Rejected by Religions, but Not by Believers

[rug]

Do Muslims promote democracy? Some do and some don't, as is the case with followers of every religious tradition on earth.

October 4, 2012
Reza Aslan

The question of whether Islam is compatible with democracy is nonsensical at its core, first because it ignores basic empirical evidence (the five most populous Muslim countries in the world are all democracies) and second because it presumes that Islam is somehow different, unique or special -- that unlike every other religion in the history of the world, Islam alone is unaffected by history, culture or context.

Anyone who would answer “no, Islam is not compatible with democracy” does not even deserve a response; this is merely recycling the same old tired and disproven stereotypes about Islam that are frankly starting to get boring.

The truth is no religion either encourages or discourages democracy. Indeed, because religions are in their nature absolutist, all religions reject the principles of liberalism and popular sovereignty that are at the heart of the democratic ideal.

But so what? Religions do not exist outside of our interpretations of them. It is no coincidence that in the United States both slave owners and abolitionists not only used the same Bible to justify their arguments, but also used the exact same verses. The power and purpose of religion lies precisely in its malleability. The same gospels that compel a middle-class American Christian in the Midwest to “turn the other cheek” compel the pummeled and poverty-stricken Christian in the hills of San Salvador to “sell his cloak and buy a sword.” The same Torah that commands the elderly Jew in Palm Beach to love his neighbor as himself commands the zealot settler in Israel to violently cleanse the Holy Land of all Arabs. The same Quran that feeds the religious fascism of Iran’s supreme leader nourishes the young Iranian activist willing to risk his life for democracy.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/10/04/is-islam-an-obstacle-to-democracy/democracy-may-be-rejected-by-religions-but-not-by-believers

Reza Aslan, an associate professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, is the author of "No God but God" and "How to Win a Cosmic War."

[MineralMan]

1. I lived in Turkey in the late 1960s for over a year.

While troubled, Turkey is and has been a Muslim country with a democratic form of government. When I was there, it was a stable government. That comes and goes, but the proof that a Muslim country can be democratic can be found in Turkey.

[dimbear]

2. "The truth is no religion either encourages or discourages democracy." ??

Ah yes, for instance when Pope Innocent III cancelled the Magna Charta. A plus? A minus? Is it really hard to say?

And, apparently, the makers of the French Revolution didn't get the news.
Something about "Divine Right of Kings" something something.

[rug]

3. Yes the thirteenth century was the Golden Age of Democracy.

The Barons fought nobly for their right to rule the people.

[dimbear]

5. JWs don't vote. Amish don't usually vote. Mennonites don't usually vote.

Right now, 2012. May have some religious reason, of course it's hard to say.

Good point about the barons, tho.

[SarahM32]

4. I appreciate all of Reza Aslan's work, especially on the history of Islam.

Aslan's explanation of the schism that developed between Sunnis and Shiites is very interesting.

I think the author of About Islam was influenced by Aslan. That article shows how and why Islam is divided just as Christianity and Judaism are, into various denominations, sects, factions, etc.

And in the OP piece, Aslan is right on about the Torah, Bible and Quran being used for both good and evil alike, as evil justifies itself by masquerading as good. That, after all, is why as Adolph Hitler was rising to power, he claimed in his speeches and book that he was a Christian serving the Lord.
.

[unc70]

6. All religions are not absolutist

Very mainstream Christians have at their core uncertainty, the impossibility of anyone ever knowing or being able to speak of God's will. As such, they contrast with Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Southern Baptists, and some other Baptists. The latter group in general is more authoritarian on many levels, more focused on pain, suffering, punishment, selection / exclusion, and the afterlife for a few. The Roman Church was shaped in support of the Empire. So too the Church of England. New England Calvinism became the defacto US national religion, again in support if the richest and in justifying things like manifest destiny.

The United Methodisg Church probably reflects the democratic religious understanding comparable to the liberal democracy principals in the Constitution.