The Kind of “Freedom” Religion Brings

by | Feb 12, 2005 | POLITICS

It appears increasingly likely that the U.S. backed government in Iraq will lose by a landslide, in favor of–surprise, surprise–Muslim fundamentalists. There will be official public statements from the U.S. government in coming days and weeks that the U.S. can work with the democratically led Iraqi Shiite government, blah, blah, blah. What else can our […]

It appears increasingly likely that the U.S. backed government in Iraq will lose by a landslide, in favor of–surprise, surprise–Muslim fundamentalists.

There will be official public statements from the U.S. government in coming days and weeks that the U.S. can work with the democratically led Iraqi Shiite government, blah, blah, blah. What else can our government say?

How about the truth?

Let’s reconnect with reality. The war against terrorism is a war against Islam. Our conservative Christian President cannot face this fact, because he believes religious faith is what makes freedom possible. He evades the fact that “pure” religious faith in Iran has led to nothing but a monstrous dictatorship in that country, a dictatorship whose current development of nuclear weapons presents a gathering threat to American interests abroad and, no doubt, ultimately to America itself.


Cartoon: Cox and Forkum

A liberal John Kerry administration would have been equally powerless to stop this trend. A liberal administration might not be so foolish to think that a democratically elected Muslim dictatorship is any better than one that takes over by force, as the Bush administration will claim. But the liberals who dominate the Democratic Party don’t believe in the use of American force at all–or, if so, only very minimally. Consequently, there is no way to prevent a gathering military threat of any kind under liberalism, be it fascist, communist, religious or anything else.

The rest of us who actually think and care about our own and our country’s future have to face facts. Democracy is not what makes freedom possible. What makes freedom possible is a government that ends the rule of force in human life, and willingly uses force against those who violate this principle. What also makes freedom possible is a rational, secular outlook–at least six days out of the week–and, even for religious believers, an absolute commitment to the separation of church and state. Neither of these exists in Iraq, as we now know from the fall of the American secular government and the rise of another Islamic dictatorship. Of course it comes as no surprise.

Ayn Rand wrote years ago that faith and force are inevitable consequences of one another. In the coming months and years, we are about to see that play out in Iraq. Note that the “insurgents” in Iraq who support the sort of religious fundamentalist government voted into office still won’t validate the election and stop their violence. Even the slightest hint of Westernism is poison to them. If only our own government had the same attitude towards Islamic dictatorship and mysticism, we’d have won the war against terrorism hands down by now.

It’s bad enough that our soldiers have died in Iraq for the purpose of installing the government of some primitive Ayatollah. By helping the Iraqis install yet another Middle Eastern religious state, a state that may well be openly hostile to the U.S. like the Iranian one, we have moved another step closer to nuclear war in that part of the world–and even on our own soil, at some future date.

Dr. Michael Hurd is a psychotherapist, columnist and author of "Bad Therapy, Good Therapy (And How to Tell the Difference)" and "Grow Up America!" Visit his website at: www.DrHurd.com.

The views expressed represent those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors & publishers of Capitalism Magazine.

Capitalism Magazine often publishes articles we disagree with because we believe the article provides information, or a contrasting point of view, that may be of value to our readers.

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