who dared preach the gospel as he understood it in violation of Virginia law at the time. In the previous century not only witches, but Quakers were executed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Jesuit missionaries, if any had shown up, would also have been executed.

How could the Framers of the Constitution stitch together a nation out of 13 separate colonies, each with its own established churches? How could they inoculate the new nation against the ugliness of religious bigotry and persecution, and the risk of religious warfare? They started to answer these questions in Article Six.

Article Six, Clause 3 states: "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

What this meant was that for the first time in the history of the world, religious orientation would not be a consideration as to one's qualifications for office. This clause, effectively disestablished the churches, by making religious equality the law of the land. It was a radical idea, and it passed overwhelmingly and with little debate. The Christian Right of the 18th Century didn't like article six and unsuccessfully fought ratification in the state legislatures. The Christian Right spent much of the 19th Century unsuccessfully trying to amend the Constitution to acknowledge God or Christianity in some way. In the latter part of the 20th Century (through the present) the Christian right has tried to revise history to say that the U.S. really was a Christian Nation after all.

The Founders had to end theocracy in order to create our country. Think about that. Think about the kicking, the screaming, the impassioned debates that went on in 13 different statehouses as the British bore down upon them. Think about the narrow victories and the hard feelings that were left after people were removed from power.

And think about how the current religious right is taking our history and twisting it -along with science- to make it fit their apocalyptic vision of a Christian nation which will lead the world to Armageddon.

Not a pretty picture. Our country has always been unique in many ways. Blessed, even- with climate, resources, and a vast influx of brilliant and ambitious people who saw what was wrought and built upon it. Our democracy was one of the best in the world- because it permitted all voices to be heard. Our country was- and in many cases, still is- one of the most desirable destinations on the planet to live.

That is not true any more. People with a religious agenda have decided that our great good luck wasn't the work of We the People, it was divinely ordained. And they sincerely believe that our raucous mix of belief and not-belief somehow offends this God, and that we have to all fall into lock-step within a narrow parameter of belief, or this God will (or already has, depending on who's ranting) withdraw his protective hand from us. They point to various disasters and events as evidence that this God has already done so. There is no room in their minds for any sort of statistical understanding or logical understanding of other events that propogated our tragedies- it is all about God's wrath.

They cannot leave this great country to happily bask in prosperity and spread it around the world. No, they want to use our power and influence to further their agenda of bringing the rule of Christ (and God) to the entire planet. And they want to finally fulfill the prophecies in Revalation, the book that got into the Bible by one vote, written by a guy on acid. They want to bring about the heresy of the "Rapture". They want to see the final chapters of "Left Behind" happen in reality, with a 100' tall sword-spitting Angry Warrior Jesus stomping Godzilla-like over the split corpses of unbelievers. The world would be destroyed, and God would keep those chosen few who pleased him. The rest of us would burn in an eternal lake of fire.

If this were a private belief held by a few, it would be considered a curiosity, historically commented upon, argued about by academics, perhaps made into a horror movie, snarked about in a few blogs and quickly forgotten. But, it isn't. A large and growing percentage of American people believe these things to be literally true, and accept the Bible as literal and divine truth straight from God. Worse, they are working on insinuating Biblical literalcy into our main powerhouses- science and government. They actively work to erode the rights of women and their ability to control their reproductive lives. They work towards legislating homosexuality out of the mainstream. They believe that the richer you are, the more blessings from God you have, and that the poor are poor because God is punishing them. Same with those who are sick. Many adhere to a statement of belief that puts the Bible (and its literal truth) first, God second, and Jesus Christ, a distant third. They are Christian in name only. They are a political force wrapped in the most popular religion. They use that cover to insinuate themselves into every corner of our society, because Christian still equals 'good' to most people. But the leaders of this movement are not good people. They do not believe in the greater good of a nation of many faiths. Only their beliefs are valid. They do not emulate Christ or follow his teachings at all. Worse, they treat those who do actually adhere to Christ's teachings as religious pariahs, or non-Christians. The word "Christian" itself has become tainted with the stain of intolerance, homophobia, fear, ignorance and hatred.

These men (and they're mostly male- women are window dressing or gadflies in their world) want to take over our government and restore the non-existant "Christian Nation"- and in its extreme theonomic form, even restore Biblical punishments and Christian citizenship. Never mind that our original 'nation' was a collection of squabbling colonies who would have eventually destroyed each other. They've rewritten history to suit their own ends, and actual fact does not get a look in. In their nation, women (and possibly minorities, too) would have no voice, vote, or ability to be free citizens, gay people and any non-believers or heretics would be killed, and the tools of warfare would be used to spread their interpretation of the Gospel far and wide.

The bottom line is this: Is an extensively edited and uncertainly translated tribal lawbook something we want to run a 21st Century civilization with? I don't think so. That is why I am standing up and revealing theocracy for the giant step backwards it truly is. In a secular government, there is room for many voices and beliefs. It's messy, chaotic, and sometimes stumbles. But all the elements keep the extremists in check. To permit any one faith to rule us all would be disasterous. Religion and government should not comingle. A believer can govern, as can a non-believer. But the believer must be capable of looking beyond the dictates of his or her faith to serve the greater good. And in doing so, they are actually following Christ's greatest commandment: to 'love your neighbor as you love yourself'. That is the ultimate governence.