Monday, July 13, 2009

Iran and the glory of Allah

What glory does Allah find in it, when people must be forced to be obedient to Him at gunpoint?

Freedom of conscience - the ability to choose - is a gift from God.

Reason is our method of distinguishing the good from the bad. Unlike animals, we know that sometimes things that are uncomfortable or painful are good for us; and sometimes things that feel good to us are very bad for us. So we can choose to do good, or ill.

Is Allah a tyrant, who is equally happy when people are forced to follow His words at the end of the scourge, as when they trouble themselves to learn His ways and freely choose them?

We Christians and Jews worship the same God as Moslems. At all times, we are offered the choice of good or evil. As long as the effects of that choice only hurt, or help ourselves, then the only person we answer to is our God. The only person we should me made to answer to, is our God. There are complex arguments about what social structures are necessary to avoid harm to others -- the degree of regulation required to avoid harm to others is not clear in our minds yet. But again, we are free to argue about what degree of regulation is necessary. Iran's people do not even have that.

Suffice to say, a brutal, oppressive police state is not needed to prevent harm to others.