Political compass for the21st century

[pbrower2a]

(11-15-2018, 06:42 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote:

(11-14-2018, 03:54 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Christian democracy is definitely toward the center That is no muddle; it is picking between the best of tendencies. That is not to say that there cannot be Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, or Islamic democracy; indeed all that prevents a Zoroastrian democracy is the small number of Zoroastrians. (Zoroastrianism was a major world religion until the Islamic conquest of Persia. Neo-pagan democracy? The Vikings had a pagan democracy before they went Christian.

Islamic democracy would have to abrogate hadith which proscribe the caliphate as the best regime for the Islamic community. There are several Muslim democracies, I think Iraqi Kurdistan looks best, but they have progressed so far because of neglecting their god's mandates.

As for Judaism, wasn't Ancient Israel a democracy before King David?

Although the King James Bible calls the rulers of Israel "kings", those rulers of ancient Israel were elected in basically free elections for terms. The KJV could have called such leaders "Presidents", although the title would be invented for George Washington some centuries later.

A caliph as a constitutional, figurehead monarch could be the titular head of Islamic democracy. Elizabeth II may have a link to the tyrant Henry VIII as one of her predecessors, but that would not discredit her role.

The hadith themselves make Islam unattractive as a personal faith. Too bad. The Koran is arguably the most beautiful of all religious texts, which would itself be evidence of divinity. Contrast the Book of Mormon, which I find unreadable.

All in all, I think Muslims would be wise to heed the call of Mohamed to seek wisdom, no matter what its source (as he put it, "even China")... the more pathology that I see in Donald Trump and his political stooges, the greater admiration that I have for Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and our Founding Fathers.