How’s Theocracy Working?
So, how are things progressing in the Hundred Years War in Iraq? Not well:
Women in Iraq’s southern city of Basra are living in fear. More than 40 have been killed and their bodies dumped in the streets in the past five months for behaviour deemed un-Islamic, the city’s police chief says.
A warning scrawled in red on a wall threatens any woman who wears makeup or appears in public without an Islamic headscarf with dire punishment.
…
“Some women were killed with their children,” Basra police chief, Major-General Abdul-Jalil Khalaf, told Reuters. “One with a six-year-old child, another with an 11-year-old.”
…
During the long rule of Saddam Hussein, who suppressed Islamists, Iraqi women in urban areas enjoyed some of the most casual dress codes in the Middle East.
Conservative Islamist influences have spread since the U.S.-led invasion removed Saddam in 2003. This has led to stricter interpretations of Islam in many parts of Iraq.
I read about religious extremists murdering women in Iraq, saying that the women are violating God’s law. And I hear Republican candidate Mike Huckabee saying:
I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God, and that’s what we need to do, is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards, rather than try to change God’s standards …
Now, for some reason, I get nervous whenever I hear politicians talking about “God’s law” or “God’s standards.” Theocracies are never run by God — they’re run by guys who have set themselves up as God’s spokesmen, guys who tell everyone what they want, claiming authority from God. It’s always that way.
No theocracy for me, thanks.