From the article,
"Rahnavard had been convicted on the charge of "moharebeh," a Farsi word meaning "waging war against God." That charge has been levied against others in the decades since the revolution and carries the death penalty."
The Iranian clergy neither make up phrases like the highlighted, nor arbitrarily decide on the appropriate penalty. Both are lifted verbatim from the book of peace, tolerance, and love. In this case it's verse 5:33, "
Pickthall: The only reward of those who
make war upon Allah .....
they will be killed .....".
That is the problem with theocracy: if you disagree with a corrupt government that is a theocracy, you’re not just calling out some corrupt politicians- you are “waging war against God” Himself. You can see why it would be so attractive to wily and power hungry politicians and clergy.
The Iranians are learning tough lessons about theocracy today that the west learned a few centuries earlier, through all sorts of their own difficult experiences. The Iranians might have leaned by reading a little history of their western neighbors- but sometimes I guess people have to learn things on their own- the hard way.
"It was the belief of all sects at one time that the establishment of Religion by law, was right & necessary; that the true religion ought to be established in exclusion of every other; and that the only question to be decided was which was the true religion. The example of Holland proved that a toleration of sects, dissenting from the established sect, was safe & even useful. The example of the Colonies, now States, which rejected religious establishments altogether, proved that all Sects might be safely & advantageously put on a footing of equal & entire freedom.... We are teaching the world the great truth that Govts do better without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson that Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Gov. "
-James Madison,
“During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution...In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the Civil authority; in many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny: in no instance have they been seen the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty, may have found an established Clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just Government instituted to secure & perpetuate it needs them not.”
-James Madison
"The experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well-meaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of persecuting usurpers, that without a legal incorporation of religious and civil polity, neither could be supported. A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical Religion, to social harmony, and to political prosperity."
-James Madison
(Cont’d next post)
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