in this video i want to make the seriously controversial claim
that authentic religion is incompatible with democracy with secular democracy
now this is a very controversial thing to claim and people normally speak in those terms about
islam not being compatible democracy and there are some verses in the quran which might make you
think that there's one verse that says if you obey the majority of those on earth they will mislead
you far away from allah's path they follow nothing but conjectures they are only guessing and this is
116. but there are similar kinds of principles to be found in all the authentic religions and i just
want to share some thoughts some remembering god reflections on islam by gai eaton this is
actually the first book on islam i ever bought from waterstones in piccadilly uh some years ago
i'll just read what he says and then make a few comments he says on page 75 the general principle
that the laws and customs which govern the community can only be binding if they are derived
from the revelation and from the prophet's example remains as valid now as it ever was
in the islamic view man can no more make laws for himself than he can be judge and jury in his own
case when he attempts to do so he is prompted only by caprice and there can be no lasting stability
when the wind of public opinion constantly changing direction governs legislation
if the truth were in accordance with their likes and dislikes says the quran then indeed the
heavens and the earth and all the beings therein would have been corrupted our likes and dislikes
are by nature capricious and the prophet is reported to have said that paradise is
surrounded by things we dislike held by the things we like this is to be expected in view
of the human tendency to choose the lowest rather than the highest when deprived of divine guidance
christians who still accept the doctrine of original sin are likely to agree secularism
takes the opposite view the democratic legislator legislator if he wishes to be reelected must go
with the tide of public opinion and public opinion is governed by personal subjective feelings in
effect by likes and dislikes this tide is in itself mysterious and there are those who have
suggested that there is a kind of psychological virus that spreads through a whole society
it certainly seems as though we catch opinions in the way that we catch influenza
how else can we come one account for the fact that one generation will completely reverse
the opinions that is to say the feelings of the previous generation approving what
was formally condemned and condemning what was previously approved homosexuality is
a case in point when i was a young when i was young homosexuals were sent to prison but the
general opinion was that they should be shot or castrated today disapproval of sexual deviation
even if this disapproval is based on unalterable religious principles is described as homophobia
come on really believe that millions of people thinking for themselves as they are commanded to
do in this modern age have become independently to almost identical opinions on this matter
that would be an extraordinary coincidence in whatever terms we define the wind that drives
such changes in the zeitgeist there can be no stability in a legal system which responds from
day to day only to passing fancies end quote and this whole chapter is quite extraordinary
and of course all traditional religions say traditional catholicism for example
which has an integralist understanding of politics the idea that the state uh which is concerned with
the mundane temporal uh business of this world uh is subordinate in some way to the church which is
concerned with the eternal salvation of souls and has a estrological view in traditional catholicism
we see this in the medieval period these principles would have been understood the idea
that mankind human beings can change god's laws to make what is haram halal to allow two men to marry
each other would have been not just blasphemous but literally unthinkable democracy allows this
it allows anything without uh without god anything is possible and as the quran says if you obey the
majority of those on earth they will mislead you far away from god's path they follow nothing but
conjectures they are only guessing so in my view and of course this is very controversial
uh authentic religion whether it be catholicism whether it be islam or or traditional judaism
in the state of israel for example we see in the torah there's no democracy now it's not to
say there's no justice justice very very different there can be the rule of law there can be justice
but not man being sovereign in a god and a godly system god is sovereign and he rules through his
vice regents mankind you obey the divine law and that is incompatible in my humble opinion with
democracy where man is sovereign a man determines what is right and wrong what is good and bad and
he makes it up as he goes along and of course is constantly shifting and changing we've seen this
uh over the recent years and it's going to continue to change in the future where doubtless
yet more lifestyle choices will become obligatory to approve maybe incest maybe pedophilia maybe
bestiality maybe who knows what perversions will be accepted and required to be approved of
by our media by the legal system by our education system so that's why i maintain that democracy
is incompatible and that in fact the system of divine law whether it be sharia or the halakhah
or the christian law is spiritually and morally superior and necessary for man's flourishing in
this world and success in the next so there we go let me know what you think until next time