Saturday, April 19, 2003
Diana West writes about some of the results of the recent meeting of Iraqi leaders and worries over some of the future dangers of sharia - both in Iraq and elsewhere. What's nice is to see guys like Ibn Warraq quoted out in the mainstream press and not just places like FrontPage Magazine.
The fate of Iraq -- The Washington Times
[...]Meanwhile, there's something positive to be said about the plain-spoken certitude with which some of these democratic building-blocks are being laid out, at least on paper. But such energy is lacking in another key point on the list. Point six is downright phlegmatic which it comes to noting, merely, that "the meeting discussed the role of religion in state and society."
It did, did it? Well, what did "the meeting" say? Nothing that could be distilled into a declarative point of consensus. Which shouldn't be surprising. The most intractable problem facing democratic reform in Iraq (or anywhere else in the Muslim world) is how to reconcile that founding principle of democracy — the separation of church and state — with Islamic law, which is predicated on the inseparable union of religious and political power.[...]
It did, did it? Well, what did "the meeting" say? Nothing that could be distilled into a declarative point of consensus. Which shouldn't be surprising. The most intractable problem facing democratic reform in Iraq (or anywhere else in the Muslim world) is how to reconcile that founding principle of democracy — the separation of church and state — with Islamic law, which is predicated on the inseparable union of religious and political power.[...]
