Sir Winston Churchill once said, “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”
Anyone who has lived in, or who lives in a democracy, knows that it is far from perfect. In a universe where perfection is scarce, where people aren’t inherently perfect, it should be no surprise, since it is a man-made system.
One definition of democracy is: Form of government, where a constitution guarantees basic personal and political rights, fair and free elections, and independent courts of law.
Democracy is also largely free from direct religious influence ie, democracies are secular states. As soon as a religion becomes part of the function in government, democracy decreases or disappears.
As I write, the once secular state of Turkey is increasingly becoming Islamized. Ataturk, the father of Turkey had the amazingly good sense to keep religion and politics at arms length, despite the fact that a large majority of Turks is Muslim. In Turkey you see a progressive country that works well because people are free to attain their greatest strengths.
There are 40 majority muslim countries with a variety of different styles of government from secular to theocracy. The degree of freedom people have within these countries varies. While we have heard people in Middle Eastern muslim countries calling for democracy during the so-called “Arab Spring” uprisings, I wonder how many of those people really know what democracy means.
The political and legal aspect of Islam is not democratic. If those people demonstrating think they will achieve a high degree of democracy by getting rid of the dictators who were running their countries and installing such organisations as the Muslim Brotherhood, they are greatly deluded.
Review the table at left and you’ll see a comparison between Communism, Islam and Naziism as totalitarian regimes. By far the most limiting of individual rights is Islam. It is true that Islamic doctrine and Sharia are enforced to differing degrees around the world and in the same way that Christians have chosen to turn a blind eye to the horrors of the Old Testament, not everyone who commits adultery in more advanced muslim countries is murdered. However, the potential is there and there are still cases reported weekly of violent acts against people directly because of Islamic doctrine.
There are some aspects of Islamic countries I like eg, the lack of or reduction in lewdity and absence of alcohol-related stupidity and crime etc are something we could all benefit from. However, when you give someone true freedom, you also have to accept that they will not use their freedom of choice wisely. Better that than being under the thumb of an oppressive regime like Islam.
Dark Horse
