Church and the State

State supported religions have been around from the very beginning.

1. Sassanians made Zoroastrianism the state religion of Persia
2. Ashoka made Buddhism the state religion of India
3. Rome made Christianity the state religion of Rome
4. The Caliphs made Islam the state religion of Arabia
5. David and Solomon made Judaism the state religion of Judea
6. Incas, Hopis, Mayans and the Zulus had state traditions.
7. Ram Raj and Krishnan Raj was the state religion of India
8. The Sikhism was a state religion once

I don’t believe that the Bahai’s and Jains have had an opportunity to have a state religion. I am open to getting corrected.

Except the religious heads of the time, the only thing most of the Kings of yesteryears knew was attack the next kingdom and annex their land, loot their wealth and bring in women as their concubines. Alexander spent nearly all of his adult life of some 15 years conquering, pillaging and ravaging the nations he ran over. He never got to sit down and read a poetry or romance with a lady or play with a baby. There were several kings like him, who were simply destructive plunderers and just could not sit down and relax. Do we have them today?

Which head of the state has not killed those who differed from him? Every one of them is guilty. It was not the religion though; it was the insecurity in that individuals that drove him to do desperate acts of violence and destruction.

Those were the days when societies were mono-culturistic and-mono religious, today the story is different. In the next fifty years there will not be a city where you will not find people of different races, religions, cultures and languages. Our system of Governance has to change too. Justice has to be served to every one to maintain the equilibrium in the society, or else, those whom justice was not served will be waiting to get even, the business of revenge continues.

The purpose of religion was to inculcate the values of justice in us and teach us to be fair. Treat others the way you would want to be treated.

Unfortunately religion has become a tool, used for fulfilling personal ambition of individuals. The grand ideas of quad; Islamist, Hindutva, Neocons and the Zionist are fictions presented as clear and present danger. It is to frighten the masses and make bucks in donations for massacring the evil other.

Islam bashing is a full time profitable business. As long as there are nincompoops out there, the smarties will keep cashing in. There is a host of them out there; some of them are listed at http://hatesermons.blogspot.com

There is not substantiation for their claims that Muslims are here to dominate and make Sharia the law of the land. They want to install the Caliphs and force the world to be Muslim. That is baloney, but it pays them well and they know how to frighten the crap out of constipated people.

There are enough Muslims to oppose the idea even before it germinates. In the United States there are plenty of us, myself and millions of Muslims who prefer nothing but a pluralistic Democracy.

As far as Muslims are concerned, let me shoot it straight, we do not want any religious
governance, let alone Islamic. Islam is a religion like other religions that helps one achieve peace for the individual and what surrounds him or her. To be religious is to be a peacemaker, one who
constantly seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful co-existence. God wants us to live in peace and harmony with his creation; life and mater. Indeed, that is the purpose of
religion, any religion.

No Muslims in particular wants any Islamic Government, they know it will be an Ayatollah, Taliban, Wahhabi or some other brand of Islam, who want to be under tyrants?

Democracy is the right form of governance and people should continuously have the choice to elect who governs for them. It keeps the politicians some what honest. As Muslims, we do not like to see any religious governance, be it in Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Mike Ghouse