On Theocracies Pt. 3

In the last post of this series I asked how any religious leader can claim to know the will of God (or their higher power, or whatever). Inside every major tradition there is disagreement, Protestants are particularly adept at subdividing infinitely over every sort of conflict imaginable. But make no mistake, even within such a centralised religion as Roman Catholicism there are traditionalist movements and feminist movements and this and that.

Now the problem though is that, for whatever reason (everything from selfish pride, to earnest and ardent belief) it seems that many religious leaders do reckon that they are supreme in understanding the ultimate theological truth. Of course not all of them are right and many of them are grossly mistaken (Crusades, anyone?). Now this sort of certainty and rigidity is bad enough for a faith community. But as much as it creates division and sectarian conflict (everything from trading insults in academic journals to the "hands on" approach of Northern Ireland and other places), it's nothing compared to how bad things can - and do - get in a governmental situation.

Any casual follower of Canadian politics is well aware that, in the last few weeks in particular, both the Prime Minister and the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition have been very certain that the other is completely wrong and a total threat to the whole nation. Now imagine if both ardently believed that God was on his side and that the other was some kind of infidel. No doubt it would be a far worse situation. Too often those that act out of a deep religious commitment are not open to any sort of self-criticism. For the Christians out there, it's probably worth remembering that even the apostle Peter was wrong multiple times on important issues.