Islamic Democracy

[smoothmoniker]

Godspeed

-sm

[smoothmoniker]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=5093768

-sm

[elSicomoro]

Islamic Democracy is an oxymoron.

[smoothmoniker]

Fundamentalist Islamic Democracy is an oxymoron.

There are traditionalists and progressives in any religious movement. Once a religious movement can distinguish between the internal reality and the external form of a spiritual tenet, they can exist peacably in a secular democracy.

-sm

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by smoothmoniker
Fundamentalist Islamic Democracy is an oxymoron.

Fundamentalists are morons.

There are traditionalists and progressives in any religious movement. Once a religious movement can distinguish between the internal reality and the external form of a spiritual tenet, they can exist peacably in a secular democracy.

I'm not so sure...the only real Islamic Democracy out there is Turkey, and their military must be given credit for towing the line all these years.

[hermit22]

Uh...no Islamic countries besides Turkey are democracies, huh? CIA would have something to say about that. Here are the member states of the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference) and their World Factbook gov't type. Obviously, many don't necessarily practice democracy as perfectly as it should be, but go to Freedom House for more complete info on that.

Afghanistan - transitional
Albania, Republic of - emerging democracy
Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of - republic
Azerbaijan, Republic of - republic
Bahrain, State of - constitutional hereditary monarchy
Bangladesh, People's Republic of - parliamentary democracy
Benin, Republic of -republic
Brunei Dar-us-Salaam, Sultanate of - constitutional sultanate
Burkina Faso - parliamentary republic
Cameroon, Republic of - unitary republic (WTF?)
Chad, Republic of - republic
Comoros, Federal Islamic Republic of the - independent republic
Cote d'Ivoire, Republic of - republic
Djibouti, Republic of - republic
Egypt, Arab Republic of - republic
Gabon, Republic of - republic
Gambia, Republic of the - republic
Guinea, Republic of - republic
Guinea-Bissau, Republic of - republic
Guyana, Republic of - republic
Indonesia, Republic of - republic
Iran, Islamic Republic of - theocratic republic
Iraq, Republic of - transitional
Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of - constitutional monarchy
Kazakhstan, Republic of - republic
Kuwait, State of - nominal constitutional monarchy
Kyrghyzistan, Republic of - republic
Lebanon, Republic of - republic
Libya, Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya - military dictatorship
Malaysia - constitutional monarchy
Maldives, Republic of - republic
Mali, Republic of - republic
Mauritania, Islamic Republic of - republic
Morocco, Kingdom of - constitutional monarchy
Mozambique, Republic of - republic
Niger, Republic of - republic
Nigeria, Federal Republic of - republic
Oman, Sultanate of - monarchy
Pakistan, Islamic Republic of - federal republic
Palestine, State of - not listed
Qatar, State of - traditional monarchy
Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of - monarchy
Senegal, Republic of - republic
Sierra Leone, Republic of - constitutional democracy
Somalia, Democratic Republic of - no government
Sudan, Republic of the - authoritarian regime
Surinam, Republic of the - constitutional democracy
Syrian Arab Republic - republic under military regime
Tajikistan, Republic of - republic
Togo, Republic of - republic
Tunisia, Republic of - republic
Turkey, Republic of - republican parliamentary democracy
Turkmenistan, Republic of - republic
Uganda, Republic of - republic
United Arab Emirates, State of - federation
Uzbekistan, Republic of - republic w/authoritarian presidential rule
Yemen, Republic of - republic

The ones that particularly stand out in my memory as among the more democratic are Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, Yemen, and, until recently, Iran. Just food for thought for the discussion.

[DanaC]

fascinating. Thanks for that hermit. I honestly had no idea how many of the Islamic countries had some kind of republican/democratic basis to their state.

[elSicomoro]

Sorry, hermit...myopia on my part...was only thinking of the Middle East.

Interesting, though...several of those countries are not even predominantly Muslim (Suriname, Benin, Mozambique).

[jaguar]

Somalia should be classified as a pure capatilist state - user pays - including police. Maybe Radar should move there =)

[Arliquin]

Once a religious movement can distinguish between the internal reality and the external form of a spiritual tenet, they can exist peacably in a secular democracy.

True. It could probably exist in any peaceful form. This line of thought has it that "truth" is without form. But this a 'mystical' insight - thus may take longer than we'd like.

[smoothmoniker]

Originally posted by Arliquin


True. It could probably exist in any peaceful form. This line of thought has it that "truth" is without form. But this a 'mystical' insight - thus may take longer than we'd like.

No, I'm saying that there are two parts to a religious structure - an internal principle and an external form. For years, the christian church identified the "Kingdom of God" as the divine external form, and the Catholic church set about becoming a dominant political force.

In the modern era, the evangelical movement recognizes that there is an internal principle of the "Kingdom of God", and shedding the external form that caused so much pain and suffering in the world.

Islam needs to undergo this same transformation with sheria, jihad, and the concept of the pan-islamic state.

-sm

[Happy Monkey]

In other words, they should be willing to practice their religion without forcing others to do so.