Imaginary leader is still stupider than hereditary leader.
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Lord Keeps meaning to procrastinate., Tue 12 Feb 2013, 13:43,
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Cheers hotpiss
Inspired me you have.
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Sweeplovesfisting Take all your footballs home and burst them., Tue 12 Feb 2013, 17:38,
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umm actually the UK is technically a Theocracy,
the Queen explicitly derives her authority to reign directly from God and was crowned in a Christian ceremony.
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Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 14:25,
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technically all 'subjects' of 'her majesty' are like, slaves, and totally have to do everything she says. it's an outrage.
(, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 14:39, Share, Reply)
you should write a stern letter
to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
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Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 14:41,
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i am going to...
what kind of theocracy legalises gay marriage? it's a bloody outrage i tell you.
(, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 14:49, Share, Reply)
one that legalises it for every religion except the State one,
on account of the clash with canon law that would happen otherwise.
And the Byzantine Empire.
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Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 14:52,
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it's worth noting
that out of the UK's 8 Muslim MPs, only one voted against the measure. Two abstained, and five voted in favour.
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Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 14:57,
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Impressed with your well informedness here
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Locus213 Slightly to the left of Bakunin, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 16:50,
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Hmmmm
I take your point. In reality, though, it's not. Someone might swear on a Bible whilst being sworn in as a parking attendant, but it doesn't mean they derive their authority from God and the local council is thereby a theocracy.
The Queen is a special case because of all the 'Defender of the Faith' guff and being head of her own Church, of course, but still, I can't imagine her claiming her authority to rule 'derives directly from God'. Can't imagine anyone has tried that line with any seriousness since the Stuarts.
I did once know a man who claimed to believe in the Divine Right of Kings, but he was a nutcase. Think he later joined UKIP...
(, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 14:42, Share, Reply)
true, it's somewhat archaic,
although it was derived from a line in the Bible so a lot of Christians still believe it.
Oh we also have the Lords Spiritual (Church of England Bishops in the House of Lords) which makes us the only country other than Iran to explicitly include religious leaders in the legislative assembly. Or so I heard.
The "In God We Trust" thing in the states is an odd one though, because their State is very much more secular than ours, technically. They aren't even allowed religious observances in state run schools (a policy which is sometimes enforced with an absurd level of fervour). But the Federal Reserve isn't actually part of the government, but a sort of private company. Actually the way the whole outfit works is so odd that, frankly, God help them.
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Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 14:50,
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The US is very interesting as a contrast
In the UK there's an enormous detritus of tradition and convention which is sometimes pretty benign (things like the Monarch being anointed before Coronation) and sometimes quite worrying (like the Bishops in the upper chamber). Most people don't worry about it most of the time.
In America, on the other hand, they had Founding Fathers who set up a secular state, and were pretty unequivocal about that (Treaty of Tripoli, for example), but a population many of whom are passionately fighting to make it less so.
(, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 15:04, Share, Reply)
Bishops in the House of Lords don't worry me,
there are only 25 of them, far fewer than Tory hereditary peers (49), and if they were in proportion to the number of regular churchgoers we'd have about a hundred.
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Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 15:09,
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