General Discussion

have been one of the most common forms of government in history, regardless of whether it was a monarchy or empire or whatever.

The Greeks and Romans, who introduced forms of limited democracy and republicanism tended to be more secular, which is where the founding fathers got their initial ideals from. The Greeks kind of drifted away, in part maybe because while their mythology was largely common to all there wasn't an organized religion with a single high priest. The Romans eventually succumbed to the Christian faith. The Western Empire fell and the Pope lost much of his political power for a few centuries. The Eastern Empire survived for many centuries as what we now know as the Orthodox Christian bastion, which fell to the Muslims in 1453.

European governments were for centuries nominally independent yet their policies and decisions were heavily influenced by the Catholic Pope in Rome. The religious wars of the 15th-17th centuries broke up that dominance to a degree, but the violence was something the founding fathers tried to avoid with their freedom of religion clause.

Our constitution made a valiant attempt to separate religion from government, but it appears human nature doesn't easily make that distinction. Are we drifting toward Gilead? Hoping we're not will not make much difference. Hopefully, we are not in for a period of physical violence, but it could happen. There is a scary number of guns out there.

Those who operate under the delusion that they are doing "God's Will" are not easily dissuaded, and will justify anything imaginable to gain their ends.