Is your country a democracy or a theocracy?

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The_Blonde_Alien
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22 Dec 2015, 1:03 pm

What country do you live in? And is it a democracy; where the people's word is valued above all else? Or is it more of a theocracy; a country that is ruled by its local church despite the government's claims that is it a "democracy"?

Tell me all about it below :)


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KagamineLen
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22 Dec 2015, 1:05 pm

My country is the USA, and it is a fascist country that worships wealth and the people who hoard it, while the rich get richer and more people sink deeper into poverty.



naturalplastic
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22 Dec 2015, 1:18 pm

Thats a false dichotomy:theocracy vs democracy.

Many dictatorships are purely secular. The Middle East is gradually moving from secular dictatorships to theocratic dictatorships (from Saddam Hussien/Assad/Khaddaffi type Baathists to Ayatollahs,and Taliban type regimes.



sly279
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22 Dec 2015, 1:22 pm

Constitutional republic.



The_Blonde_Alien
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22 Dec 2015, 2:30 pm

KagamineLen wrote:
My country is the USA, and it is a fascist country that worships wealth and the people who hoard it, while the rich get richer and more people sink deeper into poverty.


U.S.A. Is a big country. In one state it might just like your description while in another there might be a bit more fairness between the rich and poor.

Just saying of course. I might be wrong since I don't know much about the U.S.A.


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Spiderpig
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22 Dec 2015, 3:01 pm

A theocracy is democratic if a majority wants it, isn't it?


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Edenthiel
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22 Dec 2015, 3:25 pm

Interesting question! I live in a country that is a republic, ruled by a representative democracy. But at some levels, each citizen gets to vote directly. Insofar as religion goes, my country is inconsistent. Our founding documents state that the government is prohibited from creating a state religion; therefore it cannot technically be a theocracy. However, our history is such that more than half of the populous is religious and so they vote in religious representatives and by extension, judges. Those lawmakers in turn grant some religions legal exemptions to the laws that apply to and are enforced against everyone else. And in my country there are regions that are in a very practical sense, ruled as much on theology as secular law - we even have entire political parties that campaign on how they will enforce their god's laws over those of the nation.

It's a weird place.


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The_Blonde_Alien
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22 Dec 2015, 3:50 pm

Edenthiel wrote:
Interesting question! I live in a country that is a republic, ruled by a representative democracy. But at some levels, each citizen gets to vote directly. Insofar as religion goes, my country is inconsistent. Our founding documents state that the government is prohibited from creating a state religion; therefore it cannot technically be a theocracy. However, our history is such that more than half of the populous is religious and so they vote in religious representatives and by extension, judges. Those lawmakers in turn grant some religions legal exemptions to the laws that apply to and are enforced against everyone else. And in my country there are regions that are in a very practical sense, ruled as much on theology as secular law - we even have entire political parties that campaign on how they will enforce their god's laws over those of the nation.

It's a weird place.

Interesting! :) Some of the towns in my country were originally and historically built with the idea of a theocracy in mind (being ruled by Spain during the times of Christopher Columbus). One town even has the Mayor's hall and the Church facing each other at the center of town! I even herd that the mayor there went on to do a mass on that same church, which obviously suggest that the mayor was using religion as a means of gaining votes for the next election, despite my country's separation from the church itself. :roll:


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The_Blonde_Alien
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22 Dec 2015, 3:58 pm

Spiderpig wrote:
A theocracy is democratic if a majority wants it, isn't it?


A theocracy, to me, is a country whose democracy favors a certain religious faction of people and no one else.


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Sweetleaf
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22 Dec 2015, 4:09 pm

Well I think the appropriate term is Democratic Republic, so more of a democracy...though if the fundamentalist right gets their way it will become a christian theocracy.


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The_Blonde_Alien
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22 Dec 2015, 4:12 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
...though if the fundamentalist right gets their way it will become a christian theocracy.


What are you talking about exactly?


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YippySkippy
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22 Dec 2015, 4:16 pm

I live under an oligarchy. Here puppet politicians, often from one of two families, represent the interests of the multi-national corporations that pay for their campaigns.



Sweetleaf
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22 Dec 2015, 5:16 pm

The_Blonde_Alien wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
...though if the fundamentalist right gets their way it will become a christian theocracy.


What are you talking about exactly?


The religious right and its attempts at legislating religious morality.


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The_Blonde_Alien
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22 Dec 2015, 6:13 pm

Sweetleaf wrote:
The_Blonde_Alien wrote:
Sweetleaf wrote:
...though if the fundamentalist right gets their way it will become a christian theocracy.


What are you talking about exactly?


The religious right and its attempts at legislating religious morality.


Here's my response to that:

Image


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