[MD] Theocracy, Secularism, and Democracy

[david buchanan]

Steve said:
Can you offer a working definition of a theocrat? ... I'm still not sure what you mean by theocracy. I'd really like to be able to wield the term to criticize a certain anti-democratic movement that swept W into the White House, but I also want to be very clear about what it means. Can you help clarify?


dmb says:

I don't think we need to deviate from the standard meanings. I'm certainly not using the word to mean anything different from what your average dictionary would tell you. Christendom would be the quintessential example in our culture. Church and state were not separate things in pre-modern times. That's not going to happen anytime soon, but theocracy still means the rule of God or rather the rule of religious authorities who claim to speak for God. In our context, a theocrat is one who pushes back against the separation of church and state, which is otherwise known as secularism or religious freedom. 

Since we are talking about religion and politics in our time, we are talking about a reactionary impulse and you're quite right to identify it as anti-democratic. I think the MOQ's distinction between social and intellectual values clarifies what's going on here.