Theocracy

Theocracy is a form of government ruled by divine means or by leaders considered to be divinely guided.

Examples of Theocracies

• Pagan kingdoms and empires under god-kings and pharaohs and shamans in ancient times before 1000 B.C. and up into the 19th century, in the Far East, India, Africa, Pre-colonial Americas and Pacific islands.

• Israel was a theocracy before King Saul was anointed c. 1040 B.C. as God's representative, subject to the prophet Samuel.

• The United Monarchy of Judah and Israel under the anointed kings David and Solomon, and then Judah under the anointed kings in the line of David, from Rehoboam to Zedekiah (Siege of Jerusalem 587 B.C.)

• Plato's ideal Republic (c. 350 B.C.).

• After the Maccabean Revolt, Judea was a theocracy 152 B.C. to 63 B.C. under the Hasmonean dynasty of the high priests.

• The Christian Roman Empire after Constantine (c. A.D. 363).

• The Byzantine Empire and Christian Europe under the Holy Roman Emperors, 4th through 15th centuries. Eastern Orthodoxy holds that a true emperor is God's anointed representative on earth.

• Arabia and the Middle East under Mohammed and Islamic caliphs and sultans

• The Papal States under the Catholic Popes, from A.D. 754 to 1870.

• The legendary (fictional) kingdom of Prester John beginning the 12th century.

• The Russias under the Czar as emperor, obedient to the Russian Orthodox Church up to the abdication of Nicholas II (1917).

• Utopian communities founded in the United States and Europe 16th through 20th centuries, by such groups as the Anabaptists beginning as early as 1521. See especially Socialism: Religion.

• Rule by the Lutheran Princes in accordance with The Smalcald Articles beginning in 1537, with the systematic eradication of Catholicism as a crime punishable by death throughout their territories.

• Geneva, Switzerland during the Genevan Reform c. 1541-1564 under John Calvin.

• The several hundred year old Buddhist theocracy, established in Tibet with the assumption of power by the Dalai Lamas in 1642, inaugurating the era of "harmonious blend of religion and politics", and headed by the current Dalai Lama, before atheist Communist China invaded in 1950 in order to "liberate" it from religion.

• Salt Lake City (1847) and Utah under the prophets and Council of Elders of the Latter-day Saints in the 19th century in the United States.

• National Socialism in Germany 1925-1945 combined Norse mythology, Darwinism and Theosophy in a racist militant extremist opposition to Judaism and Christianity

• Since 1926 the theocratic Sri Aurobindo Ashram in India.

• The Vatican of the Roman Catholic Church is a formal Christian theocracy, with the Pope as head of both church and state. By technicality, Vatican City established by the Treaty of the Lateran in 1929 is a theocracy, as it is ruled by the Pope, placed by a divine election.

• The Islamic Republic of Iran since December 1979 is a modern-day theocracy, as many commentators believe that the real power in its government lies not in allegedly "democratically-elected" leaders like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but in clerics such as the Ayatollahs within the government, since Iranian law requires Presidential candidates to be approved by the Guardian Council and some Iranian laws on homosexuality and adultery come from the Sharia.

• Only two democracies (or more precisely republics) reserve places in their legislatures specifically for representatives of the state religion, these are the aforementioned Islamic Republic of Iran and the United Kingdom where Bishops of the Church of England sit in the upper chamber, the House of Lords under the designation of Lords Spiritual, the monarch of England being also the supreme head of the Church of England since 1559.

• Atheism imposed by the Reign of Terror in France in the 18th century, and by the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China and the Communist governments in Southeast Asia, Africa, Cuba and South America in the 20th and 21st centuries. See Atheism is a religion.

• Wahhabism or militant extremist Islam imposed on countries and communities controlled by Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and ISIS since the beginning of the 21st century, in the Middle East and Africa and island nations in the Pacific.

Theocracy as tyranny

C.S. Lewis wrote:

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. [2]

Theocracy may also describe any government which seeks to impose religious principles or law, such as the Sharia, or the Hindu laws of Manu Smriti on its population, even if the government is formally secular.

One well known example of such a state is Saudi Arabia where the legal system is based on Sharia (Islamic law as interpreted by state authorities), Saudi Arabia also has a religious police force which rigorously enforces Sharia.

In Israel, civil cases under the Halakhah (traditional Jewish law based on the Torah) are allowed. However, criminal cases are governed by secular law.

Theocracy and the Kingdom of Heaven

In a society where most people are centered on God, and really in touch with His love and His will, the formal system of laws and courts will probably be less necessary. Rev. Moon said, "Eventually we will not need elections. If people go back to their hometowns and serve they will be asked to take public offices, become a king or queen, whoever becomes the center of their hometown does not need to be elected." (unofficial sermon notes, Nov. 23, 2010)

This idea is in contrast to the a forcible theocracy, in which theocratic law is imposed with penalties.

Arguments against theocracy

• Stifling of free speech and freedom of religion. In a theocracy, it would be counterlogical to allow the citizens to know, or accept other religions or ideologies. Presumably, some mechanism will be placed to prevent dangerous speech, or make the ideas within artificially unwanted.
• Thought is severely engineered, to prevent "dangerous" thoughts (Atheism, etc.).
• Unaccountable government. Because the government is supposedly an extension of a deity, they cannot be held accountable.

See also

• Islamic republic
• Secular state
• Jewish philosophy
• Oligarchy
• Aristocracy
• Dictatorship
• Meritocracy
• Oligopoly
• Plutocracy
• Technocracy