The issue is that many western democracies that arose out of different religious traditions (at least the smart ones), learned some time ago that absolute power corrupts absolutely, no matter what religion you claim to represent, whose god you worship, or even if you and those who believe you, say you speak for god.
Many in the Muslim world do not believe this nor know it to be true. So, like rebellious teens flexing their new found strength after throwing off the shackles of the culture they are in or the strictures of dictatorial parents, imagine that, unlike all the other tyrannies professing God, that somehow they will be different.
This is even the sentiment of some of the moderate Muslims I have met and know. They think that while "benevolent dictatorships," have failed in the past and have invariably disintegrated into bloody horrific tyrannies, they will be different. This, they pridefully assume, is because these other "benevolent dictatorships" were set up by the wrong religions. Now, they foolishly imagine, with Islam taking power, absolute power can be safely entrusted to "Islamic brotherhoods."
Sadly, since they are smug about their place in the pantheon of religions, many Muslim countries will all have to experience their own inquisitions, dark ages, third Reichs, and religious wars. This is what is happening in Egypt and Iran and will most likely happen in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria and Palestine, etc.
And try as we might, while we may be able to persuade them to choose otherwise and convince them that good can thrive with freedom, in the end, as the fictional "Freddy," the Iraqi translator in the Green Zone said--it is not for us to decide what happens in their countries--they must, whether to have their inquisitions when they will learn that absolute power corrupts absolutely even when given to those professing to speak on behalf of Allah, or in humility come to the understanding that religion can only be an elevating force when it is left unfettered by the corrupting influence of absolute power.
Loren M. Lambert © December 27, 2012
Many in the Muslim world do not believe this nor know it to be true. So, like rebellious teens flexing their new found strength after throwing off the shackles of the culture they are in or the strictures of dictatorial parents, imagine that, unlike all the other tyrannies professing God, that somehow they will be different.
This is even the sentiment of some of the moderate Muslims I have met and know. They think that while "benevolent dictatorships," have failed in the past and have invariably disintegrated into bloody horrific tyrannies, they will be different. This, they pridefully assume, is because these other "benevolent dictatorships" were set up by the wrong religions. Now, they foolishly imagine, with Islam taking power, absolute power can be safely entrusted to "Islamic brotherhoods."
Sadly, since they are smug about their place in the pantheon of religions, many Muslim countries will all have to experience their own inquisitions, dark ages, third Reichs, and religious wars. This is what is happening in Egypt and Iran and will most likely happen in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria and Palestine, etc.
And try as we might, while we may be able to persuade them to choose otherwise and convince them that good can thrive with freedom, in the end, as the fictional "Freddy," the Iraqi translator in the Green Zone said--it is not for us to decide what happens in their countries--they must, whether to have their inquisitions when they will learn that absolute power corrupts absolutely even when given to those professing to speak on behalf of Allah, or in humility come to the understanding that religion can only be an elevating force when it is left unfettered by the corrupting influence of absolute power.
Loren M. Lambert © December 27, 2012
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