Daimnation!: The theocracy trap
I left the following as a comment on the above post.
As a Christian I welcome the inclusion of religious principles in public policy. But that’s as far as it should go. The government should in no way be involved in setting religious guidelines. If people are so eager to become subject to theocratic rule I suggest they convert to Catholicism and pay homage to the Pope. I’ll be over here using Scripture as the source of my belief (a very Lutheran philosophy) and realizing that God rules all while men rule for a fraction of time.
My main problem with the idea of a theocracy is this: Who decides which religious principles become the law of the land? Are they going to be strictly Episcopalian? Strictly Catholic? Or will the laws be drawn from a variety of faiths and homogenized until their unrecognizable? I would prefer a government that fights to make sure I can worship as I prefer instead of one that decides how I should worship. That’s kind of what the First Amendment says the government should be doing and not setting up some quasi-religious group that uses God as cover for all its bad decision making.
Theocracys seem to be based on the idea that man can – on any level – divine God’s thoughts. That’s a faulty premise and anyone who claims to do so immediately becomes suspect. It means they’re trying to make their ideas bulletproof and completely unavailable for questioning or debate. Man is faulty because, as the Bible teaches us, we live in a fallen and sinful world.
I have no problem with government using religious principles to guide their decision making. But the institutionalization of religion by government is a process that’s tailor made for abuse and suppression. I’ll let God, through the Word He’s given us in the Bible, show me how to live my life and would like government to not try and interpret that in a way that’s motivated solely by their selfish interests.
Chris Thilk 