
In Iran, home of Islam, the people are coming to grips with the reality that their perfect Islamic Democracy, based on the will of the people and a beacon of pride to the entire Muslim world, is nothing more than a veneer surrounding another Muslim Dictatorship. It is a painful truth, but it is the obvious result of mixing religion and Democracy. Religion is all about the centralization of power. Centralization is necessary to codify and disseminate the belief system. Democracy’s central goal is to disperse power among as many people as possible. These two systems are fundamentally contradictory, and their mixture will always end in strife. Now, strife has come home to Islam. I want to look at this issue from it many facets, in hopes to find a solution to the violence.
A tree of many branches
Every religion has sects with their own belief sprouting from the same basic tenants of their respective belief systems. In all, these sects only fine small percentages of the population to fill their ranks. In general, a religious organization or ‘church’ will try to attract the widest audience possible. this is as much an altruistic need to spread what they believe to be the ‘truth’ of your existence, as it is a simple economic need for survival of the church.
Sects have a tendency to lean towards fore fundamentalist views of the religion, and more strict interpretation of related texts. The more fundamentalist the view, the more likely freedoms taken for granted by a population at large will be frowned-upon, even ”outlawed’, by that sect, making the lifestyle unpalatable by most. Interestingly, the more fundamentalist the view, regardless of which major religion is discussed, the less violence is tolerated. (more…)