Politics

Muslims! Fight for the Principle of Separation of Church and State
by Richard Winkler
February 1, 2003

How many Muslims are willing to accept the principle of separation of church and state enough to fight for it? If people choose to believe the ideas espoused by religion it is not a problem in a free society where they do not have the power to force their ideas on others. If people choose to live under totalitarian governments that is their problem - but things have gotten dangerous. The ascendance of the avowed totalitarian ideology of Islamism combined with the availability of weapons of mass destruction is a disaster waiting to happen.

The Islamic world never experienced the western renaissance of the 16th and 17th century that broke the hold of religion on politics. Islamists still view the church and state as one entity. The historical claim of religion as the source of morality disarms people from opposing this view. Many believe that the only alternative to religious moral absolutes are either the subjectivism of moral relativism or immorality. In reality religious moral dictates come from whoever claims to be God’s mouthpiece; making them just as subjective and arbitrary as relativism. If a man accepts "Thou shall not kill" because "God said it, therefore I believe it" then what rational argument can stop another man who believes God told him to gain heaven by blowing up a city with a nuclear bomb strapped to his chest? A compendium of pronouncements and stories whether it is called a bible or a Koran is open to any kind of interpretation when its ultimate justification is revelation. If a used car salesman used this kind of tactic to sell cars most people would laugh him off, yet, in the most important area of human life, the basic principles one chooses to guide one's life, people don't bat an eye.

When the source of truth is revelation and religions disagree, they cannot resort to rational discussion; just look at the bloody history of religious wars in the West before the emergence of the principle of separation of church and state. If reason is made impotent as an arbitrator of disputes then people and governments will resort to force. That is why an Islamic state will necessarily be totalitarian.

American Muslims have an opportunity to fight for the universal principle of liberty by spreading the idea of separation of church and state in the Islamic world - but what is the basis and justification of liberty? The false choice between revealed absolutes and moral relativism was blasted away when the philosopher Ayn Rand identified the objective basis for values and moral absolutes - Man's Life. The moral justification for liberty is that it is a requirement of human life.

Do not give in to the soul-enslavers who preach that you must live for something "greater" than yourself - "the people", "the race", or "the God", these are the false idols you must banish from your soul because they do not exist. Only the individual exists and only the individual man lives and dies, and life and death are the two ruling facts for any living thing. They are absolute because there is nothing outside of or higher than life there is only death. Accept the evidence of your senses and your mind - this is the start of a truly moral, that is, life-centered outlook.

University professors in this country use moral relativism to portray Islam as a benign religion. Whether or not it is benign in its doctrines is another issue. When religion rules politics totalitarianism is inevitable. Islam must accept the principle of separation of church and state. Until they do, the U.S. has a moral right to crush totalitarian Islamist regimes like Iran just as it has the right to crush any totalitarian regime.